need a bit of a hand, large rattle, over heat,dead battery

[jfatboy]

ok so just got back from a meet, on the way back the car lost vtec, then started being really sluggish, got into worcester stopped at some lights and it just died. and the battery didn't have enough juice to start it. there was mega steam from under the bonnet so the rad has cracked

while this happened a rattle appeared and got louder and louder now its so loud everyone outside the car can hear it.

im thinking water pump/belt tensioner, but then that wouldnt explain a loss of charge in the battery as it runs off the cam belt.
ive checked the coolant and it doesnt seem that the headgasket has gone, no ingress of oil.

any help appreciated.

 

[type-r-dunk]

Sounds to me like it ran out of oil, you carried on driving and seized the engine!

 

[jfatboy]

ran out? i checked it earlier. ill see if the under side is covered in oil. its really dry inside the rocker, but the level is ok. but u might be right, im going to have to look tomorrow

thanks for the reply mate its appreciated

 

[jfatboy]

just checked inside the head and there is oil present, and checked the oil level and thats ok, theres no water in the oil atall either. im stumped

 

[CR1S]

I suppose if the oil pump had failed there wouldn't have been any oil in the head right? so unless its the oil squirty things or it just massively over heated would this rule out a seized engine?
Did you notice if it had overheated at the time?

 

[Eoghain]

is the alternator charging?

 

[samk115]

Sounds to me like you have overheated and seized the motor. you can still seize a motor if you overheat it enough, as metal expands when it gets hot. Run a motor out of water, and the pistons will physically expand and jam in the cylinder.

It sounds to me like this has happened. Does it turn over now? It has probably cooled down and shrunk slightly, letting the motor turn once more.

Was the coolant level ok when you checked it? Or had the radiator actually split and dropped your coolant? have you checked?


The knocking noise you were hearing is most likley a run bearing or bearings due to the over heat causing the oil to get so hot.

P.s, i have a fair idea about this,
1: Im a mechanic.

2: I had this happen to an old celica GT-Four runabout i had. The bottom radiator hose split and dropped all my coolant, but because the temperature sensor is resistance based (temp of coolant changes the resitance across the sensor, which is read by the ECU), with no water in the circut it did not work properly (as it couldnt because the resistance would have been all whack) and just sat at the half way point so i had no idea. No steam as i was moving to fast to see it.

About 10 minutes later, i had pulled over because of a knocking noise (ran a big end). My oil was literally smoking out of the dipstick when i removed it because it was so hot! I turned the motor off (stupid mistake, as motor temperatures rise for a brief period after switch-off due to no more oil and coolant flow so heat is not carried away) and couldnt start it again!

I biffed that motor out!