engifineer

Thrust bearings lie around the crank and keep it from sliding back and forth (front to back). If they wear too far, fail, etc it can cause the crank to thrust when you depress the clutch pedal and the engine will come to a sudden stop and then sometimes not even be able to crank over.

You say you heard a ticking noise, the engine came to a sudden stop and then would not crank and you cannot move the crank with a breaker bar? Pull the belt, it takes about 30 seconds to do, then try to turn the crank (car sholud be in neutral when you do this). If without the belt, and car in neutral, you cannot turn the crank with a breaker bar or long ratchet, sounds like its time to pull the oil pan as you more than likely have a trashed motor. You ran it pretty low on oil at minimum if you saw zero on the stick. Likely at least a quart low if not more. Where that oil went remains to be seen but matters not now if the engine is seized. You can remove the VTEC solenoid and check its screen for metal fragments. It takes only a few minutes to do that. You can also remove and cut open the oil filter to see if it is full of metal. Both are quick to do and if metal is in those, then for sure time to tear it down.

Rewire

no no, not a sudden stop. it went down to 0 rpm when i was coming TO a stop and then stalled and wouldn't crank after. i was pulling up to a stop sign. engine was running from 4000 rpm all the way down to when it stalled out when it got to lower RPM.

i might have a bone to pick with bruneel if i can't find where oil was going. no reason it should be this low....almost like it was drained and then never filled after....but why no oil pressure light?

i can check the vtec solenoid.....need to get a drain pan....

EDIT: thrust bearings might make sense...i replaced the clutch with a new fx350 when i first bought the car....didn't know it would cause more pressure on the bearings....seeing some posts about that

engifineer

the stiffer clutch is not as bad if you do the clutch safety bypass mod so you are not having to press the clutch to start the car. That dry start with the clutch in is a lot of the thrust bearing wear.

Only a little oil will come out of the vtec solenoid so you only need a small catch for it.

Oil pressure lights are pretty much "you are already damaging the motor" lights you can have pressure but not enough flow and it takes a pretty good drop in pressure to trigger the light. They are not the best for telling you well in advance that damage may be occurring. Gauges are a ton better at this but most cars do not come with gauges.

B serious

How low was the oil, Did it register on the dip stick?

The oil pressure light isn't an oil volume light. So as long as there was enough oil to create an acceptable amount of pressure, the oil light wouldn't warn you.

Typically, what happens in the case where there is very low oil level is that the oil pressure is acceptable until it dips momentarily. The dip could happen if you corner or brake or accelerate hard enough to shift the oil away from the pickup. Then the oil light will come on. It only takes a few seconds to cause damage...and you may have just not been looking at the cluster for those few seconds. Maybe you were going through a long sweeper or something.

This all assumes your oil light works (does it?)

To help you in the future...
Getting an oil change done by someone and not checking the level is a BOLD move. So is not checking the oil for 1,000 miles. So is not checking the oil before going on a long, spirited drive

None of this is meant to beat you up. Its info for the future.

ABC...always be checking. Check the oil level every couple hundred miles. When you fill gas, for example.

Not because you're gonna burn oil for sure....but because low oil is one of the only things that can kill this very expensive engine.

Also, ditch the aftermarket clutch unless you absolutely need it. There's no reason to run one on 99% of NA F series cases.

If you wanna check whether one of the accesories is stuck...just remove the belt and try to turn the engine over.

Rewire

so, the oil seems...fine? it's dirty but nothing shiny or metallic in it.

vtec screen also seems clean (as clean as something with oil can be).

also, I was thinking about the possible "thrust bearing" being thrown out, and now that I think about it, it should have been replaced with the genuine NACHI bearing included with the FX350 kit i had installed by a shop a few years ago. less than 10k miles ago. no way it's blown out that fast, right? i don't ride or hold the clutch, i know better....

feeling a bit stuck....looks like i might have to pull the motor and tear it down.....

anyone able to chime in about the carbonization in cylinder one that's not on any of the other cylinders?

windhund116

Did you check the engine's compression and do a leakdown test?

Maybe do a pressure check of the coolant system --- to check for a blown head gasket.

Simple, cheap tests to see if there are any major engine problems before tearing it down.

zeroptzero

I think you are confusing "throwout bearing" with "thrust bearing/washer " , I bet your throwout bearing is likely fine after 10k miles. Your thrust bearing would not have been touched during a clutch replacement and something I still say is the most likely issue.

Teardown is going to be needed to find the issue IMO, but at that point you may find the motor may not be repairable or the cost is prohibitive. You might be better off spending the money on a donor motor. I've been there myself, it is a punch to the gut, but life must go on.

B serious

The thrust bearing is part of the engine's internals. It prevents the crank from thrusting forward/backward. Not anything related to what you replace when doing a clutch.

I would take this car to some reputable shop to have them diagnose it before you do anything drastic like removing and taking apart the engine.

Once the engine is apart, its not easy to put back together in a way that it will run. Whomever is doing it has to be able to follow the FSM directions very closely.

You didn't answer regarding how low the oil level was, or whether disconnecting the accessory belt had any improvement.

What did you use to try to turn the engine by hand? The car wasn't in gear when you tried to do so, was it?

Rewire

so my buddy asked if i'd tried cranking it (it's sitting on the lift with a battery tender), and i hadn't since i stalled on the drive out of my initial fears.....well.....


what gives? battery tested good, up to even 650 CCA. so my starter went bad? or a wiring problem?

i'm seeing other people in the forums with starters with a blown up starter bell housing? is that something that could have happened here? and the metal is stuck somewhere in with the flywheel?

maybe i'm just weak, i can't turn the motor even with the accessory belt off. everything moves very easily without the belt, except the crank.

windhund116

Maybe it is a shot thrust bearing. The crank has shifted, and the pistons can't traverse the cylinders.