So I’m not mechanically inclined or anything but I need help, I just had my car fixed for front end cosmetic damage, hood, bumper, and passenger lamp, everything seemed fine until I noticed while on the highway I was smoking, getting to my destination I noticed that I had a puddle of oil and it was pouring out. going home as fast as I could using my emergency oil to get home as my car kept on saying check oil temp after a while, I had to keep it under twenty as after a while my rpm would go to 5 when going thirty. Is this fixable or is my car done, I know it has a head gasket problem and a catalytic problem but is this salvageble I just spent 2200 on the reforming of the front end.
Well, sorry to hear any of this actually. When you have an issue like this and you know you are losing engine oil it is really imperative you simply stop and shut the engine down. Running an engine with no oil is not a situation you want to get into for any length of time and it cannot be ignored or “wished away” no oil in the engine will do damage…and fast.
So hopefully you avoided actually running out of oil completely, it sounds like you were trying to be on top of the problem using your extra oil, so you may have avoided major engine damage, I hope you did. Were there any nasty mechanical sounds coming from the engine at any point ? Knocking sounds? If not you may have dodged a bullet.
Without more information we really cant advise you much in this instance. If you have a puddle of oil and its pouring out… You must locate where its coming from and fix it, its simple as that. We have no idea where its coming from and no clues to really help us guess. You are saying it leaks badly, and we believe you… Tell us where it is coming from and we can offer additional assistance. If it is indeed “pouring out” you should be able to tell us where its coming from rather easily. Let us know, we need the info to be of any help here, sorry.
Subarus do not have a warning light for oil temperature, but they DO have a warning light for excessive transmission fluid temperature.
Assuming that you meant 5,000 RPMs at 20 mph, I would say that this is pretty conclusive evidence of severe transmission slippage. And, if the “oil” that was pouring out was actually your transmission fluid, that would explain everything.
You should check both the oil dipstick and the trans fluid dipstick because I think you will likely find that you overfilled the oil, and your transmission is dry. If I am correct, you will need to have the transmission replaced. Hopefully you didn’t overfill the engine oil to the point where you also damaged the engine.
If the transmission is now toast, you will have to decide whether a 14 year old car with existing problems–like the head gaskets (there are two) and catalytic converter–is worth spending the big bucks for a transmission overhaul.
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The transmission fluid is piped to and from a cooler in the bottom section of the radiator. Possibly those connections were disturbed during the repairs to front end damage. Can you describe just where the oil has leaked from? Its color?
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I’d also have concerns about the transmission if the rpm’s hit 5,000 while doing 30 mph. This car may well be done.
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With a head gasket problem, a catalytic converter problem, a possibly-damaged engine from lack of oil, and a transmission that appears to be on the way out, chances are very good that this car is done.