I spoke to a mechanic and he is confident that there is no damage since it is not making any noise after oil is added. He is saying that the lifters would have made the noise and now that oil is added, everything is okay.
Please advise if I should show it to a different mechanic to take a look.
It is a 2006 Hyundai Accent.
If you didn’t drive long, or idle long with low oil then you should be fine. If any damage was in fact done, it’s done and there’s nothing you or any other mechanic can do about it, unless the engine is taken apart. Keep the oil full, check the dipstick often, and you should be ok. If you have any major leaks then they need to be fixed
The unknown factor is…How much oil actually remained in the crankcase?
The dipstick can show no oil, but there can be…maybe…1.5 qts left in the crankcase, below the level of the dipstick. Or, there can be almost no oil at all.
So, the engine was running on very little oil, but we don’t know just how low the oil level was. When you added oil, how much did you have to add before it came up to the full mark on the stick?
When was the last time that you checked the oil level, prior to this incident?
(In other words…give us some clue as to how long the engine may be been operating with a low oil level)
When was the last time that the oil was changed, in terms of both odometer miles and elapsed time?
I am asking these questions because I am not optimistic regarding the longevity of this engine. However, if you can supply some additional information, we have a better chance of speculating whether the engine has a few more months, or perhaps only a few more days, of life left in it.
How much oil needed to be added to bring the level up? You may be lucky and dodged some bad damage.
From this point on, check the oil at least every time you buy gas. If it uses a little oil, then there might have been some damage. However, if you only have to add a quart no more than every 1000 miles, consider yourself lucky.
I actually gave it to Walmart to change oil. They told me that there was some oil (a little darker). They flushed it and added 3.5qts.
“They flushed it and added 3.5qts.”
What does that mean? Did they add 3.5 quarts before draining the oil so you know it was down 3.5 quarts? Or is that the total capacity without a filter change? You didn’t let Walmart do an engine flush did you?
Being down several quarts can cause lifter noise. Just because you don’t have lifter noise doesn’t mean there isn’t damage to bearings and rings. Only way to tell is an inspection. Increased oil consumption and bearing noise may result but only time will tell.
Not engine flush. They removed the old oil and added 3.5qts with oil filter change. It looks like the oil capacity with filter change is 3.5qts. How soon will I notice these changes - increased oil consumption and bearing noise? Sorry, I don’t know much about car maintenance.
@biotiger–It’s hard to say when, or even if, you will notice bearing noise or increased oil consumption while you own the vehicle.
What’s done is done. Keep checking the oil frequently and top off if necessary. Then drive on and quit fretting over he past.
you have no idea how much oil was left, so you will never know how depleted your bearings and pistons were. so assume your car is on borrowed time. check it religiously and only time can tell if you will have a catastrophic event or drive for another 10 years. good luck.
So lets start all over…The engine was making noise when you drove into Wal-Mart for an oil change (you never checked it yourself) and they informed you very little oil drained out but it seems okay now…It that it??
Start checking the oil every other gas fill-up until you have some idea at what rate the engine is burning oil…When it gets down to the “add” line, put some in…
Yes. I will keep monitoring the oil levels from now on. I just checked the oil dipstick and it was dry. Luckily Walmart was close-by and they changed the oil+filter.
It was 4000 miles since the last oil change (6 months). And the Walmart people told me that they did remove some oil (and it was not completely dry) and added new oil (3.5qts)