Engine locked or not??

Well, i was driving down 66 when my car started smellin like coolant and about 6min later I set the cruise at 70 drove about a mile and noticed that the speed was slowly dropping. I offed the cruise and tried to accel. but then my car starts pinging (not knocking) during acceleration, and was going nowhere soon. So i pull over and as I reached for the key to turn it off it just shuts off on its own. We pulled over and instantly saw smoke under the hood. We popped the hood and i noticed a orange glow for my headers (I freaked out). I know thats not normal so we went and got some water for the coolant and about a min. later it started hissing and water dropped from the bottom of the car. Now, my car dosen't start, it does turn over a little but when I attempt it, it sounds like something is stuck because its not a fast turnover its a slow one.

Ive had people tell me that my engine got so hot it just pretty much welded up together.
And ive had people tell me it was a cracked head.

Its the SOHC quad4 ----piece of crap
I hate this car

but if you need anymore detail just ask and i think of more

thanks for your help

Sounds like you blew a head gasket. I suppose if enough coolant got into the cylinder, it could have caused hydro-lock. I would turn over the crankshaft-bolt with a breaker bar to see if you can rotate the engine yourself. If you can't, pull the spark plugs, and then try it.

Well I was already planning on getting a new car so im not really mad it did this to me...Me and some friends were just going home and it happened the thing that was cool about it is that there was like 5 cars lined up along side the roadway.

Well I was already planning on getting a new car so im not really mad it did this to me...Me and some friends were just going home and it happened the thing that was cool about it is that there was like 5 cars lined up along side the roadway.


That happend to me.. only i was in a cavalier, and i was doing 80, that orange glow though was a fire, the haedgasket blew and since the exhaust was so hot it made a little fire, anyhoo, it wouldn't start till the next day, im not sure why it had to sit a day but it did and it started, than it was knocking. anddd i sold it for $200 one of the rods, well it was the third rod. but still... sad when something like that happens... maybe that's what happend to you . and if it got so hot, didn't your guage tell you if it was running hot or not?

How many miles were on your car? just curious, im trying to see when these peoples engines are going out,,, cuz im scared im gonna blow mine..

wow u should never puy water in a hot motor . the head cracks when its hot and you put cool water in it

it had about like 116589 miles on it...and my temp gauge was reading normal, im thinkin that before it lost the coolant before i drove and it couldnt read an accurate reading.

could the coverter be clogged???

Those grand am have a bad history with there heads.. im a grand am fanatic and have had about 15 all years and models...When u added water to it you more then likely cracked the block cool water and hot engine never mix well. You should pull the lining out of the wheel well then you can get a socket and a breaker bar on the pully on the crank shaft then you will be able to get enough torque on it to turn it over...if u cant turn it over its more then likely locked up.

Those grand am have a bad history with there heads.. im a grand am fanatic and have had about 15 all years and models...When u added water to it you more then likely cracked the block cool water and hot engine never mix well. You should pull the lining out of the wheel well then you can get a socket and a breaker bar on the pully on the crank shaft then you will be able to get enough torque on it to turn it over...if u cant turn it over its more then likely locked up.
I"ve got 130K miles...should i start to get worried? 97 2.4L 4 banger...Don't drive too fast (damn speeding tickets...grrr) but still, reading this thread got me wondering...


MDB

[QUOTE=Amerikaner83]I"ve got 130K miles...should i start to get worried? 97 2.4L 4 banger...Don't drive too fast (damn speeding tickets...grrr) but still, reading this thread got me wondering...

the 2.4l was a dohc which didn't crack heads as much as the sohc they are talking about here. have you replaced your water pump yet? keep a close eye on your temp gauge and you'll be fine, most cracked heads result from a extreme overheating & putting cold water in it.

When I took it in for its 90K service they flushed all the fluids and such...The only thing the guy told me to look at was the "coil pack". I take it my 2.4 doesn't have spark plugs? He said the entire ignition system was made up of coils that provided the spark, not the traditional spark plug. He also told me that everything in that system was under the head...?

I'm not too sure about anything car-related besides the typical tire, oil changes, etc.

My temp gauge used to go up pretty high (still does between March and November when I'm running @ low speed) but still stayed within the "normal" range...albeit on the high side. I went out and looked at the water pump this morning (i think i found the right one), and the belt itself looked OK, not really sure, but it wasn't overly loose.

the ignition system is between the cam housings under a metal cover that probably says quad 4. it consist of an ignition module which is hooked to two coils, the two coils are hooked to coil housing that distributes the spark from 2 coils to 4 cylinders, there are 4 short (2-3") spark plug wires, and 4 spark plugs.

the water pump isn't ran off a belt, its driven by the timing chain. It will be behind the motor (by the fire wall) on the passanger side, near the exhaust manifold, you may even have to remove the manifold to change it. keep a close eye on the temp, and don't let it over heat.

OK apparently I was looking at my AC or alternator belts - oops. I'll definately keep a close eye on the temps. That'd be the first indication of trouble, if I'm running hot. What constitutes "hot" though? Can I completely trust my temp gauge when it is at the high side of what it says is the normal range? It's awfully close to the red square telling me where "hot" is. If it's in that area (high normal) and i finally get out of traffic or whatever, it goes back down to mid-range of normal, so I should be ok right?