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So I was on my way to South Dakota to say bye to all my family before I moved to Florida and guess what happens around 50 miles outside of Rawlins my car lockes up so I push in the clutch take it out of gear let of the clutch and my rpm's sky rocket so I push the clutch back in and shut the car off. Its sounds to me like a gear in my tranny went out, which in turn damaged my new klze engine when the rpm's spiked so I also think I may have floated a valve because I cannot get the engine to run with out chugging then dying. does anyone have some advice as to what I should do or maybe what is wronge, or were I should go to get a new tranny and possibly some parts for the heads?

I am no mechanic, so I can only tell you what I do when stuff breaks:

Option A: Kick and scream and curse
Option B: Act like it didnt happen to me and live my life according the Murphy's Law

When you say it locked up what do you mean? Do you think its possible that it jumped time or maybe broke the timing belt or something?

You may have jumped time. Mark your disty where it is now...

Turn it in 1 direction fully and see if it runs better/worse. If worse, turn it in the other direction fully. If it runs better, but not where you need it, you probably jumped a tooth. My car still ran with my foot to the floor and I had jumped 5 teeth on the back head and 2 teeth on the front head.

well I took it to my mech. and he says it would only rotate half a turn. when I say it locked up I was doing 70 on the highway then my tires locked and I skided down the highway. When I towed it to town I had to hold the clutch down because it would not leave the gear which makes me belive that perhapes a gear is bad. When I start the car it sputters and dies if it even starts. I don't think it jumped time because the belt is new but that is a possibility, so I will check that.

My engine had <500 miles on it when it jumped time...

If your tires locked up you may have had tranny issues, or serious mechanical failure.. can you do a comp test?

The clutch should not be a problem, but it could be an installation error since it is so new. If the clutch won't disengage the tranny will be stuck in gear. However, if it locked up on the freeway it would be that the clutch broke and a piece is lodged in the flywheel. Also, it could be the gear box. If a gear or bearing borke then it sould have locked the trans and that is my #1 guess without seeing the car.
Timing would not explain the sudden locking of the tires, or the issue with having to hold the clutch.

Timing would not explain the sudden locking of the tires, or the issue with having to hold the clutch

True.. but the locking up of the engine suddenly as a result of the transmission issue could very well have caused the engine to jump time as a result. If your crank stops moving.. the cams from just inertia alone would want to keep spinning..

Tunes67

What exactly is "inertia". I recently found this word used on another subject and don't know what it means.

Newton's first law of motion states that "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."

Inertia = the resistance an object has to a change in its state of motion.

Gotta love Google

Tunes67

The good news here is.. even if the engine jumped time.. there is a good chance no damage occured within the engine. Yes having a complete lockup at 70mph isnt good and it could have done damage.. but I think there is an equal chance that just remounting the timing belt (I would recommend using a new one though since your current belt probably got stretched to heck) and realigning the timing gears would have the engine back operational without any serious mishaps. It could have stressed the main bearings a bit.. which might result in a slightly shortened lifespan.. but I think the engine will be the least of your worries here.

Tunes67

I hope the engine is the least of my worries, but I don't think my clutch would have failed because it is new but that is still possible. I am hauling it to florida so I will figure it out when I get there. thanks for all the help guys. I will let you know what it was.

ok so my clutch did go out in fact it disintegrated and I replaced it but my engine still runs like crap, turn out my front bank is bad so can anyone reccommened a place to get my top end built or at least some parts.

V8KOMX3 wrote:ok so my clutch did go out in fact it disintegrated and I replaced it but my engine still runs like crap, turn out my front bank is bad so can anyone reccommened a place to get my top end built or at least some parts.

what clutch were you using ?
and what is exactly broken on the engine ?