Got the family loaded up in our '96 windstar to head into town, tried to start it, and it wouldn't turn over. I jacked it up and tried rotating the engine by hand, and nothing. Out of pure frustration from thinking the engine was seized up, I tried to start it repeatedly. Finally, it started right up as if nothing was wrong. It runs perfectly just as it did before, no hesitations, no lack of power, no CEL....nothing. It does have the sound of rocks or marbles bouncing around somewhere though. Best I can tell without having somebody here to rev it up for me while I'm under there is that it's coming from somewhere between the head and exhaust. It's a transverse mounted engine and as luck would have it, it's the one only God can get to by the firewall. lol. Anybody have any theories as to what happened?

 

Maybe the starter got hung up???

 

That was my initial thought when it first fired up, but the rock/marble sound gets louder and faster with increased RPMs. The sound is definitely not coming from the oil or transmission pan which is the best news I've heard since it happened. haha. I've got a buddy heading over now to rev it up for me while I play doctor underneath the van with my mechanics stethoscope. Never figured I'd need it, but it's definitely coming in handy today!

 

Just got done listenin to it, and the only place I can clearly hear the noise is essentially right at/before one of the cats. I'm thinking something came loose, got sucked into the combustion chamber, got pinned in between the piston and a valve/cylinder head, then finally freed itself and got spit out the exhaust. It's running perfectly, so I can't figure out what would have gotten in there. A big chunk of carbon maybe?

 

^^^^^ X2 allmost gaurantee it

 

I'm right there with you guys about the starter. But the rock sound that started when the engine finally turned over is throwing me off though. I guess it's possible that its two completely unrelated problems, but something in me is pulling me to put them together...

 

Could be the starter drive contacting the ring gear

 

So apparently its been making that rattling sound for a while. The wife finally decided to change her answer after two hours of trying to diagnose what came loose in there. Oh well, a starter is a much better problem to have than a junk engine. lol. Now I just need to figure out how to teach a woman how to tell the truth. hahahaha