Today on the way to work my car stopped running at a stoplight, and I couldn't get it to start again. The started clicks on, but the engine doesn't turn.

I got some guy in a pickup truck to push me to the top of a hill and then I tried letting the clutch out to start it but the tires just locked up.

This one is a stumper, even for me.

please help!

 

You just damage a housing!!! Same thing happen to my/our (my fathers car @ the moment), from what I understand is "carbon lock up. Carbon lock up (from what I understand, might be wrong) occurs because you haven't really pushed the car.... that’s why it should be redline very often.

I really hope you don't have my same luck.

BTW - Try the ATF trick before opening the engine!

 

I redline the car at least a dozen times a day, I'm fairly certain there's no carbon in my engine. It has been ATF'ed a couple times before too, so it should be nice and clean

 

It could be a lot of things. Check to see if you can turn the engine over by hand. If you can, then it could be your transmission. If you can't, then check to see if the AC compressor or other accessories has locked up. If it's not the accessories, then you probably ate a seal or carbon chunk.

 

Hmmm.. I know that it isn't the tranny or rear end cause it will roll fine in neutral.

The more I've thought about it today, the more I think the pinion gear of the starter is stuck against the flywheel. That's the only reason I can think of for the car working fine, then when I stop at the light it locks up.

Perhaps the starter was hot as hell from spinning w/ the flywheel all the way to work, and when it stopped moving it fused to the starter housing or something.

As soon as I get off work I'm going to jack it up and see.

thanks for the replies...

 

mm...just because it rolls in neutral doesn't mean that the other gears aren't busted and locked... but you're probably right.. Maybe have a friend press the clutch and try to spin it by hand?

-Tesla

 

Are you sure its not something simple like your starter solenoid? My car clicks all the time without the engine turning over, but I just keep turning the key off and on and after a couple of tries it starts. Maybe yours just went completely out?

 

I second this. One of your housings is probably a goner. If you screw with the engine in this state too much, it will end up costing you even more. This happened to my T2 with only 57,000 miles on it back in 1998. I tried the push start, and then I tried to put a bar on the eccentric shaft and turn the engine over. When I finally realized what I had done, the rear housing was completely wasted and I even bent one of the rotors. Just don't go nuts on it... take the starter off, see if you can turn the engine over by hand. If you can't easily do it, STOP!

 

Well, the starter is fine, I took it off and checked it out, so if I'm turning the key w/ the clutch pressed in then it should turn the engine, but no dice so I'm ruling out stuff behind the flywheel.

 

Pretty sure the engine is toast, the starter was fine, seems to me anything else is going to be a headache. I'm thinking a couple things right now,
- Spark plug broken
- Seal wedged or other catastrophic failure

Given the circumstances, however, its just mighty odd that it would decide to break right as I'm stopping at a light, then just stall out and refuse to start afterwards.
I'm kinda pissed too, my last engine gave up the ghost on xmas morning last year, and now it happened again! Swapping the engine was fun the first time, but now I'm not looking forward to it That's why I'm going to look at a TurboII tonight!

btw Kurgan, your car is sweet as hell, wish mine still looked like that.

 

You need to try to turn it by hand. The only thing that you will accomplish by cranking the starter is wearing down your battery and flywheel, toasting your starter, and possibly damaging your engine. The starter is the last thing that you should check, especially since a bad starter isn't going to cause your engine to quit at the light.

BTW, the reason that I mentioned the AC was because my friend picked up a used RX-7 with this problem. The previous owner said that he stopped to get gas, and the engine wouldn't start when he tried to leave the gas station. Two different "mechanics" told him that the piston rings were bad (my friend figured that it ate a seal). Anyway, after paying the guy $500 for the 88 GXL, my friend towed it home. A few weekends later he tried turning the engine over with his hand, but the AC belt was stopping the movement because the compressor was locked-up. After he cut the belt and replaced two sparkplugs, he drove down the street in his nice GXL, and lived happily ever after. The moral of this story is that even if you don't have AC on your car, check all your freakin' pulleys, b-atch! The end.

 

Matt,

Hey this is Kevin, remember me? Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Sure sounds like a wedged seal to me. Get a 19mm socket and ratchet and put on the e-shaft...if it wont turn over with moderate force on that(clockwise) then the engine is shot. Probably a housing too. ANother friend of mine in Charlotte had his 89 gxl lock up 2 months ago, and proceded to convert it to a t2 using 87 parts. Also Chris in Asheville seems to have had his lock up last week too, so I guess its abad winter for rotaries in NC.

IF it does turn out to be your engine, I have an 86-8 na streetported engine that Kevin Ward built for me for sale. IT got all new 2pc hurley seals and stuff but reused housings in good shape, 0 miles. IF you think you might be interested in that, maybe shoot me an email. Used engines are a risky proposition, and from my experience about a year or 1.5 is the norm for a used engine, no matter whats its previous condition or how well you treat it.

 

(as I replyed to your email) same thing happened to my friends V8 chev with his alternator. the bearings seized up and the motor would not turn over untill he removed the belts.

 

Speaking of that, it reminds me of some funny ****. I had become unemployed from my regular, bill-paying job, so I decided to sell my rx7 parts and car inventory, 5 fcs and about $3000 worth of parts. I found a buyer for it all who lived about 400 miles away, so we arranged to tow the cars to his place ourselves, using tow dollies. My little S-10 isnt the strongest thing in the world, but it towed fine. ITs has always been very reliable, despite having the shitty chevy 2.8 v6 that s10 drivers despise so much.

SO IM making a solo run with a car behind me and a bed full of heavy parts, and I get to his exit in VA, 400 miles from home, after climbing a LONG *** 3 mile, straight up(6% grade) hill with this car in tow. I take the exit, push in the clutch to downshift and slow my load, and the truck dies. That was odd, I thought. I downshift and let the clutch out to restart her, and the freaking truck stops dead in the road. I managed to let it roll off the side of the shoulder, since I was headed down a hill on the exit. Everything had been normal at last glance...charge, oil pressure, temperature. I turned the key to hear..."CLUNK" every time. Oh **** I thought. Motor must be locked, to stop me like that, keep in mind I had 4000lb or more of weight behind me pushing me down a hill, and it still wouldnt budge.

Luckily the guy I was meeting planned on coming back home behind me that night, and we were both gonna tow the remaining 2 cars back to his place. SO HE came in his truck and got the car I towed, brought it to his house, then returned and we dollied my truck back to my house, 5 hours, a trip he was gonna make anyway. We tried rolling it down a hill in 5th gear, and it locked and skidded for 30 feet. FOr 3 days I figured it had locked the engine, thrown a rod or a timing chain or something, I didnt even look at it. I finally decided to strip it down and check the timing chain as a last-ditch effort...

I took off the alternator belt(serpentine for air pump, alternator, water pump, everything) and noticed the a/c pulley slowly spinning, and it sorta hypnotized me for a second. THen an idea popped in my head...I spun the air pump, worked fine. Spun the p/s, worked fine. Spun the water pump, worked fine. Spun the alternator, LOCKED SOLID. Got in and cranked the truck with the belt off, and Vrooom, there it went.

I still cant believe it just didnt fry that belt right off instead of stopping a 7000lb load from rolling down a hill to a dead stop coming off that exit.

Learn something every day!

 

ya he thought his was locked up too. his was a 2.8 S10 too but he did something about it hence his v8 locking up

 

lol.......cool verb

was this last weekend when you were gonna stop by???

 

whats ups guy. we talked on the phone a while ago, remember? talked about the TII conversion and some parts I was going to buy from you, anyways the deal fell through.

I know alot about locked engines. You should IM me, Suparslinc on AIM

 

Well, if mine ever does die, it will either have a 3.4L crate motor(same external parts as a stock 2.8 with 40 more hp, just a different bore and stroke), a 4.3L with an auto trans from a 91-93, or a freakin rotary engine, depending on what else I have to drive at teh time(allowed downtime) and how much money I have available, and what I can find right then. As long as it runs perfect like it does now, Ill leave it be.

Actually, no, this was about 3 months ago, when I first met up with Curtis, who lives up in Charlottesville. HE bought me out of rx7s and parts back in early september, adn Ive since aquired more. I went up there this last weekend to a) meet some guys from Massachusetts to sell some parts and b) tow curtis' turbo back here for me to disassemble for him, since he hasnt had time.


Who me? Dude, I talk to like 10 people a day about rx7s and parts. How long ago? What about specifically? I probably need to get aol IM and MSN messenger again, I havent reinstalled them since my computer got a virus about 2 weeks ago.

 

Does the thing have any oil in it?

 

Yeah plenty of oil. The Alternator thing didnt even occur to me. I am going to go outside and try that here in a minute. Would an RX7 make it 15 miles on just battery power?

Also, last night I bought an 88 TurboII. It's going to be a project, as it didn't make it all the way home from Charlotte I am going to need a TurboII hoood if anyone has one they want to sell or trade for.

Also, kevin, as I get this turbo running I am going to have a bunch of parts I would like to offload at once if you're interested in buying them or helping me move them.

 

Nope, no belt driven accessories are siezed. Guess all signs point to fucked engine.

At least I'll be motivated to fix up the TurboII in a hurry. However, I think the turbo engine will need the block weld fix. More on that tomorrow perhaps.

XimbueX

 

mm..i had my alternator belt break...which is extra-bad, since i don't have the air pump on... so, nothing was driving the water pump.. oy..

Anyway, it very well may make it 15 miles on battery power.... BUT, without something driving the water pump, it wouldn't... :-/

-Tesla

 

Boy I know that shitty feeling. Have you been able to unseize the engine? What I did was poured ATF in the spark plug holes and let it soak a day. Then I got a prybar and moved the flywheel backwards through the starter hole. It took me forever, but I finally got it around one time. Then I reinstalled the starter and spun the engine the normal way with the key but without the spark plugs and the EGR fuse out. It spun around normally so I put everything back in to start it up. It started up after a whole lotta cranking, but it was runnin' like **** and couldn't idle so I knew it was the end of the engine. Rebuild/Streetport scheduled for April.