Engine Issues

[Jarhead]

All,
I have a 03 XLT 4x4. I was towing a trailer to the beach in September of last year. As I was going up the hill, I noticed that I started to lose power. I quickly pulled over and noticed that the engine was not running. I attempted to turn it over with no avail, when the key was turned, all the gauges would swing over but no starter turning at all.
I had the car towed 65 miles to the dealership. They charged me 85 dollars and told me that the engine was seized. The dipstick was a half a quart low, but it was discolored. They told me it was $8000 to replace the engine, as I did not have all the receipts for the oil changes.
The car is parked right now, I have taken out the spark plugs and I am attempted to turn the engine over by hand. It is not moving at this time.

so, long story short does anyone have any other ideas that I can do to attempt to resolve this? I am not going to pay the stealership that money. I can get the engine for 2900 and replace it myself to save lots of money.

Nice for a car that was only 3 years old and had 41,000 miles on it. Frustrating at best.

 

[lakmflx]

Are you absolutely sure that the motor is seized or did the stealership just try to pull a fast one on you? When you say that the gauges went all nuts when you tried to start it, that sounds like a bad alternator/battery. That's a typical symptom when those are going out.

$8,000 for motor ? LOL they can kiss my ass... You can pick one up on eBay which will be used NOT rebuilt maybe even cheaper then 2900 like the one you found. Engines dont really seize like that out of the blue, Most common scenarios are bearings taking a dump. If you have the knowledge (or maybe someone you know) tear down the motor to see what (if anything at all ) broke.

 

[opie]

yeah, i had an s-10 pick up (granted, much smaller engine) that siezed up....$3000 to fix at dealer...

in one weekend i pulled the engine, pulled the crank shaft and had it turned 10thousandths under, put oversized main and rod bearings in, new front and rear seals, oil pump, cluch disk, pilot bearing- total cost...under $300

If i were you, i would try to find out EXACTLY what the problem is before shelling out the $$$.
As lakmflx said, i could be as simple as a battery and/or alternator. And if its not that simple, it could still be something you could fix in a weekend for a fraction of the money.

 

[green03]

if you had oil pressure then it shouldn't have siezed...... unless you dropped a valve or something like that.....

 

[Jarhead]

I am unsure of what exactly happened to the engine. There was no loud noise, no clanking. I have been driving a car when it dropped a valve, (long story) and this was nothing like that. I had pressure, I remember looking down and checking the gauges about half way up the mountain, so unless something really bad happened in that 2-3 minutes there was pressure when this happened. There is no coolant in the oil, and no oil in the coolant. The plugs look good, not burned or overheated in any way. I have the plugs out and I am trying to turn the engine over, with no avail. My next thing is to pull the covers off the heads and look there, after that I will probably just pull the engine out. luckily grandma has a nice warm heated shed and the expy is parked right in front of it.

I am shopping around for a service manual. I have seen the CD ones on ebay for about $15. Does anyone have any experience with those? or just the books. I have all the service manuals for my other cars (audi's) and they have come in very handy.

 

[lakmflx]

Investing in a manual is the best bet here. If wil come in handy. Im not familiar with the CD versions but i imagine they would be just as good, and you can probably print off a page instaed of carrying a book with you.

 

[green03]

first thing i would try is cranking the motor over by hand. you can use a deep socket and a big ratchet or breakover bar and connect to the bolt that holds the harmonic balancer in..... turning clockwise of course....

 

[Jarhead]

Bingo, I am trying that, but I am not sure I have the correct size socket. Is it a 18mm? If someone could let me know what size it is that would help immensely.

 

[JUST4FUN]

Mabey you did'nt siezed, you were towing mabey you broke the converter and its locked up

 

[97expy]

I would make sure to take off the belt when trying to turn over the engine. Believe it or not a locked up bearing such as an Air conditioning pump can stall the motor and act as if the engine locked up! You may say no way but I have been a mechanic for 7 years and have seen it more that a couple times.