I was noticing the symptoms of what my be a starter about to fail. Periodically in the last few days the car was getting more difficult to start, even with a fully charged battery. I changed the starter and it was starting better but still with some hesitation. After 2 trips I went to start the car. The engine won't turn over. Now I hear the starter grind against the teeth of the fly wheel.

Can someone tell me if the engine seized, can the starter still spin?

 

when my engine siezed i could hear my starter spinning

 

Did it sound like the starters wheel was grinding on the flywheel? Do you know whats a easy way to tell if its seized? Its a manual transmission. Would you think a push start would be safe? I'm just hoping that the starter may just need to be shimmed.

 

i would try push starting, it may not be shimmed properly and the engine may be sitting at a point that is difficult for the starter to turn. i have never heard of an engine slowly seizing like that. i have heard of an engine being seized from sitting for two long and i have heard of an engine locking up all of a sudden. the times u used the new starter did it sound like a clean connected or did it sound mis allgined

 

yea when my engine seized it was all of a sudden. I also have an auto tranny. i would also recommend push starting it maybe it just got misaligned like Jeff said.

 

or you could try turning it over by hand..

 

Undo the serp belt. And then make sure you can spin all the pulleys by hand except the crank pulley. A locked up alternator or air pump can cause the motor not to turn over.

 

I can't say I've seen that, and I've worked at a few shops (though I guess anythings possible...). Its much more likely to throw the belt off or burn it up if one of those lock up.

But anyway... pull the belt and try to turn the crank by hand - should take some muscle, but it should turn if you can grab the balancer with both hands.

 

Give your starter a wack with a wrench if you havent already. ON my old car the starter was on its way out and a few times it wouldnt start so i would hit it and knock everything in place and it would run just fine.

 

I was able to push start it (thank god) So its most likely the starter is out of alignment. The work on the starter is under warranty so its getting fixed this weekend.