Seized cam?

I had my heads rebuilt. I got the engine started the other day. It ran great for about 10 seconds before it banged to a stop. I pulled the timing covers off and the driver's side cam seems to be seized. I can move it very slowly with a wrench, but it's definitely stuck.

 

Two questions:

Anybody had this happen?

Can I get that head off without pulling the motor?

Hello;

Pull the valve cover and cam tower. Remove the rocker arms and mounts (eight bolts), the cam will fall out. I have heard that the heads can be removed while the engine is in place. Considering what damage you find, the engine may have to be pulled anyway. Steven.

So, the cam was seized in the bolt-on collar on the front of the head. I pulled it off, took it back to the machine shop, where it was re-honed and liberally lubed before installation. Got it back on and started the car. Drove it about 10 miles before it seized again. Not in the collar this time, but somewhere in the head itself. I can turn it very slowly, but something is jammed up. So back it goes. Wondering if I need a new cam altogether?

with that many issues... id say a new head AND new cam.......better safe than sorry.

 

on a side note, are you torquing the cam bearings properly?....

Hello;

Is the deck (block) flat, how about the head? Is the head getting oil on that side? The cam bearings are cast into the head and any distortion will cause the cam to lock-up. Is the cam straight? Max runout should be no more than .001". Make sure the rocker arm towers are torqued to the proper spec. Steven.

If the heads were bad you could spend a lot of money getting them rebuilt or new ones. I would consider an ej20g swap, considering you can get a motor/ecu/trans for 1400 on ebay. You could sell the trans for around 7-900$ or keep it for a spare. Also the ej22t block is worth about 4-600 depending on condition of cylinder sleeves, just my opinion though. You have to consider local emissions laws with the jdm ecu, I'm not sure how the jdm ecu works with odb connections

USLiberty, my wife might smother me in my sleep if I proposed a swap, considering how long this is dragging on. Emissions wouldn't be an issue, it's OBD1, so they just put a wand in the tailpipe.

 

I took the head back to the machine shop today. It looks like it's not getting oil. The machinist was able to get the cam to turn, but it wouldn't come out. So I'll give it one more shot before I shop for used heads. By the way, anybody in Spokane or Portland with a set of used ej22t heads for sale?

I have a set that I'd sell you if you get desperate as I have a couple extra sets. I like hoarding them, lol. I'm in slc.

I ran down a set in town on bbs. Hopefully third time is a charm.

Great! Hopefully the deal goes through. I don't know if you know this but you can swap n/a 22E valves over to your heads. It's the only valve upgrade you can do on these heads that I know of. I haven't done it myself but its something to think about if you are getting headwork done anyway.

So I got the heads back on yesterday, along with a new headgasket because I smashed the other one up trying to get the head on. I can confirm that you can get the head off without moving the engine. A lot easier with two sets of hands. I did buy a set of heads for $50 just in case these don't work. I started 'er up and idled for about 10 minutes. I managed a short trip to the store last night. I'm going to run it around the neighborhood for another 10-20 miles before I venture out further.

 

I also replaced all the hla's on the driver's side. I might do the passenger side, there's still a tiny tick. Not my biggest concern at the moment.

I've got about 30 miles on the rebuilt (again) heads. Running like a champ. Very happy. It's shuddering/bucking under hard acceleration though. I'll try some seafoam and look for a vacuum leak. Any other ideas?

Your MAF is probably dirty or bad. Get a can of MAF cleaner and do it now! Lol. I had the same problem and it took me nine months to figure out the MAF was bad.

 

A vacuum or boost leak is a definite possibility. I had to replace every single pcv, vacuum line, turbo gasket, turbo inlet elbow gasket, and coolant line since they all failed one after the next.

 

I then moved on to the injectors, fuel pump, fuel filter, plug gaps, wires, coil pack, etc. this all helped it swapping in the MAF did the trick. Some good news is the tleggys share the same aluminum MAF with the na first gens. Has to be the one with the aluminum housing.

 

Here is my old thread on bbs: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=50943