I had been smelling coolant when I turned the heater on for a week or so and hadn't been driving much...planned on taking it in to be fixed Mon. I thought it would be ok as long as I didn't turn the heat on...wrong! I was on the highway today and she started sputtering and the 'check engine' light was flashing...I drove a bit further and noticed she was hot. I shut her off and realized the coolant was empty(had just checked and it was full when I left)..refilled the radiator and reserve tank then a few minutes later tried to crank her but she was locked up: (

I had her towed to a shop near where I live and they said a new engine install would cost approx. $3K...does that seem like a fair price?

DRAIN THE OIL...it might save that Motor....

How so?..it wasn't the UIM and the coolant isn't in the oil...

It isn't? Why did it seize then and where did the coolant go?

If the engine seized because of coolant it would have to be in the oil :?

I'm guessing it leaked out somewhere..possibly the hose @ the t-stat cause it was pretty loose..I checked the oil as soon as I noticed the coolant was missing.

You can't always tell. But if you hydro locked it, drain the oil, period. There aren't many other ways that these engines seize that I know of besides breakage of certain engine parts.

Pull all the plugs and turn her over. Then drain the oil and find the leak. Good Luck! :?

The coolant doesn't necessarily leak into the oil, it can leak directly into the cylinders causing the hydrolock. Remove the spark plugs and see if coolant flows from them, I bet it will. air can compress, water (or coolant in this case) cannot.

Exactly. Sounds like a cracked UIM. If you crank the motor over (after pulling the plugs) and coolant shoots out of the plug holes then you dont need a motor, you need a new upper manifold.