Ecotec seized. why?

[blackbedford]

G'day

I am an L6 fan, however I stepped into later model stuff by privately buying a V6 VS series 2 wagon in very good condition. It was a one owner, fully serviced car with 230,000kms on the clock. On the first trip the motor seized without warning. No oil or temperature problems. I was travelling up a hill but I was not pushing it. The NRMA tow truck driver said I was the second seized V6 he had towed that week.

I have been hearing stories about cam bearings moving and oil delivery problems. Does anybody know anything about this problem? I have been asking around and getting the runaround.

I have been offered a secondhand motor in good condition from a VS series 2 with 240,000kms on it. What should I do to the motor before I put it in to prevent another unplanned stop?

Other than the motor the VS is a very nice car.

Regards
Chris

[policehoon]

I had the same problem with a ex VN v6 that I put into a Toyota Hilux, for no reason the engine seized on me and needed to be towed back to my house.

I pulled the engine out and found that a bolt came out of the bell housing and had jammed up against the bell housing and the flywheel.

Removed the bolt and the engine spun freely.

Could be your problem, or it could be terminal.

[friedchicken]

I recently rebuilt a vs ecotec that had seized by spinning the rearmost rod bearing. The info i got suggested that a seized ecotec is a very common thing these days, and the reasons given varied from place to place...

1. 'apparently' some ecotec cranks had surface rust on them before they were put into the engine. which did something leading to something else eventually spinning bearings.
2. ecotecs run hot compared to the buicks, degrades the oil faster. now that they are getting old its more common for them to be neglected with bad oil and long intervals between changes. gets scale in the engine and clogs the galleries, spins bearings.

no idea if they are remotely true.

I did however get the impression that later engines (vx etc) dont tend to have the problems, so that might be a better option if going used.

[blackbedford]

G'day
Thanks friedchicken. Did you have to replace the crank when you rebuilt the motor?

Regards
Chris

[greenfoam]

There's alot of overheated ecotecs that have seized a few times before running around. Not sure why they like to do this but it seems more common than the earlier motor which just tends to spin old worn bearings and then throw the rod out the block. Chances are you will be ok on the new one though because there's alot of VS's running around that have no problems

[friedchicken]

Blackbedford - I got the crank reground to remove a bit of scaring on the journal. And the rod that seized had to be resized. While it was apart the the whole engine was checked over as it had been overheated at one stage and had some scale in it. So that included acid bath of everything to check for cracks etc. Then you need to factor in new gaskets, may as well do rings while you are there, and valve stem seal are probably leaking, and you may as well regrind the valves and replace the lifters while they are out etc etc. That tends to push towards 2k if you get someone else to do the whole thing, probably closer to 2.5k if they take the engine out and put the new one in for you.

Personally, id be a little nervous of just dropping in a vs engine with 240k kms on it, mainly due to the amount of messing around involved in getting the engine out/in... but you might be fine. Ideally, youd want to check the engine out before putting it in, but then youve spent $250 on gaskets, and your back into the 'may as well do this while its out' process. It all depends on how long you want to keep the car i guess.

If i were to do it again, id most likely just find a vx or so engine that i could hear running first and drop it in. vs' arnt worth enough to justify a big spend unless its special to you.

[hako]

All the seized motors I've seen of late have had major coolant losses when the radiator top hose broke off or the heater tap failed. Both are plastic and both result in an immediate dumping of all coolant. The temp gauge doesn't register the rise in temp as there is no coolant left. Saw another where the serpentine fanbelt broke resulting in no water pump but in this case the temp rose so quickly and high that it blew the top radiator hose off. This can all happen in less than a minute.

[blackbedford]

G'day

Thanks for all the sage advice but...
The VS is an optioned up Equipe, is excellent condition, and I have already got attached to it and its "naughty boy" alarm (speed alert).
I am an old Holden fan with the passion pack and optional poverty pack.
And I have a plan...
I have acquired on the very cheap, a bent VS series 2 sedan (the one I mentioned).
I am going to pull the motor out and take it to a mates workshop (he reconditions heads).
Pull the motor down and give it a good check-over.
Put it together with care.
Put it in my new wagon.
If all goes to plan I should get out of it for less than a $1000 and have a VS that should be good for another 100-200,000 miles.
I shall let you know how I get on, and see if I can find out why the old motor stopped.

Regards

Chris

[alex2_s]

I'm in a similar situation, VS acclaim in perfect (apart from the engine) condition (140 000kms) paint (dark green) is excellent, ineterior, brakes, suspension etc etc but a rooted bottom end... as has been said there's no point spending heaps on a VS BUT i can't exactly sell it for anything NOW so i don't really have any option bar get a 2nd hand motor put in and sell it.

[blackbedford]

G'day

The NRMA bloke told me I could get $120 from the local wrecker! When I said that it had a full tank of fuel he said "Oh maybe $150 then".
NoWay!

[Brin]

Tehehehehe ohhh why would you want to sell it for so little?!

A wrecker offered me 300 tops when I blew the heads on mine....... No way.

[blackbedford]

G'day

I might get out of the repair cheaper than I thought. Today I bought a VS s2 sedan with IRS, alloys, speed chip, etc, etc, in excellent mechanical condition but with a bent guard and bonnet unregistered in a back yard for $150.

The owner could not get a wrecker that would offer more than a $100 to take it away.

Looks like I just got a replacement motor and a heap of other spare bits.

[VrWagz1]

nice pickup, wish i had room for a spare car

[blackbedford]

G'day

Well I fired up my VS series 2 Equipe Wagon today.

I seized the motor on the way home from buying it last month.
I pulled the motor out and pulled it down and found that the front main bearing had grabbed. The motor looked very good on the outside but had lots of sludge and gunk on the inside.
I was quoted $2900 for an exchange reconditioned motor or about a $1000 for the parts to rebuild my motor. I was not confident about rebuilding my motor without making a mistake. So I bought a slightly bent VS series 2 sedan with a reconditioned motor and pulled the motor out and put it into my wagon. Actually I bought 2 sedans. The first one was $150 with a good motor but the motor was no good and the second one was $400 with a reconditioned motor that is good.
(When I get to 20 posts I will advertise them for sale)(only 3 more to go)

It took a fair amount of time as I did not know what I was doing and I kept double checking that everything was connected correctly. I made a few mistakes and it would have been a lot easier if I had someone helping who had done it before.

There seems to be a mixture of metric and imperial nuts and bolts in the VS and after continually rummaging through my bitsa toolset I, for the first time in my life, went and bought a new set of 3/8 sockets and spanners. I bought a Stanley brand and they are fairly good. They got the job done.

Here is a photo of the motor and box coming out:


I did it without scratching the paintwork, so I am very tired and fairly happy at the moment.

[Pimpn1]

wow congrats, glad u got it all running