I was driveing home last night and about a mile away from my house, when my car suddenly shuts off on a backroad. dead stop. right before it happened my warnings were all of a high pitch squeal comming from what seemed like my front left wheel or possibly under my hood only lasting seconds, then a nasty stench of a burnt odor, then no power, and i came quickly to a halt.

lights, radio, windows work, battery is fine
full oil, just changed a week ago, clear not burnt
full coolant not burnt
everything seems fine under the hood

the first thing i did was to check my oil but it was fine, because engine sieze was the firrst thing that came to mind!

when i turn the key, the engine cranks about 1/8th a revoulution, and you can hear something is obviously holding it back!
i have a new starter, just changed out a month ago.

what is going on!?

my tranny was about to go and was in desperate need of a rebuild, ( t-5 ), and i know it was low on fluid
but even in neutral my car still wont start.
HELP!

 

squeal...burnt odor...no worky..

check your belt(s), i mean you checked your oil but you may have overlooked the belts on the front of your engine.

thats my bet.

 

if the motor doesn't crank. take the serp belt, or the accesory betls completley off. and see if it'll crank/start.. if it does... find thelocked up pulley.... most likely an AC compressor, or the air pump. the rest of the pulleys are typically too small to lock a running engine up... although don't rule out the alternator.

 

check your water pump, one of the impelers inside may have broken off and jammed up inside the pump

 

YES! Locked up altenator, faulty i guess, and I just replaced it 3000 miles ago, I had the warranty so i got a brand new one free. Put a new belt in too since the last one just got the hell burned out of it.

man i feel stupid for saying that its was my drivetrain but i had no idea what could've been going on and was kinda freaking out. also didnt think that an altenator pully could stop a V8, even with warm belts.

anyways, what a relief.
THANKS GUYS!