engine died no compression???

[casey]

I recently bought a C&C 27 1971 . The engine ran to bring it home and get us out in the lake. Mind you it ran rugh and would not idle low. But it ran.

About 3 hrs later we tried to start the engine and it would not start. It sounded different right off the bat. Almost like it was not turning the actual motor over. However the starter is working the flywheel is turning. Further checks with 1 and 2 spark plugs out confirm that there is no intake or any pressure on your fingers when held over the wholes and the engine is cranked. A mechanic friend suggested that maybe the timing belt broke or a gear has slipped off the cam??? I cannot find any online diagrams of a disassembled engine not even sure if it has a timing chain or which end it's at to check. is it behind the fywheel or at the transmission end???

[casey]

compression/stuck valves

don: after posting my question i continued to read through the forum. It seems my problem may be stuck valves. This would explain the no compression and why the engine does not seem to have resistance or turns over really easily. Is there a way to check this without removing the head. I also read about the closing the water intake. I did not hope I don't have water in the engine???

[Don Moyer]

If your compression is zero in any cylinder, it's almost certain that the reason is a stuck valve. Even in cases where all the rings on a particular piston are stuck in their grooves, you can still feel some (albeit very low) compression.

Don

[Don Moyer]

Casey,

There is no timing belt on the Atomic 4 and we have no history of the timing gears slipping. It is most likely that one or more of your valves are sticking in the two cylinders you checked.

It's not possible from your report to predict exactly why the valves are sticking. A common cause of sticky valves is from water backing up into an engine from the exhaust system at some point in the past and the valve stems and guides becoming rusty.

Don