Someone forgot to put oil or coolant in it. Would they try to do a cover-up?

 

Really hard to seize an engine with oil in it. Did you verify there was oil in the engine at any time before sending it to the dealer once it "seized"?

 

Or was the oil topped-off, maybe overfilled and it hydrolocked and seized? Is that possible?

 

if it hydrolocked, it would have likely been a violent action

 

And smoked like crazy for a bit.... maybe.

 

I hydrolocked my Prelude in a storm. 3000rpm. Just a quiet shutdown, connecting rod bent and piston scraped the cylinder wall.

No smoke. No pop. Just a quiet sudden stop to the engine.

Did not turn over after obviously. Seized.

 

if the drive/accessory belt turns freely and there was no noise, things just shut off while driving then the engine isn't seized, they are literally turning it over by hand with a long ratchet on the crank bolt....

there are other things than just a battery that wont allow it to crank, battery cables not attached going from battery to starter/fuse block, etc. or a relay popped, bad ECM, things like that. they need to diagnose it, not just say "its seized" when they said they can turn it over by hand....

maybe timing chain tensioner/guide, etc as well. I would also think that if you had it in gear and the clutch pedal released a seized engine would lock up the wheels and you would skid to a stop.