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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Cause of engine seize?
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Mon, 15 March 2004 22:29
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You may know I bought myself an st162 about a month ago. When I bought the car the engine seemed fine. It had an oil leak but that didn't seem to be to bad. Since it did have an oil leak I kept the oil level topped up, checking it about twice a week. However last week it developed low oil pressure even though it was topped up. I still needed to drive the car to/from the station so I just took it really easy untill I had the time to send it to my mechanic.
Well the car then developed a small rattle that seems to be coming from the rocker cover. It did it between 1500-3000rpm only. Sounded like something was hitting. I stopped driving the car....
Now I know I'm stupid but I had to drive the car friday night to get somewhere. So I was really carefull, drove it slow got where I had to go and then came home again. (the rattling was getting worse)
Monday morning I tried to start the car and it started rough, then after about 3 seconds died suddenly. I turned the key again and it sounded dead. So I called my mechanic and he came and picked it up. Got a call last night telling me that the engine was siezed and I need a new engine.
I've tried to be as specific as I can describing whats happened, any idea's as to what the cause could be? Is it worth getting the engine pulled and fixed? Any suggestions appriated.
Thanks.
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I supported Toymods
Location:
I renounced punctuation
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Cause of engine seize?
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Mon, 15 March 2004 22:35
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Low oil pressure resulted in one (or more) of your big end bearings failing. This would have been the 'rattle' you heard when you took your car out on Friday night.
The bigger question is why did you drive your car knowing it had low oil pressure? Cleaning the silicone off your oil pickup or even fitting a new oil pump would have been cheaper than sourcing and installing a new engine.
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Location:
Epping, Sydney
Registered:
April 2003
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Re: Cause of engine seize?
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Mon, 15 March 2004 22:47
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yeah the pressure reading on several 3SGEs that I know of (not sure about the GTE's but if they use the same sender this will be a common problem) reads really low even when it is fine.
the guages have a tendency over time to read lower and lower and lower... don't get too angry gt 
Praetor. I feel for you man that is very unfortunate. Did you check the oil level after you noticed the rattle?
Anyway, this is all hindsight now.
What I would hope for is that if your bottom end has seized, you may be alright to get the bottom end off even a 3SGE and just replace that rather than turf the whole motor. (not sure if they are tough enough for a GTE top end, though I know there are people out there who have turboed a 3SGE. - peeps?)
Though, low pressure.... you probably have quite a bit of nastyness in the head and around the engine, but you could ask the mechanic all the same. And what are the odds of getting a bottom end outside an engine anyway 
I am very inexperienced in dealing with seized engines, so if I am talking crap tell me and I will change my post.
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I supported Toymods
Location:
I renounced punctuation
Registered:
May 2002
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Location:
Epping, Sydney
Registered:
April 2003
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
May 2002
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 Re: Cause of engine seize?
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Wed, 24 March 2004 11:49
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I had 2 ST162's autos and they both spun a big end bearing around 170,000 klms. And both got treated to cheap replacement second hand import 3SGE motors and no further probs with either.
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