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2009 Honda Civic SI potentially engine sieze? Need help and opinions

458 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Koverchenko
Long story short, i broke down while driving because i started to smell smoke through the vents. Pulled over and told someone to start the car and the car started but the whole serpentine belt assembly was shaking and rattling. At first I was almost certain it was a loose pulley, maybe the tensioner or idle pulley, but I took it to a mechanic and it took almost 3 weeks for them to look at it so it was sitting in the cold for a while. They said the engine was seized, and they could only turn the crankshaft 1/4 a turn. I just don't understand how my engine seized so quick or if its even seized to start with. Any ideas? Thanks!!
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The first thing I'd do is remove the serpentine belt, then try to start it. And if it does start, don't run it for long because the water pump won't be spinning, but you've determined it's something in the accessory drive and you can narrow down from there.
And if it still won't start, what does it sound like? If the engine really is seized, there should be a pronounced noise as the starter engages the flywheel that won't rotate.
Next I'd take the spark plugs out to see if it will rotate that way. Could be hydro-locked. Just guessing, but it's very easy to rule that out.
Finally I'd put a socket on the crank pulley bolt and try to turn it with a long breaker bar. If the bolt starts to rotate further in, STOP. It's time to pull the engine.
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