BX24 - Won't Start

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Cleaned things up a bit last night. Wire brush did great. As some of you mentioned, cleaning didn't change my "low-side" readings at all. I can now see that the low side is below the deck, which is concerning.

Indications continue to point to bent rods. I'll keep tearing down today and post updates.

A few lingering questions I have:

• Is it common for all of the rods to bend in the same manner to the same (approximate) degree? All of my readings have the exhaust side at about .015-.02 and the intake side is below the deck.
• With bent rods and what I'd call a cambered piston position, I would expect the rotating assembly to be a bit harder to turn by hand.
• Assuming it's a bend in the rods, is that enough to cause 0 compression in two of the cylinders?
• Should I plan to pull the valves as well? I was trying to keep that as intact as possible, or at least reduce the chaos on my workbench

I'm betting when you pull the pistons your going to find broken rings and lands and that's the real reason for the low compression.

All the pistons being off tilted is normal as they are made that way, they are directional.
But them being short is the bend rod end of things.

EDIT: Just looking at the pic's you put up, they look cocked rather a large amount, so I'm going with the rods are also bent that way, and or the pistons are just plan warped.

 

[RCW]

I'm betting when you pull the pistons your going to find broken rings and lands and that's the real reason for the low compression.

All the pistons being off tilted is normal as they are made that way, they are directional.
But them being short is the bend rod end of things.

I don’t want to speak for @North Idaho Wolfman, but the use of ether will cause all the symptoms you’re experiencing.

Seeing that can of Starter Fluid in your first picture of the tractor certainly speaks volumes of what you’re dealing with right now…..

Wolfman and several other folks pointed that out right away.

It’s unfortunate that the previous owner went down that road to try to start.

 

[Ngiovan]

Rings and/or Lands on each piston are broken. My thought is the next thing to check is the cylinder walls for damage and size. I was hoping to avoid removing the crankshaft and camshaft, but I think we're past that point and I should break the engine down all the way.

Thanks for all of the helpful feedback!

 

[Chanceywd]

Rings and/or Lands on each piston are broken. My thought is the next thing to check is the cylinder walls for damage and size. I was hoping to avoid removing the crankshaft and camshaft, but I think we're past that point and I should break the engine down all the way.

Thanks for all of the helpful feedback!

This kind of damage should be required reading before you can buy a can of ether!
Bill

 

[Vagabond]

At this point, yeah, you're probably looking at a pretty complete rebuild. Was there lots of metal flakes in the oil pan? You should at least pull the cam/crank bearing and check them, but at that point why not put new ones in anyway? How did the rod bearings look?

 

[Ngiovan]

Another quick question for you guys; is this a sleeved block? I’m seeing a lot of rebuild/overhaul kits that come with sleeves and to my untrained eye the pics attached looks like a sleeve.

 

[Ngiovan]

At this point, yeah, you're probably looking at a pretty complete rebuild. Was there lots of metal flakes in the oil pan? You should at least pull the cam/crank bearing and check them, but at that point why not put new ones in anyway? How did the rod bearings look?

Not any metal flakes that I could find. Attached pics of bearings, I think they look alright. But while I’m in there might as well replace them.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Rather odd that looks like a sleeved block but it shouldn't be.
Might just be a ring from the head gasket.
Clean that are up with a scotch bright pad.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

maybe buy a quality rebuild kit, lay all new parts out and replace 100% of what you have with the new ?
have 2 parts benches (old vs new ),just so you don't reuse questionable old parts ?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

maybe buy a quality rebuild kit, lay all new parts out and replace 100% of what you have with the new ?
have 2 parts benches (old vs new ),just so you don't reuse questionable old parts ?

He does need to know if that engine is sleeved or not, as they did have a sleeved D902.
He just shouldn't have a sleeved D902 in a BX24.
If he does have a sleeved engine, then someone has swapped the engine.
While a sleeved engine will work, it's just not original.
He will also need to evaluate it to determine if it needs bored or not and in knowing that whether he needs over-sized pistons or not.

So it's not as simple as buy a kit and see what parts fit.

 

[Ngiovan]

Cleaned up the deck a bit more tonight and still seeing that sleeve-like ring around each cylinder. It did begin to blend a little closer to the deck color, so maybe not sleeved.

At any rate, I'm gonna take it to a pro to measure bore and hone/bore as needed.

Also got the rods off and they’re all bent, as expected. I took a video but doesn't look like I can embed that to a post.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Cleaned up the deck a bit more tonight and still seeing that sleeve-like ring around each cylinder. It did begin to blend a little closer to the deck color, so maybe not sleeved.

At any rate, I'm gonna take it to a pro to measure bore and hone/bore as needed.

Also got the rods off and they’re all bent, as expected. I took a video but doesn't look like I can embed that to a post.

Put the video on Youtube and give us a link to see it.
I forgot you pulled the pan, if you post a picture of the bottom you will know right away if it's sleeved or not, they look completely different on the bottom.

 

[whitetiger]

Look at the cylinder from the bottom, it should be easier to tell if it was sleeved during a previous repair,
The piston has everything except a red banner saying ETHER. These engines are a small displacement with a high compression which will not tolerate either like a large displacement lower compression engine can.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Look at the cylinder from the bottom, it should be easier to tell if it was sleeved during a previous repair,
The piston has everything except a red banner saying ETHER. These engines are a small displacement with a high compression which will not tolerate either like a large displacement lower compression engine can.

I'm pretty sure I said before he opened it up, bent rods, broken piston rings, and broken landings.

I've had several members on here that said Ether damage is not a real thing.
TADA here ya go, This is what ether does to these engines.

This is not a Knock or Insult on the OP as he didn't do it, he purchased it with this damage!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Cleaned up the deck a bit more tonight and still seeing that sleeve-like ring around each cylinder. It did begin to blend a little closer to the deck color, so maybe not sleeved.

At any rate, I'm gonna take it to a pro to measure bore and hone/bore as needed.

Also got the rods off and they’re all bent, as expected. I took a video but doesn't look like I can embed that to a post.

Would be great if you would post up some pic's of the bent rods too.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The ETHER Bunny visited this engine!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

EGGs actly....

 

[Ngiovan]

Rod bends measured with a feeler gauge:

• .02 inches
• +.035 inches (largest in my set)
• .02 inches
  

Pics attached in that order.
Also grabbed the best shot I could of the cylinders from the bottom to see if anyone can tell if it’s sleeved.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Rod bends measured with a feeler gauge:

• .02 inches
• +.035 inches (largest in my set)
• .02 inches

Pics attached in that order.
Also grabbed the best shot I could of the cylinders from the bottom to see if anyone can tell if it’s sleeved.

Nope not sleeved.