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Is my car fucked?

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Insertia

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This morning while driving home from work something under the hood began making scratching sounds. It was also shifting gears slowly. I figured since the gas meter was sitting on E all it needed was gas. Pulled over to the nearest station and filled it up, but that fixed nothing. It actually shut off when I left the lot. I pushed it from the street into a Burger King parking lot, looked under the hood...everything was really hot. It still drives, I drove it around the lot for a bit...but it makes a screeching sound so I wouldn't dare drive it too far.
I tested the water, and it was full. I never put anti-coolant in it; could that be a problem? Wait, now that I think about it, according to the dashboard meter it was no longer running hot, although while driving to the gas station it was running really hot.

So is my engine fucked? I called a friend to pick me up. He pegged me for not getting a tune-up or oil change even though he recommend it to me many times. It's a used truck with many miles on it. My pal said the engine could be busted and I'll need a new one which according to him will cost more than I paid for the truck itself ($2000).

I'm going to drive back to the lot and put some oil in it (it was kinda of low last time i checked). Could that possibly help the problem?
 
You're probably fucked. Seriously, get oil changes/fluids on time. Lots of people (including myself at one point) don't realize how expensive is can be to repair engine damage.
 
It had no oil in it. Fuck. Today was the day I was going to refill it also.
It still drives, but it makes that loud screeching sound while driving. Guess I'll have to save of up for a new engine.
 
Insertia said:
It had no oil in it. Fuck. Today was the day I was going to refill it also.
It still drives, but it makes that loud screeching sound while driving. Guess I'll have to save of up for a new engine.




LOL WTF how do y7ou lose all your oil? Did it have a leak? When was the last time you had the oil changes?
 
screeching is the metal hitting metal. if y ou drove it only a bit without oil it might might be ok. till the oil relubes everything the screeching will presist but with time it should go away...but your engine probably has other issues with the way you drove it.
 
No leak, never had an oil change(yah, i'm an idiot, i know).

The 'low oil' light never came on so I assumed everything was fine. I mean, I knew it needed oil I just didn't know it needed it that badly. I was planning on puttting in several quarts today. :(
 
EclipseGST said:
screeching is the metal hitting metal. if y ou drove it only a bit without oil it might might be ok. till the oil relubes everything the screeching will presist but with time it should go away...but your engine probably has other issues with the way you drove it.

goddamn i hope this is true.
Should I leave the engine running for an hour or two?
 
Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news. But if your engine came to a halt it means that something caused it to seize up (metal on metal = debris). So even if you put oil in there, you will have some nasty ass debris floating in your engine. It might be ok for awhile, but over time your engine could fail again.


You might look into getting some kind of engine flush to remove any sediment or debris that could be in there (which would explain why there is still a screeching noise).
 
Insertia said:
No leak, never had an oil change(yah, i'm an idiot, i know).

The 'low oil' light never came on so I assumed everything was fine. I mean, I knew it needed oil I just didn't know it needed it that badly. I was planning on puttting in several quarts today. :(




Putting new oil in? Shouldn't you be getting it changed? Your engine doesn't use oil as it does gas. It's a lubricant and if you have to put new oil in to keep it running you are going too long without changing it. If you haven't screwed something up now you will at some point if you just keep driving and pouring more oil in it.
 
yeah you aren't supposed to run out of oil like gasoline. WTF were you doing? Either it never had oil or you have a MONSTROUS fucking leak. My car had a pretty bad leak but it never even got close to running out of oil, so it would have to be something pretty bad to drain the car.
 
Actually, I had an old truck ('89 S-10) that would run a little hot ... That would burn off the oil. As the oil supply lessened, it would run even hotter. Making the oil "disappear" even quicker. I usually had to put a quart in every few weeks.
 
It sounds to me like your vehicle is burning oil rather badly or has a wicked leak. I'm surprised it's still running as it sounds like the engine is about to seize (once it does, sell your trucks, it's all over). It'll be interesting to see if the screeching sound goes away since you've added oil or if it seizes soon. Sorry man, that sucks. Whoever said you should get your engine flushed is probably correct. Check your oil every other gas fill up and if it's down add more.

When you start your truck up, or if there is load on the engine do you see white/blue smoke? Does it smell funny? If so, you're probably burning oil.
 
Take it to a mechanic?? not all engine problems are life threatening. a screeching noise could be anything from a loose fan belt to a bearing gone wrong, although given the description of it shutting down the latter is most likely. it may not require a whole new engine. Take it to a mechanic and ask for them to look at it, not fix it. They will tell you what the damage to the engine is and what the damage to your wallet will be. if its too much, you dont have to do squat.

Beware of dodgy mechanics, take it to a semi-decent place. If he says he doesnt know what the problem is and would like to replace part after part, dont do it. a common scam is they replace parts that dont need replacing, and those not in the know will be left with a whopping bill.

good luck man.
 
Yeah, I had a close friend check it out. He said I probably threw a rod and since the car still drives the engine isn't completely fucked and there's a chance that the rod can be replaced or fixed. Then again, I told my cousin (who worked at Autozone for several years) about it yesterday and he said "Threw a rod? You're fucked." He's an asshole so I don't know what to believe.
I'm going to have a guy take it apart and look into it soon.
 
Insertia said:
The 'low oil' light never came on so I assumed everything was fine.

:lol

quick lesson - the "oil" light is not for "low oil" (like "low gas"), but for "low oil pressure". It's usually indicative of other problems. To check the amount of oil use the dipstick. I'm sure you can figure it out by reading your car's manual (I'm amazed at the number of people who put thousands of dollars into something and don't even bother to read the manual).
 
Riskbreaker said:
Your suppose to change your oil after every 3,000 miles correct?


Depends on the oil, they have 3, 5, 8, and I think 10k mile oils now. But even with regular oil, I think that you can get 5k out of it.
 
I don't care what they say, change your oil every 3000-3500 miles.

Check all fluids at LEAST once a month. Christ, you are supposed to check them all every time you fill up on gas.
 
ZombieSupaStar said:
well I entered


"engine threw a rod" in google and most sites came up with how after it happened they added a "new engine" to the car



:|

0018-0309-1708-3415_SM.jpg


mashoutposse said:
How many miles have you driven without changing the oil?

a little over 3000. :(
 
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