Help...Slipped belt at start-up..Rotating crankshaft stops..What's next step?

[Greenthings]

Hey people...I just screwed-up pretty bad and left the injection pump locking pin in after adjusting the pump. Turned over igntion and heared a strange noise. Injection pin was half way around the circle. It had been in the slot firmly. I believe the belt slipped forward while the pin was still in the slot. Removed it and went to crank car. Turns over freely but No start Do I have to pull the head now to get top-dead center and reset everything? Are the valves shurely bent now....there was definite interference when I went to rotate crank clock-wise after about a quarter or more turn. Any sound advice would be greatly appreciated. I have about 6 years experience with the idi's and this is my biggest screw-up ever. It's a 1.6 mech.

[Henchman]

You probably just lost you IP pump timing.  Retime, and you should be fine.

Ian

[Greenthings]

The crankshaft won't budge when I turn clock-wise now. Do I have to remove the head or just remove belt and looosen the camshaft then (maybe tension will be released when turning crank to TDC?) If the belt slipped a whole lot at cranking speed are the valves probally bent? I did crank it a few more times and it definetly sounds different. This really stinks.. I've always been super careful now...crap!

[Henchman]

Are you removing the belt when you are trying to turn the camshaft?  Stop turning the engine over until it is timed properly.

Ian

[Dakotakid]

THIS is a job for.........corporal punishment!!!!!!!!!

[vanbcguy]

TURN IT OVER BY HAND AT LEAST 2 COMPLETE CRANK ROTATIONS BEFORE TOUCHING THE STARTER.

True that!!  I usually do mine about 5 times because I want to make SURE I really did do it twice...

I nearly left the pin in before cranking it by hand the last time, but you notice pretty quick that way.  It's kind of like when I just about tapped a keg the other day with the faucet off... That would have been "fun".  Checklists are good!!

[Greenthings]

Thank you for the reply lillybapa. I would always turn the crank by hand on t-belt jobs. This time, I needed a slight pump-bump with gauge installed-advance.... to try and clear a heavier than normal white smoke start-up.. till warm. Did'nt even think to rotate it by hand twice because I had not released anything. Lesson..painfully learned.  Things went smoothly till I forgot to remove the pump pin before cranking. (You did what??? Yes.. Brain-Fart of the Year for me...maybe the decade)... Right now.. I know it will turn over (without starting).. with starter (without) engine coming to a Stop. But, I can't rotate clockwise without a binding stop after a few inches or so. Pump advance was only .05, so I'm shure it's not that. Thanks, again, for the "belt-off" TDC procedure lillybapa. I did'nt expect a quality reply from a Veteran member so soon. I'll give it a try Sat. and post my results soon. I have only 1 More Question....When loosening the cam's carrier bolts, should I loosen" All " the bolts (Half-Way or so?) or only One Row of them to allow the piston/valve alignment?.......... I had hoped for another few months driving with this n/a engine. I rescued a 1 owner, 3 year "sitter" Caddy and have been tinkering for a couple of months to get it tuned and maintained. The only bright spot in this, is that I have a (mech) low mileage re-built turbo engine sitting in a bummed-up Quantum...waiting for the transplant. This "screw-up" will definetly speed-up that process, but slow-down the procedures. I'm shure I'll need some bits and pieces and plenty of advice from some folks on here to finish it. I'll make shure to list some good usable stuff from the Quantum diesel..... No more "Relaxing" before or during my engine work! Only nail-biting bouts of obsessive-compulsive attention to detail!....That mode worked well for me for the last 6 years with my Vanagon. Back to the Turtle for a while.      

[Vincent Waldon]

One other hint:  loosen the cam cap bolts a bit at a time in sequence so that the pressure is slowly released... VW has a specific pattern they want you to use but just being slow and even will do it. Releasing only some of the cam caps but not others can cause the cam to crack.

In terms of pump timing no matter how awful it is it won't cause your engine to lock... locking only happens with poor cam timing ie the valves are not properly timed with respect to the pistons and they are meeting each other.

The truth is that the uber safe thing here is to pull the head and have the valves carefully inspected... even if they are tweaked just a bit it can cause them to weaken and drop a head at the most inopportune time.. grenading the piston, the cylinder wall, the cylinder head,  and sometimes the engine if enough bits start to fling around.