What could cause an engine to seize up?

Turning corner last night, engine died. Nothing when turned ignition. Mechanic came out today, said starter motor dead, so looked further - engine was seized - cambelt gone, valves smashed.

Now... I replaced the cambelt only 15k or so ago. Had no problems up until now. It had been recently serviced and had no oil leaks or low oil. Coolant levels were fine. What else might account for a sudden seizure/

your valve springs maybe kaput or your head... cracked block maybe or piston rings (although unlikely to cause a seizure)... could be a number of things... im no mechanic as you may be able to tell....

well obviously your cambelt has broken, which in turn has fucked your valves, but i doubt whether that would seize the engine. you sure the oil was sweet??

No oil pressure light. I have checked the level since and it's fine but I presume given the internal damage the oil level now is unreliable.

Coolant levels also fine. I can't see how the cambelt could have been the cause, perhaps the result, but the cause?

I did some googling and apart from heat or lubrication problems can't find any other issue.

If the cambelt shat itself then yeah your engine would seize up, but it has just been replaced sooo yeah

Potential for the cambelt to have been flawed, shortening its life?

no it wouldnt
the only reason an engine would seize would be because of excess heat, as in if there was no oil or coolant
with a broken cambelt the crank would still be able to turn and pistons still move up and down. The camshaft obviously wouldnt though. And thats why the valves are fucked.

a broken cam belt would cause the engine to sieze, would just bend the valves and mark the pistons.

What sort of motor is it??? a mitsi with a balance shaft

Hmmm.. well yeah a seizure would be pretty bad, all I can think of is if your oil pump or perhaps even your water pump failed... but I'd expect it to be noticably hot in that instance.

Its possible the big end berring could just 'shit itsself' making the crankshaft umm.. stop cranking

But I'm not a mechanic either.

the bearings wouldnt just suddenly shit themselves and stop the crank just like that. that would be a gradual thing.
i was gonna suggest the oil or water pump giving up the ghost.
but even so, that wouldnt necessarily cause the cambelt to break.
tis an odd situation

Yeah well I was thinking the cambelt probably broke as a result of the siezure not the other way around..

But it couldda just been a dud belt I guess

The plot thickens - we got the proper information today. Mechanic informed us that it was indeed the cambelt giving up the ghost, NOT an engine seizure, valves smashed etc, much ruin and destruction.

But a cambelt going at 16k - do I have a possible poor workmanship argument here?

i'd say it was a dud belt moreso than dud workmanship
it'd pretty hard to stuff up putting a cambelt on.
be worth following up on anyways
what sorta car we talking about anyways??

92 Galant. Had the belt replaced at 97k, it has just hit 113k and went bang.
You think, possibly, they didn't replace the belt and invoiced anyway? Considering we've been using the same mechanic 20 years and never had a problem before :/

http://www.mta.org.nz

are you an AA member? they will provide advice over the phone. it will cost, but could well be worth it and may only be a few dollars.

well its possible i guess. theres no way you could tell now i doubt.
its a very curious situation

Hit them up about it, could have been an honest mistake and they may be willing to help out, you never know

Mechanics are coming around today to check. They have now suggested that when the engine stopped (from an unrelated cause) I may have tried to turn the key while the car was still moving, causing the problem.

They are suggesting that the starter motor blew the cambelt.. right about now I'd be saying "What the fuck"

My car has had electrical problems stopping for no reason sometimes, but hasn't done it for ages (once in over a year). I guess they're suggesting that were the key turned while the engine was still revving then there'd be some sort of problem caused by the engagement of the starter motor.

Thing is, I didn't turn the key! Came around corner, engine cut, headed for the kerb. And I was hardly doing more than 3k revs anyway so by the time the engine cut and I realised it was probably down to idle anyway.

Yeah it doesn't sound at all right cause the force the starter motor would have on the engine would be nothing compared to the force the engine would have on the starter... and.. you didn't even turn the key

your mechanic was most probably abit to laxed on the fitment of the belt, wonder if he checked the correct pitch between the belt and the gear

you can find the through the years manufactures have slightly altered the pitch of the belts and if you get the incorrect one, it won't seat propally in the camgear grooves causing it to sheer then snap.

look carefully at the belt before your mechanic does, is the belt cleanly snapped or have the teeth been sheered.

I am an engine reconditoner and have seen this problem twice before, both mitsi's.