Whoa is Me Engine Locked Up….and Solex carb issues

[Mike Smith]

#15 Post by Martin Benade » Thu Aug 08, 2024 6:52 am

Usually it would still turn

`Usually` Yes!

I await the outcome

[Michael Pawelek]

Where does one buy major engine parts such as valves, cam shafts, crank shafts etc.?

[David Jones]

Too many sources to list Michael. Firstof all find what broke then come back here and look for parts or just Google the items you need but be careful, check here for reputable parts sellers. I for instance have a C crank with rods still assembled to it.

[Michael Pawelek]

This is pie in the sky thinking on my part. Now that I think back on the incident the initial 4-5 seconds of the engine slowing down as if I had taken my foot off the gas pedal also felt like the timing was being retarded and a second or two later when the loud knocking occurred 5-6 times was like timing being advanced way too much and pre detonation knock. Has anyone had the software/programming go bad in their 123 distributor and change on its own? I wish I had had a steady thought process and looked at the app on my phone when this all happened but it was all so fast I could only react and push in the clutch pedal.

[Wes Bender]

That may be related to the cause, but if the engine is truly locked up, it's more than a distributor.

[David Jones]

Unless there was a catastrophic failure of the distributor there's no way it could lock up the engine. Pull the valve covers, drain the oil. The cause my be obvious

[Don Gale]

My 1st car was a 1965 VW beetle. One of the rod bearings failed and fried the crank, I forget, either cyl 1 or 3, and quickly sapped power at 65 mph until it locked up. A re-ground crank and new rod & bearings was all it needed to get it running again.

[Martin Benade]

My first car was also a 65 beetle, came with a pre-failed rod bearing. I upgraded to a massive 1500 from the junkyard

[David Jones]

My first car was a 51 sunroof beetle with all of 28 hp. Engine locked up on the way to work one morning. Replaced with engine from junkyard for about 50 deutschmarks. I was based in Germany at the time. I got a ride to the junkyard, negotiated a price, gave them the keys, they went and got the car and replaced the engine and I picked it up next day. Had a later 36 hp engine a big power boost.

[Tim Berardelli]

Drain the engine oil into a CLEAN pan and remove the top of the oil filter housing and examine the metallic residue at both locations-based on what you find at those two locations you will know what failed.

[Michael Pawelek]

Interesting idea. Will do so tomorrow and report in. Looks like I now have a huge supply of chain saw chain oil available….

[Michael Pawelek]

Drained the oil from the crank case and sucked as much as possible from the filter canister. At first found nothing but as I drained the oil through a screened gasoline filter and got to the tiny bit at the bottom of the drain pan found extremely tiny silver/gold flecks. So tiny none were found in the screen filter and cannot be seen hardly at all in pictures. Only in high reflective light. Bearing material?

[Al Zim]

Two 356 Registry members David Wildrick and Jim Learmouth Are in Houston You will find them through the Registry. I am sure they will be pleased to show you their cars and discuss Zim's idiosyncrasy. This still does not alleviate you from a road trip to Bedford. We are next to DFW airport. allzim.com
The bad news is that there is no cheap way to restore you engine! al

[Chuck Allard]

Bearing material + several clunks + won't turn over = thrown rod.

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi
could be valve guide material or less likely wrist pin or distributor drive gear, rod bearing failure that locks the engine is a big mess.
j