Weird soarer drama

[Gary]

yyyyyyyyeo

a mate has recently busted his soarer and we're both trying to suss what we're gunna do about it

its a modded (i cant remember but close to 200rwkw i think) 1J Z30 soarer, with an unmodified A340 in it. its burning oil quite badly but he's been keeping an eye on the level until he can suss the issue a bit later

driving it the other day it made some loud clacky noises (not quite what he'd describe as a knock though), then shortly afterward the engine dropped revs slowly and died. he mentioned the engine was still building boost when he was giving it more throttle to try keep it moving but the revs were still slowly dropping until the engine cut out. he tried starting it again, but wasnt cranking, just clicked and thats all

i suggested engine seized having not looked at it, and perhaps bearings finally gave in, but in hindsight that doesnt seem altogether likely. i went round and we pulled some stuff apart;
ancillaries are all free spinning
i can rotate the crank by hand with plugs out (pretty stiff though compared to the 1J ive got on a stand currently)
we dropped oil, no chunks
no holes in the sides of blocks
battery is dead

at the time thats all we had time to check. after thinking about it, we sorta thought the auto could have something to do with it, but i dont know enough about them to be able to say its the cause (though running 200rwkw through a stock one cant be good for it)

anyone have any clues as to what's wrong? at this point a VVTi or maybe 2J swap isnt off the cards, but would rather save the cash if possible

[LeaThaL]

sure its not a power issue if the battery is dead? altho very different cars, my ST184 had the alternator shit itself one night on me, made weird clicking type noises due to major spark loss and was sucking the battery dry and with foot flat on the floor it still tryed but very slowly dropped revs,


will also explain why he only got clicks after it stalled, perhaps the motor sucked the battery dry and thus a typical non-starting motor with clicking solonid

seeing you know the motor rotates and spins fine, i personally would try a fresh battery and see if she starts like normal but alternator is busted...

[Gary]

awesome idea, didnt think of it like that will give it a shot at next convenience, see how it goes