Seized starter. Unless you had an ACT pressure plate. Then it is 100% guaranteed a thrust washer failure unless you bypassed your clutch switch.

 

I only needed to read the first sentence.

 

Some folks are not able to change their own oil. But, even those that do are not immune from this exact same thing. Maybe the lesson is to get in the habit of checking the dip stick before you drive your car after every oil change, whether shop performed or self performed.

It is a sad tale and I suspect no matter what you do you will never get one dime out of that shop. Maybe if you started a small claims action but you would have to hire an expert and know how to get the expert prepared.

Good luck with it OP. Post back when you get it sorted out.

 

Its the thrust bearing. The real mechanic that is now working on it is trying to turn the engine with a socket wrench on the crank pully, and it won't turn even with the plugs removed.

The stuff you describe, it just died while driving, it wouldn't turn over even with a jump or with a new battery, all classic symptoms of thrust bearing. It will often start and run fine after a few of these seizes. But its a warning sign, that you can fix cheaply now, but if you don't heed it you will destroy your motor. If it manages to start again, don't drive it until you get the thrust bearing properly fixed.

You need to get this car to a mechanic that knows S2000's, and that knows how to fix a thrust washer seize.

It is my opinion the oil change had nothing to do with it, and its only confusing the issue here.

 

Ok. Thanks for everyone's replies. This is a 2006 model. I wasn't in possession of the car when it went through the "wrong oil" ordeal. A friend was taking care of it, so that's a 2nd hand report. I'm checking with the friend to see how long they were driving before the car shut down. I've also read about someone suing a shop for a similar situation, and the shop ended up paying for a new engine. I'm not sure how I feel about taking on an ordeal like that.

Mechanic has checked the starter, but the truth is, I'm not exactly sure how he checked it. I did ask him to pull the spark plugs and rotate the engine. He says it won't budge, so can we rule out the starter?

Thanks for the thrust washer link. I'll save that as a reference for further diagnosis later.

Next step is simply finding who did the oil change, and how long the car was driven.

 

2nd hand reports are notoriously unreliable and this particular report is just plain weird so i wouldn't rely on it.

Car Analogy could well be correct. At this point its guesswork.

 

I think your friend ruined your car and made up a story to cover himself

 

Unfortunately, I have just gotten the real news from the friend. The car died while he was driving. He took it to Dave's. Dave's changed the oil. Dave's says there was an oil leak. They did not specify where the leak came from. He was driving the car about 1000 miles before the previous change. This is a time frame of 2 months.

For those wondering why he was driving it for so long, I was out of the country. Apparently, there's no leak to be found at this point. I haven't seen any leaking. And checking the dipstick looks fine.

If this is a thrust washer issue, how do we fix that?

Anyone know a mechanic in San Antonio or Austin?

 

AFAIK, you need to remove the crank to change the thrust bearings. Gonna need to pull the engine. Might as well mic and inspect everything & consider a complete overhaul. Or look for another engine to sub-in.

Good luck!

 

I have to say that it is somewhat unreasonable to give the folks on the forum a history that is completely inaccurate and expect them to make a diagnosis that has any accuracy at all. My suggestion for the future is to get the facts straight first and then ask questions.