My rx7 engine seized a couple of months ago. My dad had recently put in a different type of oil than recommended in the little book. could that be the cause of my engine seizing?? All I did was calmly drive it to a friends house, go somewhere, then when I got back it wouldn't start. Could it be the oil?

 

If the engine won't turn over by pulling on the fan belts etc or putting it in forth gear and HAND shoving the car.......then it's probably carbon locked.
What happens, is a piece of carbon that has been building up on the rotors themselves, has broken loose and is now WEDGED between one of the apex seals and the rotor housing.

No, your dad did not cause the locking up of the motor....but try to make him feel guilty and buy you a new 2003 car anyway.

You might do a SEARCH for CARBON LOCK and see what happens. I'm sure you will get some answers to this post on how to unlock the engine. I have ideas but have never done one myself, just letting you know what might have happened and how to get a new 2003 car.

 

need more info on exactly what its doing.

 

Does it turn over?

 

Does seized mean anything to you? seized, frozen, locked, does not ******* move.

 

Sometimes on a rotary if you jump start it it will unjam the rotor. Its worth a try if its already fucked. A pop of the clutch torques alot harder than a starter does.

 

That can also damage the housing or rotor. This is one of the rare cases I would throw atf in it and let it sit for like 3 weeks.

 

Try putting it in 5th and pushing the car backwards. See if you can get the engine to turn over that way. Then try to turn it over slowly by hand, hopefully that'll sweep the piece of carbon out of there. If it rejams, then un lock it again and pour either ATF or MMO (Marvel mystery oil) into there and let it sit for a few days at least, then try again.

Good luck!,
Manolis

 

I'd suggest throwing in MMO now and letting it sit for at least a few days.

A friend's motor was carbon locked this past fall and we, too, pushed it backwards in 5th. Just as it first started to move there was a -PING- from the motor.

We assumed that it was an apex seal popping (or whatever the best word is) past the carbon chunk that it had jammed on. We hoped that we hadn't bitched an apex seal and went about trying to start it again (it also had a massive flooding problem.) Minutes later, it carbon locked again. We still don't know if she lost a seal - the car hasn't run since and she hasn't had it checked out by a mechanic.

I'd strongly urge you to soak it first. Try to dissolve the carbon.

 

when you turn the key, the battery power goes down and it just clicks. The engine will turn a bit when you take off the starter motor and crank it yourself, but other than that, no. I'm gonna get some MMO, but where do I get it? do they have it at normal autoparts stores or where? help me out

 

you can get mmo at kmart or walmart.

 

so you're sure it's the motor, not lack of power of a bad starter?
Pull a plug on each rotor and try to turn it over yourself. If it gets stuck, then it really is carbon locked.

 

*******so you're sure it's the motor, not lack of power of a bad starter?
Pull a plug on each rotor and try to turn it over yourself. If it gets stuck, then it really is carbon locked.*******

DITTOS.

 

DO NOT TRY TO JUMP START the car!!

Here's when the ATF method does apply!

 

What ever you do if you want the apex seals and rotor housings don't be like me. When I bought my car I didn't know crap about it and I thought it was like a piston engine and had rusted up or somthing like that (bad comparison and way different from a piston engine I know that now). So we hooked it behind my step dads F-250 superduty are dragged it around our neighbor hood a couple of miles that is. Until we figured out that all it was doing was locking up the back weels and going sidways. So I pulled the engine put another back in it's place, but when we took the old engine apart to see what was wrong with it it had broken an apex seal and deaply scared one of the rotor housings. Overal not one of my best ideas ever.

 

When i bought my 7 the engine was siezed up because it had been sitting for a year and a half. I took off the spark plugs and sprayed fogging oil into the chambers and before i towed it home. when i got home I had my wife try cranking the starter while i was torqueing on the main pulley, and finally got it to turn. Started up right after.

 

just to let you know...pushing it backwards won't turn the engine backwards if that was what you were trying to get at...If not then please explain the reason on why to push it backwards!!

 

ummm....pushing it backwards would make the engine go backwards if there was enough momentum and the transmission was set in a forward gear...the motor is made to go one direction, and the tranny is made to make the rest of the drivetrain go that way...the reverse gear throws another gear in the way to make the drivetrain go the wrong way...therefore it stand to reason, if the motor goes one way (i.e. forward) with the tranny in a forward gear, then leaving the tranny in a forward gear and pushign the car backwards, therefore forcing the tires to go backwards, would cause the motor to go backwards.

Not trying to be an *** or anything, but you did ask. If I'm wrong, please let me know why the engine won't go backwards.