Background: the vehicle hit an object that damaged the oil pan. From my discussions it’s unclear if the vehicle/engine was stopped in time (good chance it wasn’t). Vehicle is towed to a shop, oil pan is replaced, new oil added but vehicle cannot be started due to a CEL. Vehicle is now taken to residence for possible part out. I offered to scan with VIDA and the CEL points to no communication with the TCM, there’s also a message on the cluster that the vehicle needs to be in park for it to start. After a bit of reading online I check the TCM fuse, and it’s blown. Replaced the fuse, CEL and cluster message are now gone. In their driveway though I do notice a small puddle under the vehicle and can see a slow coolant leak on the diver side. The leak appears to be directly under the location of the water pump.
Now after confirming that we have coolant and oil at the correct levels we attempt to start the vehicle. The accessories/serpentine belt moves maybe 12 inches, there’s a squeaking noise, a little smoke and the smell of burned rubber. Also, the terminals on the battery are now very hot and I can see a few ounces of coolant seeping out from the top of the water pump. We stopped right there for now as we think that engine or pulleys/pump are seized.
Clearly not knowing enough about what’s going on, and likely being overly optimistic we’re looking for next steps before calling the engine dead. We could use any assistance in assessing our current plan of action. After some reading and YouTube watching we’re thinking of removing the ignition coils and spark plugs to add some engine oil to the top of the pistons and trying to crank again. If that doesn’t yield a better result than the first attempt, in the hope that the water pump and/or pulleys seized, remove or cut the accessories belt to see if the engine will crank.
Assuming that this last step is even a plausible option, I imagine we would do so with a battery charger plugged in since there would be no support from the alternator. Also, should the engine turn successfully, then ignition coils and spark plugs would go back in, and briefly let the engine run. The final step would be to check the oil for metal if we made it this far.
We would greatly appreciate a critique of our plan of action or any recommendations on next steps, besides parting out the vehicle.