I’m not a professional, but I was taught that an engine “turning over” and an engine “cranking” mean the same thing. The starter is working, engaging the flywheel and rotating the crankshaft. But until the engine “catches” or “starts,” it’s only cranking or turning over. The cranking and the turning…

I would argue that there is no “correct” use of the terms under discussion. It’ll vary with regional differences as well as with individuals. As regards the use of the terms by a layman, to me it’s analogous to myself attempting to explain my aches and pains to a medical professional. I may be more…

A mechanic really needs this issue clarified because “Cranks but won’t turn over” and other hazy methods of phrasing it just muddies the water; a lot. Clarifying things like this is what a service advisor or manager at the desk should be doing long before the repair order is dispatched to a mechan…

Think of starting as electrical. You hit the key and it goes tic. Cranking and turning over come from the fact old engines used cranks (mechanical power). So “it will crank - chuchuchu” but won’t turn over. So when you hit the key and it makes that chuchuchu sound it would be the same as hitting tha…

[image] jcphilli85_177386: Cranking and turning over come from the fact old engines used cranks (mechanical power) Not to continue this 7 year discussion, but when you turned the crank, you are turning over the engine. That’s why you turn the crank. If it then doesn’t start, you turned the …

[image] jcphilli85_177386: So “it will crank - chuchuchu” but won’t turn over. Cranking and turning over are the same thing. They are both what happens to the engine before it runs on its own.

It’s hard to say. There’s just so much ambiguity in car-repair terminology. For example I was reading a repair manual the other day, and it was referring to a drawing. None of the parts the text referred to in the drawing were named the same on the actual drawing … lol …

I started this discussion 7 years ago, and evidently the terminology is still a source of confusion. The comments from mechanics who couldn’t get their service writers to describe their customers’ issues clearly were interesting. Communication is always a problem, and moreso when people can’t agree …

It’s only called “cranking” because we used to start car engines with a hand crank. Old steam engines had holes in the flywheel where you could stick a long bar for leverage to turn the flywheel to get it into position to start. This was called “barring” the engine and a smaller steam engine used …

[image] asemaster: Cranking and turning over are the same thing. They are both what happens to the engine before it runs on its own. ICE engines need to turn over (aka crank) in order to start. It’s the beginning of the starting process. As the engine turns over all the internal mechanical pa…

Terminology: turning over vs. cranking vs. starting

Maintenance/Repairs

bing October 1, 2021, 5:47pm 33

Heh heh. The service manual says “cranks but won’t start” as one of the diagnostic charts. It’d be fun to see “cranks but won’t bust off”, but then that might refer to someone taking sledge to the thing. Wouldn’t start so busted the thing off. Of course I prefer proper English and would say “broke it off”.

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Terminology: turning over vs. cranking vs. starting

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