engine would not turn

[Gibson486]

Car: 07 Mazda 3, auto, 2.3L, non turbo

Symptoms:

When starting car, engine will not turn. It sounds like it is gonna turn, but something just stops it. After about 10 long tries and cussing furiously, it finally started and a big puff of white smoke came rushing out of the rear, probably from flooding the engine with gas. It cannot be the battery (it's only 1 month old), at least i do not think it is. It sounds lke it has no problem starting, but once it is about to turn, it just refuses. So, what do you think it is? It starts fine now, but i do not want to go through that again since it will likely happen again when I do not have the time to deal with it.

 

[PottedMeat]

does 'turn' mean you hear the starter engaging and turning the crankshaft or do you hear the starter click and just stop - or something else?

 

[Bartman39]

Hummm...? The white smoke combined with what sounds like hydro-lock might mean a head gasket is going bad...?

If it was fuel it normaly will be black when its excessive and the hydro-lock from it would be a leaking injector...

 

[5150MyU]

I would go with Bartman's over the internet diagnosis.
Pull the plugs and see if any of the cylinders are filling with coolant.
Hydro loc can bend valves or at the extreme bend a rod.

 

[Gibson486]

does 'turn' mean you hear the starter engaging and turning the crankshaft or do you hear the starter click and just stop - or something else?

It starts to engage, but it does not start. It's not the nrmal clicking sound when your battery is dead.

 

[Gibson486]

Hummm...? The white smoke combined with what sounds like hydro-lock might mean a head gasket is going bad...?

If it was fuel it normaly will be black when its excessive and the hydro-lock from it would be a leaking injector...

What? this car only has 80K on it!

 

[Bartman39]

Miles on a car can mean nothing... Either by defect or has it been overheated could be the reason for a blown headgasket... Not saying that it is but take (5150MyU`s) advice and pull the plugs to possibly find the problem... If you find coolant on a plug then you`ve found your problem, but look for a difference between any of them as well (might not show coolant...?)

 

[Gibson486]

Miles on a car can mean nothing... Either by defect or has it been overheated could be the reason for a blown headgasket... Not saying that it is but take (5150MyU`s) advice and pull the plugs to possibly find the problem... If you find coolant on a plug then you`ve found your problem, but look for a difference between any of them as well (might not show coolant...?)

Just to add to my paronoia, how much does it cost to fix a blown gasket?

As for overheating, WTF! the manual said coolant change at 100K.

 

[bruceb]

Depends on the car and if it's an inline 4 or a V6 / V8 .. also depends on wether or not the head cracked or warped. In rare cases, you may have internal engine damage as well if the head gasket failed. Bearings can go bad or as mentioned, a rod or pushrod can be bad. But unless you can do it yourself, it will not be cheap. Anywhere from $1,000 to maybe $3,000 ... some cars this can be done with engine in car. Others it is easier to work on it outside the car.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Ok so by turn... I assume you mean start?


So the starter was making the engine spin, but the engine wouldn't run on its own?



It could very likely be a one time thing. If it were me, I'd buy a couple bottles of chevron techron concentrate (the proguard is 1/2 the strength) and put one in now, then another next time it's empty.


Where did you get gas last?

 

[punjabiplaya]

blown head gasket at 80k shouldn't surprise anyone

 

[jlee]

blown head gasket at 80k shouldn't surprise anyone

uh...what?

 

[punjabiplaya]

uh...what?

surprise is the wrong word

err more like it happens, isn't common, but it happens

 

[TraumaRN]

blown head gasket at 80k shouldn't surprise anyone

I've driven two cars to 160,000+ miles without blowing a head gasket. Worst thing I had was a broken vacuum line.

 

[5150MyU]

Warped,cracked cylinder head.Cracked block.Broken head bolt.Can't say I have seen it all but I have seen the above at well under 100k miles.

 

[5150MyU]

I replaced umpteen headgaskets on mopar 2.2/2.5 litre engines(back in the day)-I would say about 100-out of all of them 2 had bent valves caused by hydro loc.So rather uncommon it is possible.

 

[5150MyU]

Not that this is the issue but broken camshaft-when you see the timing belt turning but no compression.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, is the coolant low?

Does the oil look like coffee with milk?

 

[5150MyU]

Good one LTC8K6 you(we) try to help and oh well.

 

[SearchMaster]

I really hope it's not the head gasket OP. I know you've had a ridiculous number of problems with that car and a HG would be terrible. Sadly the symptoms do point in that direction

 

[jlee]

Since it's starting fine now, I imagine you're driving it? Does it smoke at all when you're driving? Does the temperature ever climb, and are you losing coolant?

 

[Gibson486]

It's driving fine now. No signs of it happening again. I checked the oil, it looked like oil. Not milky at all.

Temp does not climb, smoke does not come out....atleast nothing that I see while in the driver seat. Perhaps it is a one time thing.

For those of you who still do not understand....yes, the starter makes it spin, but the engine will not run on its own. It's kind of like giving a girl the O but just stopping short. You can see it is about to happen, but something just stops her right when she is gonna get it. Sorry, it's the best analogy I could come up with.

 

[jlee]

It's driving fine now. No signs of it happening again. I checked the oil, it looked like oil. Not milky at all.

Temp does not climb, smoke does not come out....atleast nothing that I see while in the driver seat. Perhaps it is a one time thing.

For those of you who still do not understand....yes, the starter makes it spin, but the engine will not run on its own. It's kind of like giving a girl the O but just stopping short. You can see it is about to happen, but something just stops her right when she is gonna get it. Sorry, it's the best analogy I could come up with.

ROFL..hahahahaha...

If you have no other symptoms, personally I wouldn't worry about it too much - if your oil and coolant look okay, if you're not losing coolant, not smoking, and the car is driving fine, just keep an eye on things and see how it goes.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

It's driving fine now. No signs of it happening again. I checked the oil, it looked like oil. Not milky at all.

Temp does not climb, smoke does not come out....atleast nothing that I see while in the driver seat. Perhaps it is a one time thing.

For those of you who still do not understand....yes, the starter makes it spin, but the engine will not run on its own. It's kind of like giving a girl the O but just stopping short. You can see it is about to happen, but something just stops her right when she is gonna get it. Sorry, it's the best analogy I could come up with.

I suggest you use terms the people here will understand.

 

[kornphlake]

Sounds like an ignition problem to me, if the engine cranks but doesn't fire there is nothing to suggest a bad head gasket. You're about due for new plugs and wires and a new fuel filter, I'd replace those and see if it improves anything. Fuel and spark are what make an engine run if it cranks but doesn't run it's got to be a problem with fuel or spark. Narrow it down to one of those two and you can start tracing the problem.