I have a 2000 Dodge Intrepid and the dipstick was dry put in 4 quarts of oil and it took a minute to start.Shut it off and restarted it and it started and shook.
I know it was bad to let the oil run down.Is it OK to drive?
Well, if you have oil in it now, and keep checking it, you aren’t going to make things any worse by driving it. However, it is likely that your engine will fail completely very soon now.
Did you notice a red oil light on the dash?
It may be OK to drive, but the reason it may be OK is because you may already been damaged.
How about a little more information?
- When was the last time you checked the oil level?
- Why did you check the oil level?
- How much driving did you do since the last oil change?
- Has there been any indication of a problem prior to checking the oil?
- Anything else that might be related?
The damage is done and the engine will have a shorter lifespan. The shaking could be caused by low compression, which was caused by dry cylinder walls and piston rings.
A compression check will verify if cylinder pressures are at least acceptable. If not, the engine is done in.
An oil pressure test MAY reveal a problem in the engine lower end, depending on the severity of the damage.
At this point, no it should not be driven.
Nobody can tell you for sure, from a distance, but I would be very skeptical about the condition of the engine at this point.
Unless there was a sudden oil leak–which is rather unlikely–it must have taken many weeks or perhaps months for the oil level to have fallen that low. Periodic checking of the dipstick is done so that the level of the oil in the crankcase never falls more than 1 qt below the “full” mark. If you are in the habit of not checking the dipstick between oil changes, hopefully you now realize that this was not a wise thing to do.
As the oil level continued to drop over those weeks or months, the ever-smaller volume of oil was called upon to do the work of a full crankcase, which it is not capable of doing. As a result, the oil becomes very hot, wear reduction additives, anti-foaming additives and detergents are depleted, and engine wear begins to increase at a geometric rate. As the rate of wear increases, the rate of oil consumption increases.
That geometric rate of increased wear was increased further as each remaining fraction of a qt of oil was consumed. Before you added those 4 qts, the miniscule amount of oil that remained in the crankcase was likely extremely thick from accumulated sludge and thus was unable to circulate properly in the engine, resulting in excess wear to bearings, rings, and cylinder walls.
My advice is:
Do not attempt to start the engine
Have the car towed to a competent independent mechanic for evaluation
Begin to assess your finances in order to prepare for possible major repairs or the purchase of a replacement vehicle
Maybe you will be lucky, and the mechanic will find little or no damage to the engine.
For your sake, I really hope that is the case–even if I find that possibility to be a remote one.
Very light signal but my seatbelt light was also on.
“Very light signal”
Can you explain that for us?
Is that like “being slightly pregnant”?
The light was very light and then went out,It did not stay on
I’d start shopping for a new engine or a new used car tomorrow. The Intrepid may last long enough to get you around car shopping.