Hi all,

I'm new here, and just wanted to get insight into what happened with the 3.8 engine in my wife's '03 lesabre. The engine is seized up, won't turn over manually. Mechanic found no evidence of liquid in the cylinders or coolant in the oil. Here is a rundown of the series of events leading up to this.

-Had a problem with coolant loss about 5 months ago. Upper intake manifold (?) gasket had failed. Got it replaced, and there was no more coolant loss. The oil was changed too at this point.

-About a month ago I noticed a clicking sound coming from under the hood, based on info from other threads it may have been the harmonic balancer.

-On the day it died, there was a knocking sound coming from under the hood that seemed to get worse. Then there was a loud bang followed by loss of power steering and then the engine quit running. Battery was drained too when I checked it, so this makes me think the car was running off the battery for awhile. The oil looked okay to me, and the level was exactly where it was when I checked it the week before. I was planning to change it within the month. The serpentine belt was fully intact, and the harmonic balancer would not budge at all.

Anyone have an idea what happened? Also, does anyone have experience with getting an engine from the dealer vs. getting it remanufactured from someone like Jasper? All help is appreciated.