Hi everyone, so recently I had an engine seizure on my 2013 Kia Optima. I’m 18 and knew nothing about maintaining a car, so the oil ran low. There was a knocking sound right before the car shut off. No oil light or engine light appeared until a few moments before the engine seizure. I’ve read all the horrifying articles online about seized engines and repair cost and thought that was the end for it. I had a mechanic put oil in it and tried turning it over, but that didnt work. He basically said I needed a new engine and this one was dead. After a few days of my car sitting in the driveway, I tried turning it over again, and to my surprise it started up. No knocking or anything. The engine sound like it did before everything happened. My question to you guys is, is it safe to say it’s good to drive. I know there must be some sort of damaged, but I’m not hearing any knocks or anything. Will it atleast buy me some time to save up for a used engine. I was quoted at $4000 for the engine and installation +3 year warranty. What do you guys think? I’m also new to the forums
You may have gotten lucky. I’m sure you have greatly shortened the life of your engine, but go ahead and drive it.
First thing to do. Learn how to check your oil, do this frequently. It will probably consume much more oil now.
Learn how to add oil. The oil cap on your engine will tell you what oil to use. Carry several extra quarts of oil in your car.
You should probably get an oil and filter change soon.
You may be able to nurse this car along until you can afford an engine replacement or trade it in on a different car.
There is no guarantee, your engine may fail the next time you start it.
try it and see. Go for short trips at first, lol. Now is not the time to try a cross country trek…
beyond that- I agree with everything @purebread said.
Agree with everyone here. You might even consider taking it to a shop and have them look it over. They may do a compression check and might hear things that you don’t. Otherwise drive on.
I guess you’ll just have to drive it and see. You’ll need to be prepared for a breakdown at any time, so make sure you know what towing company you’ll call and try not to do things like pulling out in front of a tractor-trailer. The engine might lose oil much more quickly now, so check it very frequently.
Giving it an oil change right now might improve your chances, as opposed to driving it around with a mix of sludge and new oil. Get an oil change and hope for the best.
HOLY Seized Engines Batman… Yeah, I concur… drive it and see. You may notice really bad oil consumption, or knock when under load …but hey you wont know till you try. Just know that every moment with this engine propelling the car is a near miracle so treat it as such. Pay attention to fluids and noises etc. No cross country trips etc… Just drive it and see…locally.
You should be able to figure out if it is OK to continue to drive etc…
As a side thought you may want to get the battery checked.
Thank you everyone, for the replies. After a small trip around town the knocking came back. Fortunately kia replaced the engine free of cost @100000miles. I was super excited
Huh? Ur 18. Cars is 6 yrs old. What are details of warranty? Are you original owner? You told them about running out of oil and they replaced motor for free?
No I’m not the original owner. Apparently kia had a recall on most 2011-2013 kia Optima because of a knocking issue with the pistons. So I basically jumped on that wagon. My car was running fine after it started up again. But the knocking was bad, so I basically told them that the knocking recently started. Let’s just say, I left out a couple of the fine details as to why it started knocking. 
Lucky you found out about warranty before your mechanic got you with a 4000 repair
In a little defense (or defence over the pond) of the OP, why did the oil get that low in the first place? This normally does not happen unless there is an internal engine problem. I’ve driven over a million and a half miles with cars with hundreds of thousands of miles on them and never had one run that low. So I think there was a problem before the incident anyway. Running it low just hastened the knocking.
It is a Theta II engine, those come with birth defects.
Glad you got the problem resolved with minimal expense. Good for Kia also to keep you as a loyal customer. Now you had the good fortune to get a new engine, parlay your good luck to try to keep it in new condition. The single best thing you can do for you car is an oil and filter change.
- Check the oil level on the dipstick every month, better yet every time you fill up w/gas.
- Change the oil and filter according to Kia’s routine service interval recommendations.
- It never hurts to change the oil too soon, so error on the too early side rather than the too late.
- Look under the car where you park it once in a while for signs of leaks.
If you want to learn to do some diy’er car maintenance, replacing the oil and filter is an excellent place to start. You’ll know you’re using the correct oil, good quality filter, and while the oil drains have a chance to look under the car for signs of trouble brewing.