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[78bex]

Little lady around the corner from me with the bonnet up on her P reg astra.
It`s her first car. it`s been needing the coolant topping up from day one.
now the 1.4 lump will not turn over
There"s power to the starter motor & lights are nice & bright.
Bit of mayo in the oil filler neck
So into gear roll forward clutch out & bang dead stop.
I pull back the cam cover & cam belt is ok.
She drove it home last night with no probs and now the engine appears to have seized up?
Or is something blocking the rotation of the engine ?
Anyway her dad says it`s an easy fix so he`s gone to get jump leads
any idea`s

[mantahatch]

I once went to a Austin Montego with a "siezed engine" after a little diagnosis I removed starter motor and engine rotated ok.

Not saying it is the same but is possibly a cheap try.

That said the loss of coolant says possible head gasket gone, hydraulic lock.

[78bex]

Ok just passing by with the pooch
About 4 heads under the bonnet now the plugs and starter motor are out.
young blondie now tells me it did try to start followed by a  " horrible screechy noise" & now seized" ?
I threw in my two penneth & got a socket onto the crankshaft  pulley
I`m almost able to un bolt the thing rather than the engine turn over.
never seen this before, the engine will not rotate even by a cats whisker.
Some joker was about to start hammering the flywheel ring gear thru the aperture.
I took a close look at the dipstick theres definately water in the oil.
But the bores are water free.
What the hell is it

[tidla]

If the plugs are out and the starter, what else is left. You have tried to turn it with a ratchet on the crank..

[aaronjb]

What the hell is it

A nice full set of spun (and seized) bearings thanks to more water than oil in the sump, perhaps?

[78bex]

The oil pump sucks oil thru the strainer from the bottom of the sump.
The oil pump is driven off the crankshaft. more water than oil
Seized oil pump maybe? that would stop the crank rotating.
She said she heard a screeching sound, was that the oil pump grinding to a halt?
 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Pop the aux belt off and try.

Could easily be aircon pump or alternator seized, this also lines up with the screaching noise.

[Abiton]

The oil pump sucks oil thru the strainer from the bottom of the sump.
The oil pump is driven off the crankshaft. more water than oil
Seized oil pump maybe? that would stop the crank rotating.
She said she heard a screeching sound, was that the oil pump grinding to a halt?

Oil floats on water, no?
So if there's lots of water in the sump, that's what the oil pump will have been sending to all the bearings, with seizy-uppy results?

[78bex]

Just an update
The  home mech they`ve got in to try & sort. ended up doing an autopsy
His report pronounced a leaking head gasket or cracked cylinder head.
As predicted one or more  main bearings appears seized.
The oil filter when removed contained mostly water.
The guy charged for 2 hours work & removed  cam belt & sump pan.+ oil pump.
The oil pump looks shot to hell, it still  just about turns.
Metallic particles were found in the sump drainings & evident in the oil pump
Poor old astra merit 126k miles & 16 tears old may she rest in pieces.
So if you think your head gasket appears blown.......yer that`s right keep the coolant topped up.

[Murph]

If it's a 1.4 8v I can prob get a good cheap engine if needed -  a mate of mine is thinking of weighing in his Astra.

Of course it all depends on location and weather they feel the car is worth the work.