Pontiac Repair: 2001 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE DIED AND WONT START, engine oil pan, pontiac bonneville

Question
HELLO, I HAVE A 2001 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE WITH A 3.8 LTR ENGINE AND AUTO TRANSMISSION.  IT HAS 130000 MILES ON IT.  WE JUST REPLACED THE ALTERNATOR AND BATTERY 1 YEAR AGO AND THE CAR RAN FINE.  IT THEN STARTED LEAKING AT THE HEAD GASKET, SO MY HUSBAND REPLACED THE GASKET AND THE LEAK STOPPED, BUT I THINK THE PROBLEM STARTED THERE.  THE ALTENATOR LIGHT WOULD COME ON AND STAY ON AFTER THAT.  I TOOK THE CAR AND HAD THE ALTERNATOR AND BATTERY CHECKED AND THEY SAID IT WAS FINE AND THAT MAYBE THERE WAS A SHORT SOMEWHERE IN THE DASH CAUSING THE PROBLEM.  MY HUSBAND DECIDED TO WAIT TO DO THAT.  HE THEN TOOK THE CAR ON A LONG TRIP AND HAD TO CALL ME TO COME AND GET HIM BECAUSE THE CAR JUST QUIT.  HE SAYS THAT HE WAS DRIVING AT ABOUT 65 MPH AND THE CAR SUDDENLY SHUT DOWN AND MADE A LOUD NOISE (HE THOUGHT MAYBE THE ENGINE BLEW).  THERE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANY LEAKING FLUID, THE PLUGS LOOK GOOD AND THE OIL SEEMS TO BE FINE.  THE CAR WON'T TURN OVER WHAT SO EVER.  MY HUSBAND TRIED TO TURN THE CAR OVER BY TRYING TO MOVE THE CRANK SHAFT BUT HE SAYS IT WON'T BUDGE.  COULD THE MOTOR BE SEIZED AND WHY WOULD IT DO THAT WITHOUT WARNING.

THANKS
CHRISTY

Answer
Hi Christy:

sorry to hear about the problem your having with your bonnie. I think you have a few issues here first and foremost a seized engine If it will not crank over and you can not turn it over by hand with a breaker bar then YES it's seized. Why ???? It could be a whole lot of things from changing the head gasket there may have been gasket material and dirt that got into the engine oil pan and was cleaned out and it got sucked into the oil pump and damaged it. It could have been prior to changing the head gasket the damage was done if coolant got into the oil. it may still have a head gasket or cylinder head issue where one cylinder filled up with coolant and locked the engine up. one last ditch thing is to remove all 6 spark plugs and try to turn the engine over. if it does then something in one of the cylinders is preventing it from turning EG: coolant. As for the "battery" light it could be any number of things from a pinched wire to a bad connection to a bad alternator. Hope that helps and good luck :)