Today my 88 Accord Coupe DX engine seized up. There was oil, no knocking, it just stopped. Only heat malfunction indication I ever got was occasionally when the temperature needle would climb towards the H while idling at a fast food place. I also have trans trouble (4th gear slipping) and the AC was blowing warm. The mechanics put a breaker bar on it and using two guys, couldn't get it to move or turn over. Very depressing, any thoughts or help? My mechanic recommended I get a new or used car, given my finacial circumstances. I needed to put a new water pump on it as well as a new power steering pump. --Tazzy
You can have plenty of oil in the pan, but if the pump cannot get it out, it won't do any good. You might have had a blocked pickup screen. Did you notice a blinking oil light? Also, if there was mechanical failure, like a broken connecting rod or something, the engine could have locked up not matter how much oil was available. Another possibility (which I've only seen once... in a 1985 accord) is that the automatic transmission is what's locked up. You might have the shop see if they can check that... perhaps unbolting the torque converter from the flexplate.
Rapid heating at idle indicates a serious problem. Something in the engine may have cracked or bent from thermal stress; cold shrinkage and hot expansion fighting each other. Such forces can warp and crack solid metal.
My mechanic recommended I get a new Whatever the failure is, it sounds like your car is way beyond the point of making economic sense to repair. It is almost surely ready for the scrap yard. Something mechanical failed hard inside the engine or transmission. John
The timing belt was fine they said...they are scratching their heads over it, and I just am Sick over it, cause I had the car forever...
I opened a seized V6 once. The bearings somehow wedged over each other in one of the crankshaft journal. That engine had major engine wear.
I'd be inclined to do a little investigation before giving it up for dead. Maybe pull the head, maybe drop the oil pan, maybe even drop the transmission. If you don't want to replace it if you don't have to, I mean. Could well be something seized up around the trans end. Is this an automatic, btw, like I'm thinking? Anyway, I have vague visions of busted up torque converter or clutch pieces jamming in the housing. In the past I've had water pumps break and jam on me, but that didn't seize the engine, it just broke the belt. If they say the timing belt is OK, then it's not likely to be the disastrous valve/head crash. Although a timing belt can slip a cog or two.... Just plain metal to metal seizing, typically the rings to the cylinder walls, is usually from sitting unused for a few months, and I've had good long term results just getting a large vehicle to bump the damn thing and bust it loose, if that's all there is. If it's crank/bearing type problems, put new ones in. Now when I bought the Corvair whose con rod had seized, broken, and smashed through the crankcase wall, that engine was pretty much unfixable....
