Help! Engine won't turn over.

[HWood]

Faulty fuel pump diagnosed. Reconditioned one recently bought and fitted. Ran fine for about two hours, and then VERY suddenly engine stopped. It will not restart. When I turn the key there is a big click, and nothing. We tried bump starting - nothing. Can this be another faulty fuel pump? There is no intermittent clicking from it as I believe there should be. However, even with the old faulty fuel pump fitted the engine would turn over, and would run for a few miles at a time after being hit. Could this be an ignition problem rather? The orange light on the dash that would normally flash at low revs I noticed had been on almost constantly for a short period just prior to the engine cutting out.

[bmcecosse]

Welcome to the forum...... That orange light was warning you that you had little or no oil pressure - is there even any oil in the sump? If the engine won't turn over - it has seized.....nothing to do with pump or ignition.. It probably needs a VERY expensive strip down and full rebuild. Start looking for a running engine for sale near you - and fit it while you strip the one coming out of the car.

[HWood]

The engine was reconditioned recently.

There have been no oil leaks.

[bmcecosse]

But is there any oil in it? And who 'reconditioned' it...... If it won't turn over on the starting handle - take the plugs out and try again - if it still won't turn - it's seized...... Engine out for strip down I'm afraid.

[autolycus]

Have you checked the oil level on the dipstick since this happened? Where was it? How many miles since you previously checked it?

What exactly happened when you tried bump starting?

If you have a starting handle, put the gearbox in Neutral, leave the ignition off, and try turning the engine over using the starting handle (clockwise as you look at the car from in front of it). Will it turn fairly easily, with two definite increases in shove required per revolution?

Kevin

[HWood]

It's seized, completely!!! Thanks Kevin, we tried what you suggested. The oil was pretty much empty. We drove 400 miles down from Scotland where we had bought it from, and then it's just been sat waiting for a new fuel pump since then. Oil was checked in Scotland and was fine. It actually used more oil than petrol. I had no idea that that could be the case.

Anyway, it's sat awaiting a new engine that I must hunt down. I feel utterly utterly disappointed and rather silly that I didn't think to check the oil.

[bmcecosse]

The orange light was the clue.......oh dear, what a waste of a good engine. I doubt it used 'more oil etc' since your 400 miles would need ~ 10 gallons of petrol...at least! The oil pump starts to draw air when it's down ~ 2 pints and the orange light will flash a warning.... I guess you didn't notice.....

[les]

It doesn't sound like a decent reconditioning job if the engine used 6 pints of oil from Scotland, you either left a trail of oil behind or a cloud of blue smoke! However good luck in sorting it.

[katy]

We drove 400 miles down from Scotland where we had bought it from

Any warranty?

[bmcecosse]

As I pointed out above - it only needs to use ~ 2 pints of oil for the oil pump to start sucking air....and the orange light to start flashing it's warning.... . When I bought a car on ebay - and had to collect it from 'down south' - we drove it home stopping every 50/60 miles and checking for oil leaks and level, and water leaks and level. It didn't have any problems - but we did check every hour or so.........and stretched our legs......