So a few weeks ago my car wouldnt start, all it would make is a very loud and solid "clunk" when I try and crank it. Since then i've checked my grounds, recharged the battery, replaced the starter with an LT4 starter and all the same problem persisted - CLUNK.

After all that I started checking the accessory belt items one by one, none of them had seized. Then cranked the engine manually. It was very hard to crank manually - something seemed really wrong. I took it to my mechanic and they tried similar tests and couldnt find out why it wasnt starting. They told me its probably something internal like the a tie rod (?) breaking.

Anyhow after they managed to crank it manually a few times, they bypassed the battery and cranked the starter several times. It was having a VERY hard time cranking. Then it cranked more and more and they tried to start the engine. It started right up! Now it hasn't had any problems at all since this happend. I think the block must have been hot that night driving home very slow in the slush and cooled off very quickly after I had parked in the cold weather. The rapid cooling probably caused the engine to shrink enough to make it very hard for the engine to turn. Anyhow, i'm so happy i don't need to do a full rebuild again.

Has this happend to anyone else? Is it our aluminum heads that cause this? Is it common? I wouldn't have believed my mechanic had i not been there myself to watch them from start to finish

 

A. not tie rod, but connecting rod; a tie rod is part of your steering assembly
B. the heads dont have anything to do with it

almost sounds like some cylinders were 'hydro-locked' (filled with a non-compressible liquid) or seized up. does it burn any oil?

 

my first guess was hydrolocked - yes connecting rod thats what they said, i just remembered it wrong
It doesnt burn any oil as far as i can tell, the oil level barely drops between changes. Nor is the smoke black... I've had the car hydrolocked in the past (blown head gasket) and it definatly was not the same as this. It was just real tight inside until we turned the crank several tiems around and ran the starter manually for a bit.
Drove it all day too today and no problems whatsoever.. no white smoke either.