Looking for advice my mrs has a Skoda octavia estate 2003 1.9 tdi (auto) it was running fine then it lost power, battery light came on so she pulled over turned it off and couldn’t get it started again. AA came out looked at it says it’s either ur alternator or starter motor so got it taken to the garage who said it’s the starter motor but aa were says it’s the alternators authorised the garage to replace it car will still not start so had another AA patrol out who said it’s the engine has seized. 

Can an engine seize up after it has been running ( was getting used twice a day on a daily basis)?

Did the oil light come on?

No mate mrs said it lost power puff of smoke out the back battery light came on so she pulled into a bus stop and it never started again. Aa took it to local garage and authorised the alternator to be replaced under our brc cover even tho the garage are convinced it’s the starter motor. So I have one aa guy say possibly alternator or starter, aa tech team say it’s alternator, garage say faulty starter, and another aa guy says seized engine. 😳

Puff of smoke out of the back not usually a symptom of alternator or starter motor failure I'm afraid.

 

Has the engine got oil in it?

Has the cambelt failed?

 

Edited 15 February, 20206 yr by bigjohn

Sorry wasn’t a puff of smoke that’s what I thought she said it was just normal smoke as if it was running.

 

engine has oil no signs of the cam belt has failed

How can I manually crank the Diesel engine over by hand to find out if it’s seized or not cause I’m not convinced it’s seized 

Ignition off, engage top gear, handbrake off and pull the vehicle forwards.

It’s an auto mate

@Tam19 - Well, even on a slushbox there's still a big f**k-off bolt on the crankshaft pulley (needs lower cambelt cover removing for access).

 

If the battery light still works, it's not the alternator control wires, and smoke sounds like engine internals. If possible, can SWMBO say what colour the smoke was?