I loaned my car to the next-door neighbor, who drove it for several months, maybe nearly a year. The car died at a stop sign (pretty sure when stopped, and not while running, but not 100% sure). Neighbor had it towed home. Long story short, it’s sitting in their driveway 3 or 4 years later. Can anyone tell me how to check to see if an engine is frozen? I’ve heard there’s a way to manually turn something or other to see if the engine seized, which is my suspicion, since I seem to remember seeing the neighbor standing by the open hood, with more than one quart of oil at his feet??
If the battery is dead and the starter won’t work then place the transmission in neutral and with a wheel turned outward to gain more access, use a socket, extension, and ratchet on the crank pulley bolt.
Another option is to carefully use a pipe wrench applied sideways to the crank pulley and attempt to rotate it.
ok, thanks for your reply, but could you be more descriptive? I have NO idea what to look for. What does a crank pulley, or crank pulley bolt, look like? Any landmarks? Thanks!
Look at the engine. The side with all the belts on it is the front of the engine. The belts are wrapped around pulleys. The crank pulley is usually the lowest pulley(closest to the ground) that the belt wraps around. There is a big bolt in the center of it. Some cars you can access the bolt with a socket and extention through the corresponding wheel well. Usually it’s a pretty big nut.
As a little extra explanation, the “crank pulley” is called that because it is located on the end of the engine’s crankshaft. That is the main part that turns in the engine and if you can turn that with a socket wrench on the end bolt, then it is not seized.
Thanks! Will jump into it this weekend.