jmroach

Car: 1990 c2 cab w/ 60k miles.

Driving home this evening going ~40mph in 4th gear and accelerating slightly my car suddenly lost power and made a noticeable (but not violent), mid-frequency, high-speed clicking sound. I popped the clutch as quickly as I could and was able to coast into a parking lot.

I tried to start the car and it won't start or turn over much (can't tell if it's ceased).

Two questions I was hoping to get help on:

1) what should I do next? I was going to try to gently turn over the engine at the flywheel nut to see if it is indeed ceased.

2) what could be wrong? the things i'm imagining aren't pretty... timing chain, etc...

greg1990964

Hard to know without much more info. Could be something stupid or really bad. Did you keep track of oil level? And what's up with 40mph in 4th gear? They don't like being lugged around.

jmroach

Oil was changed ~6 months ago and checked maybe a 2 months ago. I drive the car about every other week for 15-30 miles. It leaks about a drop every couple weeks from the block parting in line (under engine shroud removed).

I'll add check the oil level to my next steps list though.

What other info would be helpful to diagnose?

jmroach

Oh, and it might have been closer to 50mph. Wasn't really paying attention.

greg1990964

Just wondering if low oil but the red light would go off and a buzzer. Its weird it won't even turn over. Sounds like a valve or something. Smell funny? Smoking? Can you see anything around the fan area? Could be a number of things. Let the experts chime in soon. They know more then me. Not that it matters at this second, but I never use 4th unless on a highway. I sit in 3rd gear cruising at 45-50. I have a long straight up hill street leading to my house and I nail it and hit 80 till I stab brakes in 3rd gear. She likes it.

jmroach

Thx, Greg.

No smell, no smoking. I didnt see anything obvious or out of place around the fan area. It might not have been clear from initial description, the car died (zero rpms when clutch was pushed) when driving after the described symptoms.

fasterlaster

Get it home first, flatbed or some such transport. Then take some time trying to prevent any more expensive issues.

I'd take the plugs out and rotate the engine slowly and see if there is any binding at all or if the engine is actually seized up, then start your troubleshooting from there. Good luck

newsboy

What do you mean by it wouldn't turn over much? Did you check the condition of your battery, grounds?
The clicking could be part of the warning system(gong, \central informer) saying you have a problem, which could be many things, including electrical, coils etc... What exacyly is happenning when you turn the key?

prschmn

Odds of the engine just suddenly seizing are pretty remote unless it was out of oil.
Like others have said/asked--is it due to lack of battery that it won't crank or?
Not hard to turn it over by hand with a socket on the alt pulley---start there and let us know
what you find.
Your decription of the noise sounds a bit like a tensioner failure-not real likely with a 3.6
but it can happen.

jmroach

Thanks all. Should have the car flat-bedded home and up on the lift later this morning.

@fasterlaster- why take the plugs out?

greg1990964

Seems like you should just take it over to the shop.

jmroach

Plugs. Duh- compression. Plural threw me.

jmroach

Update: got the car home and up on the lift. Pulled the exhaust and took the exhaust-side plugs out. I tried to turn it over by hand (yes, neutral) using the fan-adjacent nut and squeezing the belts by hand. It doesn't seem to want to turn over.

Any suggestions on next steps?

FeralComprehension

Drain the oil and look for metal?

fasterlaster

I'm still hoping for good news for you, but it's not looking real nice. Is the belt slipping or is the engine just not rotating at all? If it doesn't rotate I believe you are going to have to make that decision to dig in further, or pay a mechanic.

Should you continue to dig in, It may be time to start removing some of the bits and get a visual of what you are looking at. Drain the oil as another suggested, and perhaps pull the valve covers, looking for anything amiss.