I had some thoughts, initially, that maybe there was something faulty with the car itself…but while I still think there may be some aspects of the problem that I didn’t cause, it still comes down to me. If I had done better service on it, and kept the records, and still had this problem, GM would be fixing it under warranty.
Whichever way I go with this car, I’m thinking that for the foreseeable future, I’ll be going the route of cheap cars that’ll get me to and from work, so that if I don’t maintain it, I didn’t lose as much. I think I was also spoiled by my old Sable…I was just about as bad with that car, but it lasted much longer. I guess I got lucky with that one.
90% of the driving public probably doesn’t know what the oil light means. It doesn’t mean you’re low on the volume of oil, at least not necessarily.
The light means you have dangerously low oil pressure and should turn the car off immediately.
Perhaps car makers should come up with a better way to warn drivers. My Mercedes has a separate oil light for when the oil level starts to get low. Same with the coolant level. Why don’t more car makers create better ways to protect such expensive engines?
Not to be cruel but I love how people drive with the oil light on because It’s not safe to pull over. Not safe is usually short for I didn’t want to stop driving. It sounds as if this car was treated very, very poor from day one.
That’s how my thinking is going. Drive beaters for a while, see how it goes.
I will still insist, though, that a ditch on the side of a road with no shoulder isn’t a very safe place to pull over. At rush hour, no less.
This is a learning experience (a very expensive one), and a lesson learned–better maintenance on a car is cheaper in the long-run.
I’m thinking that for the foreseeable future, I’ll be going the route of cheap cars that’ll get me to and from work, so that if I don’t maintain it, I didn’t lose as much
It didn’t take long for the lesson to be forgotten! The key words: I didn’t lose as much. Laziness has a price. Apparently, your new goal is to minimize the cost of laziness. What people are telling you is, if you put forth even a little effort, you could probably eliminate it. Changing old habits is tough…
I apologize if I offended the OP with some of my remarks. I just have little tolerance for people who do not take care of the second most expensive (or in some cases, the most expensive) single item you will ever purchase. It just seems that a car has become like a toaster to a lot of people: buy it, use it, and when it stops working throw it away and get a new one with nothing in between steps two and three. It just blows my mind that any three year old car, even an Aveo, can be in the condition you describe it.
As far as doing the work yourself, this is most likely not out of your abilities, particularly if you are a reasonably fit, young person. I have read about old guys in wheelchairs doing full restorations on muscle cars in their own garage with very little help from others. Nobody was born with a wrench in their hand. I can do the things I can do because I have learned them, in most cases by teaching myself. I had no guidance the first time I replaced an engine. I just took the repair manual, my little toolbox full of hand tools, rented a shop crane and went to work. You may find out you like doing that kind of stuff and want to learn more about it, and maybe earn a little money doing it for others. That’s what happened when I started learning how to work on cars.
As far as a comment you made about GM possibly fixing this under warranty, that will not happen. I don’t think you expected that to happen, but I can tell you this much. To get anything covered under warranty, you need to follow the maintenance schedule to a “T” and keep full documentation of all the work done. This includes not only oil changes, but things like replacing filters, changing transmission fluid, spark plugs, etc. Also, mechanical failures such as this one due to a manufacturing error are extremely rare. You are probably more likely to get struck by lightning than to have a catastrophic engine failure due to a problem from the factory.
As many post there are about shop scams, a forum should be created on how many people don’t adhere to the owners’ manual.
Once that oil light comes on,its way too late. The oil light should come on when the vehicle is 1/2 to 1 quart low on oil.Unfortnately, only a few vehicles have an oil level sensor. Otherwise, check the oil dipstick on a regular basis .
Sorry elektrikhd, don’t mean to beat you up. I know this is a painfull lesson. I would put in a good used engine from a pick-n-pull place. Possibly have the local high school shop class do the job. {you said you had limited funds,so your options are somewhat limited}
I have a feeling this car was stomped on since brand new. Stomp on a brand new engine, ANY brand new engine, and it will turn into a heck of an oil burner, resulting in just this kind of thing.
Yes! There have been a number of tests performed and with a standard US car with a V6 or V8, not changing the oil or filter at all, just topping up the dino oil, will result in enginge seizure at about 60,000 miles. On a sludging engine it will occur way earlier.
I have worked with 2 technical people, one a HEAT TRANSFER ENGINEER!, the other a PhD in chemistry, who both had Mercedes cars and both blew their engines on the freeway. The reason was lack of coolant. I tried to do a failure analysis with the PhD, and he had no idea what had happened to his car, and does not recall reading the instrument panel. This man was a “High Caste” person in his home country and probably felt is was beneath his station to look after a car.
It goes to show you that even people who SHOULD know what to do, go to sleep when it comes to monitoring their vehicles.
maybe you can try and trade it in for another car,it may still have some value.You are learning one of lifes harsh lessons with cars they are always a horrible investment,one that will need constant care and attention as long as you choose to own one.
Or…you could just learn to do some basic maintenance on your cars, so that this doesn’t happen again. The level of ignorance that you display when it comes to automobiles is astounding. How could you not know that car insurance would cover damage to your car? Similarly, how can you be okay with buying cheaper cars so that you don’t need to take care of them, knowing full well what will eventually happen.
I will not visit this discussion again, because it really upsets me that someone can be so cognizant of their own level of neglect. I really think that you need to consider using public transportation, and quit littering our junkyards with your cars, simply because you don’t want to take 15 minutes once a month to check your fluid levels and tire pressure.