its my girlfriends 04 saturn ion 2.2 109k auto.
(i know i shoulda listened before when u guys said get rid of it)

heres the deal.
only known issue with car before this happened is the ac clutch is bad and a strut is leaking.
The car was driving fine she went to a couple stores no prob. parked the car and went in another store.
bam no start now. i go to jump it and nothing. the starter just turn the engine for a sec or two and starter dies off.

Got it towed to a firestore dealership(closest shop to the break down) they called said it was the starter. ok i said fix it.

they called back and said its not the starter the engine is seized and needs replaced.

heres what he said: after putting the new starter on car had same issue. he bench tested the old starter and it was fine.
with a breaker bar he could not rotate the engine. he could how ever rotate it in the opposite direction. the starter would rotate the engine very slowly the starter would overheat and stop working completely.
he pulled plugs its not hydrolocked. T
hats pretty much all i got from him. he admited he never seen or heard of an engine seizing like this.
so i was left with him calling me monday for a qoute on an engine replacemint.

I did post this on a ion fourm but it is a very slow site and figured good old CF might pull throught for me. and shes driving my jeep now while i drive a work van with no back seats for the car seats and i want my jeep back.

from that fourm i was told could be timing chain jumped. and they asked if the shop checked the batt and alt, the shop didnt say they checked them so i dont know.

Thanks alot guys. the time of the year u need as much money as possable is when ever thing goes wrong.

 

shop pulled valve cover to check timing chain and it and the pullyes are fine. so there is no answer to why the engine seized.

u guys got nothing for me?

 

makes me wonder if it broke a valve retainer and dropped the valve into the cylinder causing the piston to lock. Would be an interesting tear down.

 

but the pistons do move, very slowly with the starter not at all with a breaker bar and backwards with the breaker bar they move.

im think i want the engine afterwards to rip it apart just for peice of mind.
I mean come on the engine seized why stopped?? I wanna know why.

 

Its technically not seized, its jammed. Going one way and not the other indicates a valve issue as indicated before.

And personally I have never seen a timing chain "jump". Ever. I'm still not sure how a properly installed chain could even move a single tooth on the gears in the first place.

 

This has a timing chain? I'm surprised, I would have guessed a belt. At any rate, the belt could have broken which could cause these symptoms. One thing, I would take it to a different place, these guys don't know jack $h1t.

 

Never seen the chain jump either. Some timing gears do have a keyway that can jump a notch.

 

Lots of timing chains have jumped.
They all eventually wear out and stretch and can jump time. How about a 96 BMW 328Is I had, jumped time and ruined a very expensive engine.
But this time, I 90% sure its a timing belt.
If it jumped tooth/broke its an interference engine and the valves contact the piston and bend/break valves, and can punch holes in the pistons is they break off.

If its the valves hitting a piston making it not turn you should be able to rotate it backwards and turn the engine.
Best thing to do is put a belt on it to get it back in time then before reassembling everything run a compression check. It will tell you if the valve train is screwed and you need to pull the head.

Its not uncommon to jump a tooth when you shut the engine off. I got a Taurus SHO sitting here in the yard that did exactly that, I really need to tear into it and replace the belt. Fortunately its not an interference engine.

 

the dude at shop looked up if its an interference engine when i asked to check timing chain and he said it wasnt. (but im not sure what that means)

they give me a price today for 2100 for a engine. so ill be looking in to a cheaper then that.

A friend of mine is going to tow it and tell me what he thinks. id love to just fix it and not replace the engine. i mean my jeep needs an engine now too and the saturns gettin all the money and attetion...

they did check the chain and said it wasnt the problem tho. but im getting a second opinion.
Thanks for this info it is definitely helping!

 

Regardless of compressiion check if the valves made contact the head has to come off anyway.

 

Wrong thats the reason for the compression check.
If all cylinders are in tolerance, there is no reason to pull the head.

 

IT WAS THE MOTHER F'IN AC PULLY AND CLUTCH SEIZED UP NOT THE ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They took the belt off and it started!!
thank u everone for all the help, ur awesome!

 

Wow, that shop was horrible. Removing the accessory belt should have been one of the first things they tried. BTW, All Saturn made engines (They did outsource some motors) used a timing chain and not a belt. This was a big marketing deal for them when the company was created.

 

well, now you know who NOT to go to if you have any other car troubles.

 

the phone call after they put in a new engine and still didnt start sure woulda been funny.

and they said they would only replace the AC condensor and replace the pully and wanted 800 for that, there outta there minds. if it wasnt for me tellin them what to check they woulda wasted 2500 in parts and labor with the engine, they should fix AC for free.