First off, understand the engine will never be the same. If you want a good engine it has to be replaced... it is not really worth rebuilding. That said, here is the write-up I sent to Tegger.com about my experience:
The conventional wisdom is that if an engine is run out of oil to the point where it seizes it is beyond repair. Because of that my heart sank when I learned that had happened to my son-in-law's 1993 Honda Accord LX (automatic transmission) while driving on the freeway. It seems the oil warning light had burned out and he was relying on that to tell him when to add oil (grr!) He had it towed to his home, and I went there to pronounce death on it.
I removed the spark plugs, put some oil in each cylinder, put the spark plugs back in, started the engine... and was greeted by screeches and clanking. I added 3 quarts of oil, which brought the level up halfway between add and full, and started the engine again. When the oil started circulating the engine didn't sound half bad. That worried me.
I drained the oil and dropped the oil pan, and there I found a large amount of gold colored metal debris. The oil that I drained out, even though it had been fresh only a few minutes before, was darker than engine oil normally is during an oil change and it smelled terrible. Even more unusual, when I looked up at the number one rod bearing I saw what appeared to be the remains of a shim beside the bearing. That was very odd, because I knew the engine had never been opened. When I removed all the bearing caps I could see what had happened.
Three of the rod bearings had spun, all except the number three bearing, and the bearings were being beaten to foil and extruded between the rods and the crankshaft. That was amazing in itself, but what was even more amazing is that the crankshaft and the connecting rods, and their caps, were undamaged.
In the end, the only actual reconstruction I did was to polish the crankshaft journals shoe-shine rag fashion with 300 grit sandpaper to remove deposits from the rod journals, then replace the rod bearings and the bottom half of the main bearings. There were a lot of tests along the way, including measuring the rod bearing clearance with Plastigage after new bearings had been fitted. All were within the .001 - .002 inch tolerance.
I can still hardly believe it. Of course, the engine did not come out of it unscathed. The compression is abominable, even for an engine with 257,000 miles on it. The compression readings are 85 – 60 – 90 – 60 but all cylinders fire and it only smokes under acceleration. The cam lobes look like they were losers in a cat fight. The "check engine" light comes on when the throttle is lifted, and I don't even care why. But the car is usable again.
Think of this as being a minimalist approach to getting a car back on the road after serious oil starvation. I have recommended to my son-in-law that it not be driven over 65 mph and not be subjected to more than two thirds throttle.
Please don’t even think of asking a professional to do this sort of "repair." I have deliberately left out the details because if you are not at least slightly experienced with this sort of thing you shouldn’t try it.
Be aware that even this minimum level of resurrection relies on the crankshaft not being damaged, and that depends very much on luck. This work produced very much a "Driving Dead" car and I openly called it a zombie car. But they needed it to last another 7 months and I gave that to them, without removing the engine from the car.
If the engine truly is seized you would be wiser to accept the engine is dead and move on from there.
First off pull the engine out of the car.
Remove the cylinder head and all the peripherics.
Pour some heated up diesel in the cylinder bores, ask somrone to hold a big wrench(breaker bar) to the flywheel, as he turns, take a wood rod or bar and a big hammer, and hammer on the pistons that are up, with patience(and a bit of luck), it will come without hurting everything.
Take your time.
You will need new rings, maybe pistons, hone the bores, like a 500$ bill.
It can also be the cranktrain, imagine a small object goes in the timing belt, alters the timing, the valve enter in contact with the piston, and the engine is locked.
Try to rotate it CW and CCW(counterclockwise) with a wrench, or put the fifth gear, and move carefully the car back n forth.
Send me pix @
Ebuetamecus at gmail dot com
Locked-up or seized engine = toast
Basically the engine got so hot that the piston rings melted and welded themselves to the cylinder walls or sleeves. It either overheated because of lack of coolant, or lack of oil. If it overheated/seized because of lack of oil, more parts are damaged. Time for a another engine.
Do not take anything apart until you know for sure that the engine is seized. Take out the spark plugs and grab the belt on the front of the engine and try to pull on the crank and pistons move. If it is rock solid, you may want to start looking for a new engine or a new car. But if you can get it to turn over by hand, then you should start looking for what the real problem is. Starting with the starter, maybe.
I was driving on the highway and the car just died as I was driving. Replaced the battery and alternator and battery cables when I got the car towed home. The car still will not start. I hear the clicking noise which is the starter when I try to start the car. I was told it may be a locked/seized engine. Need help.
