Rep Power: 0

I have an 03 Honda Civic EX 1.7L. Went to start my car after a day of sitting and it sounded like a tapping noise (it wasn’t). Weird sounding when idling and revving. Gives a squeal when letting off accelerator. After a little investigating Believed it to be a vacuum issue

Drove down the road wouldn’t go faster than 20. Anything after 20mph was nothing but rpms revving up

Stopped. Turned around. Parked it back at the house. Killed it. popped hood and investigated further When to start it back and it wouldn’t crank however the starter would just whine.
Replaced starter, verified good connections at battery and grounds.
Go to start it, same thing starter just whines.
Tested both new and old starters and they are engaging.
No scarring or teeth missing from flywheel

im lost. Any ideas?

 
Rep Power: 224

Video?

Is the engine actually turning over? You say it doesn't crank but some people consider cranking actually starting.

 
Rep Power: 0

Unable to provide video atm. Car is at home and I’m out of town working.

No crank. No start. No turn over. Doesn’t do anything but you can hear starter engage and whine

 
Rep Power: 224

You should check if you can turn the engine over yourself. Possibly a seized A/C compressor (or other accessory) is causing enough resistance that the starter cannot overcome.

 
Rep Power: 0

Okay. I’ll give that a shot this weekend after I make it home

 
Rep Power: 0

Okay so I spun the crank by hand, motor spins freely as well as all accessories. (Ac compressor etc). Even went as far as pulling all the spark plugs and tried cranking car, everything spins as it should.
Put the spark plugs back in and tried cranking car and we’re back to square 1, where the starter just wines.

Had the starter warrantied and swapped. Installed it and same thing. Just wines Almost as if there’s so much compression that it can’t spin the motor over.

Pulled the Valve cover and looked at valves and rods and everything checks out as it should

seriously stumped, because the car was running perfectly fine prior to this issue.

any ideas?

 
Rep Power: 224

You previously mentioned flywheel, this is a 5 speed? Bump starts okay? Runs/drives normally if bump started?

Can't hear the whine so not sure what to make of it. Failing power feed cable to the starter? Failing engine to chassis ground strap?