My 8 shutdown without warning last night. Here's a brief run down. Left my house, drove for about 5 to 10 minutes and the engine just shutdown , no warning of any kind. I manged to coast it down the block and around a corner, it's manual, and pulled over. I tried to restart it to no avail. Popped the hood and I found the negative post and ground cables to be extremely hot, alternator also. There is full power to all systems, so it's not a battery issue. When I do try to turn it over it sounds like the starter is engaging but not spinning. Plugged in my scan tool and no codes showing. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

 

-Will it start after it has cooled down?
-Does the Cat glow after driving around for a bit?
-Do you know if you had an overheating event?
-Can you remove the cat pipe to take a look at it internally?

 

It's been sitting all night and I tried again. It's a no go. Same sound like the starter is engaging but not turning over. I have power to all systems it seems. I don't believe I had an overheating event. Coolant level is good. I keep an eye on the gauges regularly. The car was running normally and just shutdown. I'm not sure about the Cat but I did drive around a couple of weeks ago with live data running on my scan tool and temperatures seemed normal at that time. I'll have to pull the cat pipe and check and the starter too.

 

Check fuel pump, see if it's actually supplying fuel to the engine too.

Could be a bad starter motor too.

 

Well, I think my engines seized. I just tried to rotate the engine with a 19mm socket and breaker bar and it won't budge.

 

Yikes.... that would explain extreme heat and starter not moving but trying to. IF it is seized that means it wasn't getting any oil... have you noticed that the oil was not going down as normal?

 

Yup

 

It was using oil, I believe at the normal rate. I had just added a quarter litre.

 

Ouch man, that sucks. Let us know how this turns out.

 

I'm going to dump the car

 

Did you take the spark plugs out to do this?

Remember if they are in you are going to be fighting the compression.

 

Yes, still won't budge.

 

I assume it is out of gear when you try to turn it.

Also, get someone to press the clutch and then try to turn it. You could have had a trans failure.

 

Was going to say the same thing, make sure its in neutral. (since you didnt specify).

 

Yup. In neutral and the clutch disengaged. The starter is engaging but cannot turn.

 

Will the car roll in gear, with the clutch in?

You could also pull the starter and look through the hole for something all jammed up.

disconnect alternator belt, see if engine turns.

 

The car will roll in gear with clutch in. I did loosen off all belts when I tried to rotate the engine with my breaker bar and socket. I haven't pulled the starter as of yet.

 

Bummer,

I tried everything I could think of before engine. But, if rolls in gear with clutch in, that clears the transmission and clutch assembly back. If you loosened the belts, that clears the accessories.

Last thing is if the starter did something incredibly stupid and engaged, and stayed engaged. That would turn it into a generator that would kind of wreak havoc with the 12 volts, MAYBE hosing the battery and alternator. Or, Alternator went nuts and took the starter with it. I really hope you find a completely destroyed starter jammed against the flywheel.

Good luck.

 

The only time I experienced something like this was with our Evo and it was a seized alternator pulley, otherwise tho, without the belt on everything else was able to spin. Here's to hoping its a jammed starter. Let us know what you find.

 

The hail Mary failed. I pulled the starter and it works perfectly. Gave one more attempt with the breaker bar and socket with the starter out and it wouldn't even budge a bit. Thanks to all for their advice, though.

Cheers

 

Damn, Im sorry to hear that

Did you hear anything when it shut off? Ie; metal clanking or any type of noise that may lean towards some type of internal failure that would have caused something to become lodged and seize it up?

 

You did all the checks I would do - sorry to hear about your loss