I’m hoping to get some advice on a problem I’m having with my 2007 Mazda RX-8 (Series 1, 6-speed manual). The car has 56,000 km, original engine, and (I believe) the original clutch. The starter looks new, and I replaced the battery about 3 months ago with no issues since.

Recently, I noticed a slight clicking noise when the engine was running, which got faster with the RPM. After some research, I suspect it might be related to a coil needing replacement, but I didn’t get around to fixing it.

The car was running strong with no power loss before this happened. I was driving normally when I came to a stop, put it in first gear, and accelerated normally. Suddenly, I heard a crumble sound, and the car stalled. Since then, it won’t start — it just clicks and won’t turn over.

I tried manually turning the engine from the crankshaft, but it’s solid and won’t spin. There’s no oil leak or any obvious signs of damage, and no codes came up on the OBD2 scanner.

Any ideas on what could be wrong or where to start troubleshooting?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Sounds like it threw a seal or a bearing. If it won't turn over with the trans in neutral, then it's unfortunately jammed on bits of whatever it threw. Quite rare but it can happen. You can pull the spark plugs and see if there is metal on them.