It only takes one low oil incident to cause some engine damage. Even running a quart down is detrimental to the engine because that mean the oil capacity is diminished by 20 some odd percent. That in turn means the remaining oil is getting punished even more with excess heat. That in turn can lead to oil control rings sticking.
Cylinders and rings are also lubricated by oil thrown from the crankshaft journals as the crank rotates. If there’s not much oil in the engine then there is little oil being thrown onto those cylinders.
A dry and wet compression test would likely show a problem with rings. If mechanics are telling you no leaks so they don’t know then they are not mechanics.
You may be checking the oil level now but the operative phrase here would be the barn door was closed after the horses escaped. Once damaged there is no cheap repair or miracle in a can.
National chains like Firestone, Goodyear, Pep Boys, Walmart and Sears ( are there any Sears left?) or oil change chains are not the best places to take car problems to. Build a relationship with a local independent mechanic and you and your car will be far better off.
As for this car, trading it in might be the best idea.
Not many! IIRC, correctly, there is only one Sears store left in my state.
And, they sold-off their auto centers several years ago.
Or, at least they did so in my state.
In any event, a chain-run operation is very unlikely to have good, highly-skilled mechanics.
I get it. I’m not sure what everyone is not understanding. I NEVER had an oil issue with this car, ever. The car was always topped off and I would check it every week to be sure it was ok. That is why I couldn’t understand why all of a sudden the light is flashing at me when I had just checked it the prior weekend. So, seriously something changed in that week. I don’t know what. That is why I took it to the mechanic, who happened to be on my way home from work. Thx
Sorry if it was a confusion from your prior messages, but originally I though your “car check routine” was not including the oil level check and fill-up if needed.
Now when you made it very clear you do all of that, I would suggest that such a sudden oil consumption increase may be due to the PCV valve defect.
These are very cheap and easy to replace, but they can make your engine to eject oil into the intake manifold, then it gets burned in the engine, so you see no external traces.
Given high mileage on the car, I would suggest replacing PCV just as a security precaution, then monitoring how the oil consumption changes (if changes at all).
I just don’t know if I can throw any more money into this car. Its starting to make noises I never heard before, it’s sluggish, the oil thing which has popped up out of nowhere, I think its time is up. I refuse to put a new engine into it. Transmission was pricey enough. However, since I must keep it until a replacement occurs, I will talk with my friend about the PCV valve. Thank you.
Okay, your oil pressure light came on and you pulled into a gas station where they sell oil. You checked the oil and found that it was very low, down about 3 quarts, which I assume means the dipstick was dry. You then drove to a friend’s house, he told you to put oil in it and so you drove somewhere else and bought oil. Do you see the problem with this?
As @oldtimer-11 pointed out, you’re apparently going through a quart about every 150 miles or less, which is very bad, but it only starts happening about 2500 miles after an oil change. The guys at Firestone(?) looked at it, couldn’t find an obvious leak, and scratched their heads. I’ve had similar experiences with a Dodge and a Pontiac and it took a good mechanic to find the trouble. BTW, in both cases it was a minor problem (once a hole in the oil pressure sending unit and the other time a punctured oil filter) that was easily remedied. The additives in oil do break down with time and mileage but I don’t know how much that might be contributing. I think @thegreendrag0n is probably right about the PCV valve but your best bet is to find a good experienced independent mechanic, maybe someone with a little gray in his hair, and let him diagnose the problem. You might be surprised.
Trade-in might can be mere pennies if car is on the last leg.
You might want to sell it as a “mechanic’s special” on a craigslist to get more out of it, although it requires time and a number of strange people (with strange ideas) might call you for it.
Every time someone comes here talking about expensive engine/transmission problems, we hear this same advice. Doesn’t that just kick the can down the road to the next owner, who may be ill-prepared to deal with major problems?
If I sell a car with problems, I reveal them to the buyer, and then it is his decision whether or not to buy it.
Is everyone that honest?
Undoubtedly not, but when someone buys used merchandise he/she always runs the risk of buying something that is in need of repairs.
+1
Repairing a vehicle and then selling it is not something that most people would do, and it actually makes little (or no) economic sense.
I simply reveal the problems and then the buyer can make the decision as to whether he wants to buy a car that is in need of repairs.
Exactly. Totally different then trying to cover anything up.
Many years ago I sold an old 66 Caddy Fleetwood. I was asking $100. Guy comes over to look at and comes up with a list of repairs he thinks I should do before I sold it to him. Sure - I’ll fix them and then raise the price by $10,000. Didn’t like the solution. He wanted me to fix them but still sell the car to him for $100. I threw him out of my house. Sold the car the following day for my asking price.
What still baffles me is that the vehicle seems to do just fine for 2500 miles or so and then starts losing oil to beat the band, about a quart every 150 miles. Granted, I’m not a mechanic but I can’t think of a mechanism that would account for that behavior. If anyone can enlighten me I’d appreciate it. My wife, who recently retired from a customer service position with a large university’s IT department, thinks we’re not getting the whole story and I’m inclined to agree.
But the same thing has happened twice in a row. Wouldn’t the ring stay broken rather than going back to functioning normally only to break again in another 4000 miles or so? That’s what I don’t get. The OP says it happened in November and again recently:
I dont know about you, but when I get rid of a vehicle, I don’t believe i have any duty or obligation to the next owner. I would never sell (or give) a car to a friend or relative.
