prodigy401

Yesturday my motor seized, i wanted to know what are diffrent things that can cause this, and some ways to fix it. Please and thank you

83Limited

Need a little more info to help narrow down what could have happened. HAs the car been sitting long? WHat were the circumstances when it seized? What RPM was it spinning at? Has it been running smoothly? Have you made any changes or modifications lately?

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

There's info in the FAQ about dealing with carbon-lock seizures; if 'tis been caused by carbon lock, that should help you out.

Also, take the belts off of your front-engine components (smog pump, alt, water pump, AC) and see if that makes a difference. A frozen alt can lock an engine if hte belt's properly tight.

You might get lucky and find that your problem is a seized oil pump or distributor, or other front-cover issue, and not have to open the actual core. Pull the dizzy first, & make sure it's not the starter or other non-core obstructions

If it's anything else & the engine is actually seized, the only choice is to pull it & disassemble it to find out what happened. Trying to 'force' it when it's seized will just end up damaging it further, running up your repair costs.

One of the downsides of the simplicity of these engines is that anything that goes drastically wrong enough to stop the engine from turning will generally mean you need to take it apart.

prodigy401

Thanks alot, no the car has not been sitring long runs fine, i was in first gear at low rpm turning and it just died. I thought maybe it didnt get enouph gas. But it wouldnt turn back on. My brother looked at it and told me the engine seized. Maybe it was not getting enouph oil.

The motor was rebuilt before i got the car, never gave me any problems turned right on no hesitation. So im not sure why it would seize.

I will look in the faq threads, thank you

snowbreaker

iTrader: (1)

one thing i might want to recommend before you do all the hassle with tearing the engine out and pulling it apart is marvals mystery oil in the housings, just pour it in each spark plug hole and put the spark plugs back in and hand turn it so it get the fluid in there, then leave it sit for a few days

i have done this before when my car was only running on 1 rotor and i put marvals mystery oil in the holes and let it sit and it started right back up and on 2 rotors
so the oil basically saved my engine, i think a container of it is like 5.99 or something and its well worth that
give it a try and see if it helps

prodigy401

The motor, wont move at all.

13x

how are you trying?

using the key and trying to crank?

or a socket and breaker bar on the e-shaft nut?

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Yep be sure it's really seized, just because the starter won't turn it over doesn't necessarily mean it's seized (in fact, more likely a starter problem).

But if it really is seized up and the motor won't turn, I'd try a 1/2" drive socket on the e-shaft nut and a good strong breaker bar, then try to break it lose both ways. I had this happen on the Silver One, my current daily driver, after it had been sitting for awhile. When I started working with it to put it back on the road one morning I went out to start it up and it had seized. This was after the engine had been started and run a bit, but had very little run time since sitting.

I couldn't break it lose by putting pressure on the e-shaft nut in the normal direction of rotation, but by heaving really good in the opposite direction it finally let go and started spinning again. The car started right up, power and compression seemed normal and I went on with getting the car road worthy. It was probably a carbon lock, like DD is mentioning above.

That was two years and 50,000 miles ago.

prodigy401

I did try to spin it with a ratchet it did not want to move, maybe i didnt have enouph levragei didnt try to hard t. Scared i would make it worse. This is my first rx7.

I will give it another shot with a breaker bar..

DriveFast7

iTrader: (1)

Try to spin it backwards too.

When you crank it on the starter does the car try to lurch forward? Could be stuck in gear.

prodigy401

Doesnt move doesnt turn over or anything, all the power works, dash light head lights ect. But when i go to start it it just clicks and nothing happends. Motor wont turn at all. I havnt had time to dry to get it un stuck yet.

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

As a last effort:
- Take out all 4 spark plugs (compression can make it harder to turn by hand)
- Remove all the belts (again, belt tension can make it hard to turn)
- Make sure it's out of gear

Try again to turn it in either direction with the wratchet. If that doesn't work, take out the starter, try again.

If THAT doesn't work, put your starter back in and everything back together. Put it in first and have someone gently tow you forward. The wheels turn the transmission which turns the flywheel which turns the engine. If your engine is locked so hard that your wheels don't want to move, then yup your engine is sized. If it happened while running you're looking at a rebuild.

Even then, when you take the engine out, before you take it apart, try to spin it again! Why? Because there's a really really small chance the problem's in your transmission and once you get the engine and tranny disengaged from each other you'll be able to spin it. Not bloody likely but hey, best to check ALL the bases, right? (alternatively, if you have someone hold down the clutch while you do the first test it'll eliminate the transmission as an option, assuming your clutch equipment is all in working order)

Good luck.

Jon

justinfox

iTrader: (3)

I once thought that my engine was seized. Turns out i tapped a bolt through the bell housing and it was holding my flywheel :P

Rotor13B

My first seven had an oil leak that would run back on the starter. The previous owner apparently drove it like this for a long time until it wouldn't start one day. Turns out that the oil had attracted so much dirt that the starter basicly got clogged up with road grim/oil to the point that it wouldn't turn anymore. A big chunk of it jammed itself between the armature and the magnet housing. Might be something to check out.

prodigy401

Thank you all alot, I finally got the motor to spin. Started up but did not want to run well, will be taking the motor out today.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

Before pulling it out, do a compression test. Try some seaform first.

prodigy401

I took the motor out. Did not open it but when I looked in it you can see one of the apex seals broke on the back rotor

ray green

iTrader: (14)

Oooops. I feel your loss.