seized?

[mcammarn]

so i just did hg job done, and also did timing kit. drove fine for a couple weeks, then all the sudden when i was leaving wal mart, my mk3 just turned off. was at a stop sign,in first gear, slowly turning. then nothing! tried turning it over, and nothing!
have power to all accessories (battery tested good). so i rolled it to parking lot, got a friend to take me home, and towed it home with my truck.
buddy was with me, and he thinks a couple possibilities as he was with me when this occured
1)bottom end problem
2)valve getting sucked in
3)cam froze

when timingkit was done, it was put into spec with base timing and ignition timing.
if it was the valves, well then the machine shop will be covering for whole thing. as they were the ones who put in the valve tem seals. so they wouldve had to take everything aprt to do so.
hoping, that its just a froze cam. but if not then looks like a rebuild! with only 128k miles
there was proper amount of oil, and this is 7mgte just a fyi

does anyone have a suggestion as to check what happened?

 

[jdmfreak]

Can u pull spark plugs and peek through the holes?

 

[ForcedTorque]

Are you sure it is seized? Take a 3/4" socket and see if you can turn the motor at the crank bolt in the center of the balancer. Be sure to have the transmission in neutral for this. I'm not sure why it would have died, but it may be something as simple as bad starter wiring that is causing the no-start afterwards.

 

[jdmfreak]

Also check your efi fuze

 

[te72]

Are you sure it is seized? Take a 3/4" socket and see if you can turn the motor at the crank bolt in the center of the balancer. Be sure to have the transmission in neutral for this. I'm not sure why it would have died, but it may be something as simple as bad starter wiring that is causing the no-start afterwards.

Note, you should make sure you have the ignition disabled (key out, might pull the battery cables too) when you do this. Just in case.

I'm also a little confused as to why it would die initially, but I suspect a loose wire somewhere...

Also check your efi fuze

This very well could be your problem too. Start with the simple stuff: fuses, grounds, look for any frayed/broken wires, etc.

 

[ForcedTorque]

Note, you should make sure you have the ignition disabled (key out, might pull the battery cables too) when you do this. Just in case.

Because a 1/4 turn of the motor will generate enough torque to start the motor and knock it into gear, and overpower the parking brake?? Remind me not to shake His hand!

 

[Poodles]

Because a 1/4 turn of the motor will generate enough torque to start the motor and knock it into gear, and overpower the parking brake?? Remind me not to shake His hand!

Old hand crank start motors could snap wrists, and that's kinda what you're doing Better safe than sorry...

 

[Another MkIII]

Old hand crank start motors could snap wrists, and that's kinda what you're doing Better safe than sorry...

They also worked completely different.
-AM3

 

[Poodles]

True, but if the key was on, the engine COULD start (you're essentially doing what the starter does...)

Like I said, rather safe than sorry.

 

[te72]

Because a 1/4 turn of the motor will generate enough torque to start the motor and knock it into gear, and overpower the parking brake?? Remind me not to shake His hand!

I stopped using a ratchet bigger than 1/4 on most things on my car. Anything more, and I had a bad habit of shearing bolts... Funny thing is I'm about 125 lbs soaking wet.

Old hand crank start motors could snap wrists, and that's kinda what you're doing Better safe than sorry...

This was my main point, I just exaggerated what COULD happen. I work in an industry where if you don't take precautions like this, you end up dead, so safety is pounded into us on a regular basis.

Mitch Hedberg has a joke about the advertising for casinos, and what "could" happen...