2.4 Tacoma Engine Won't Turn Over, Seized?

Sup all, hope to gather some brain power here. 2.4 engine 252K pulled into gas station turned off truck, which was running fine. Go to start and hear the starter soleniod kick in to the engine but no engine crank. Guessing bad starter, get towed to my place. Installed new starter, same problem. Put 17 mm socket on crankshaft bolt and can move the crank 3 or 4 degrees in either direction, but not full rotation as if the engine is partially seized. (Yes oil is fine & faily new battery) Would a broken timing chain do this? No funny noises, no indications of anything wrong before hand. Up for suggestions thanks.

 

I would pull the valve cover and look at the timing set from the top. Then while I was there, I would pull the plugs and check for obvious damage

 

I dont think she is an interferance motor.
If this was me doing the work I would

1. take out the spark plugs and take a look at them. if all looks "normal" ...

2.Take the valve cover off and see if you can get slack in the chain by rotating it backwards, if you can get slack and she locks up in normal rotation see if any of the accessory drive belts do the same or loosen them to eliminate that.

3. if it looks like the cam(s) are preventing rotation take the caps off one at a time, take a look then put them back.

all of the above is assuming that something hasn't wedged the flywheel/flexplate due to missing inspection shields or a bolt has fallen out inside the bell housing etc.

 

How much torque did you use trying to turn the crank by hand? The 3-4° could just be the slack in the chain, and a little more force is needed to turn everything. Even if the valves were hitting the pistons the crank would be able to rotate one way or the other.

This might be obvious, but if you have a 5-speed you should have it in neutral when trying to manual turn the engine.

Removing the valve cover you should be able to verify the chain is intact like others suggested.

And even though the battery is new you might want to check the voltage and check for bad wires or corrosion.

 

Happy and embarrassed at the same time... Oringinal problem, click on the starter but no engine turn. New starter same problem. Go thru all the normal checks, along with engine won't turn. Under the truck when the preverbally light bulb goes off. Yes the truck was in gear (5 speed manual) So engine now rotates... Duh... Now for the starter problem, battery has a non factory battery connection, I check the voltage at the starter and got good voltage, started thinking I was not getting the amps down to the starter. Sure enough the battery connection needed attention. This is a fleet truck and I as the owner do most of the maintenance on them. Can't believe I got nailed on some simple stuff. Never assume anything and double check everything... Thanks for everyones input... Peace.

 

least it wasnt something extreme. Dodge is notorious for head gasket leak and locking the engine..

 

So, I'm not the only one that misses the easy stuff. Not all the time, but enough to keep you humble.

Here's an example. I put new rear shocks on my '01 before I sold it. A friend bought it. One day while driving he had a big clunk in the rear and something was scraping the road. He pulls off and finds that one rear shock has come off the upper mount, and is wedged between the road and the axle. Well, I was the last one to touch those. Turns out, I never went back and torqued them down. Lesson learned: Finish the job while you are under there. Don't think you are going to come back to it later. After all this time, I'm really tired of learning these lessons the hard way.