Oil & Engine

Dear Tom & Ray. I have a 1993 Luminina van. 3.8 engine. My oil line got a leek in one of the hoses. Lost all oil. The car has sat for 3yrs. I now have the money to repair however one person told me that the engine has bit the dust. Others say it is probably fine & may need new gaskets.Do I have to tow it all over the place & pay for several opins? What say you? I’m trusting in you guys. I’m at the library their PC.Hope to hear from you soon.

The ‘guys’ don’t answer these posts…

Assuming you never ran the engine with no oil why not repair the oil line add oil and see what happens…you might have problems starting due to old gasoline.

You will not get T and R on this forum; only advice from techs and DIYers.

Based on how you phrased the comments about a leaky hose (does this model really have an external engine oil cooler?) and losing all of the oil I’m assuming the engine was operated with no engine oil and the oil light on.

If so, this means damage. How much is anybody’s guess. A compression test and engine oil pressure test MIGHT reveal something.

There are no “oil” line hoses in your Lumina van unless you had an oil cooler installed. I think you may have had a transmission fluid leak. If you did not burn up the transmission then it’s probably only a matter of replacing the transmission line and adding fluid to the transmission. You would have to change oil in the engine and have the gas tank drained. A good independent mechanic may be able to get the Lumina back on the road.