How to tell if my engine is gone.

[dope505069]

Hi,
I have an ecotec V6 engine. For the past 3 days upon start up i was greeted with a large grinding noise fromthe engine bay everytime I started it. But after start up it dissapeared. Last night it happened again quite
loud & now the engine wont start. Im pretty sure its no electrical fault. Electrical wants to start the car but
the engine just putts a couple of times and then wont start. I have had a new air compressor, drier & tx
valve fitted & system gassed recently & this grinding noise didnt start happening till after the ac was done.
Any suggestions would be great. I will propably get a tow to my house or a mechanic today depending on
the problem but im with nrma r/s/a so hopefully they will know what it may be.

Thanks for reading guys.

[Huntington]

loud grinding noise? to many possibilities to hazard at a guess. Hopefully you havnt done a big end bearing.
does the grinding sound like its in the engine block or something else in the engine bay?

[accentstencil]

It's is hard to say without hearing it but it might only be a bearing in one of the belt pulleys and the starting problem could be a separate issue.

[dope505069]

Yeah unfortunatley as the sound doesent last long every time I couldnt get out of the car quick enough to look where it was coming from thanks for your help guys ill hit back to base with what the nrma mechanic has to say hopefully its something i can repair myself. From a guess i would say it was coming from near the ac compressor but not sure it would be that just i head the sound come from that bottom right side of the engine bay. I assumed the drive belt everytime i got out and looked it was fine.

[lout]

possibly starter motor pinion not disengaging
also idler pulley is very common

[pablo]

I would remove the drive belt and try a start. This will eliminate all the moving parts that could be causing the noise. It's not going to hurt to do a short run with the belt off.

[Wombles]

Ill guess at the starter. Thats what could cause a grinding sound on the left side.

[Cameron P]

Yeah starter motor mate!

Grinding noise is the the pinion not disengaging from the flywheel and it has probably shit itself hence why it won't start

Should be able to pick a reco one up for like $150 approx

[dope505069]

Thanks guys will check it out by the way if the pinion has crapped out is it a visible fault?

[lufkin]

If it looks similar to this, then yeah your engine is gone

[dope505069]

Starter bosch $209.00 brand new.

[axemurderer101]

Thanks guys will check it out by the way if the pinion has crapped out is it a visible fault?

you will need to pull the starter motor out, if you can spin the pinion easily in both directions it will be stuffed

[dope505069]

Turned out to be the fuel pump. The grinding noise was the ac/compressor im gonna have to take it back & hit the guy up. Thanks for your help.