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If you decide to scrap it, you could always try the brute force method as a last resort...flat tow it and try to bump start it! If it's truly seized your clutch will start smoking very quickly...
1 check coolant level, if it's down that's bad news as the missing coolant could have seeped into a cylinder.
2 glow plugs out and see what you can see. See if there's any liquid you can pull out with a syringe. If not, spray in the derusting fluid of your choice. Leave it a day then pull out any liquid in the cyclinders with a syringe and tube.
3 roll it down hill in top gear clutch down and then drop the clutch. It'll lock the wheels or turn over.
Thanks for all the input. After a stressful week things may be looking up. I will update tomorrow.
Update! I drove my little van to work yesterday! After the advice on here I got a second opinion on my combo, a semi retired mechanic i have bought a couple of vans off in the past and who used to work on my vans but has moved out of town slightly. Last Wednesday morning I collected the keys from Wxxxxe Garage and paid the £150 they had charged me for putting on a new starter motor and then taking it off again and diagnosing a seized engine. They had not refitted the old starter motor but left it on the seat. Later that morning Jim came and took the keys on a horrible wet and windy day.
The next day I had two missed calls from Wxxxne whilst I was shopping and when I phoned them back they said they had talked to the guy working on my van outside the garage and he said it looked like the alternator that had seized solid, stopping the engine from turning over. They were very sheepish and said if it's that they should have noticed and i could have my money back.
Jim had it recovered somewhere he could work on it and i got it back on Monday evening and he only wanted £510. 3hrs labour plus parts and recovery! Obviously he's getting a big tip. I'm so grateful and relieved. It also looks like the suspension work Wxxxne did last year was unnecessary as it was originally thought to just need a new top mount on one side but apparently this garage is well known for charging as much as possible and doing extra things. I went round in the van last night to get my refund and they were really apologetic and also offered a free service. Obviously they don't want any bad reviews and I'm sure Jim who knows them said something to them.
Jim is happy to help me with future work so that's a weight off.
Thanks all!
Great result
Been following this with trepidation, what a fab result
Yay, go combo go!
Good result and chapeau for actually getting back and saying thanks to all those that offered help and advice.
I've stopped offering help on vehicle related faults (and I have 40+ years experience of repairing and writing about vehicles) as posters never seem to either say thanks or come back with a conclusion.
Yay, go combo go!
And go Jim go!
Great result 👍
Brilliant! Good old boy with honest service.
Great. What's the actual name of Wxxxe garage? There may be some locals who need to be warned about that place! I'd not be taking that free service.
Blimey, they can't have tried very hard to manually crank the engine over or looked very hard.
Mind you I'm sure they'd have taken it off your hands as a 'favour' if you couldn't afford a replacement engine.
Good result anyway.
We need more Jims and less W*****es don't we? Great result 🙂
If anyone in Brighton wants to pm about which garage it was do feel free. Had a great day at work nipping about in my van 😊
I had an inkling it wpuld be something oddball. I reckoned the starter motor would ne jammed on the flywheel.
It never occurred to me that the alternator would either have seized, or the belt wouldn't have slipped with a levrr n the lower pulley
It never occurred to me that the alternator would either have seized, or the belt wouldn’t have slipped with a lever on the lower pulley
I guess because it's geared down and modern belts are under a lot more tension than the old V-belts.
A mechanic you can trust and is actually good at what they do is worth so much.
I've a vw t5 and I've been going to an independent vw specialist for years. He was a vw trained mechanic before he set up on his own plus he drives a vw t5. Every time Ive gone to him with a problem hes known exactly what it is straight away.
As he knows Im a returning customet he will say things like maybe next year you want to think about replacing x or y rather than some garages that tell you it needs to be done now because they want your money and they might not see you again.
Glad it's been sorted and you didn't get shafted by the garage. 👍🙂