White smoke_add oil light

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Hello Guys,

just bought a 2000 Sebering. it starts but there is a red light that says low on oil. I added oil but it is still there. also, there is some white smoke coming. can you please shade some light on the situation and how painfull will the remedy be.

thanks.

rach

2

Get your car towed to a good independent mechanic for diagnosis. Red oil light means no oil pressure so don’t drive it until you know what’s going on. White smoke could be a head gasket issue also.

Your mechanic need to do some testing and diagnosis, but the prognosis doesn’t sound good.

3

Don’t immeditaly connect the white smoke and the add oil light just yey.The smoke could be harmless condensation and you don’t say if you connect the indication to add oil with an actual low oil situation.

Is the back of the car covered in oil droplets? is the inside of the tailpipe oily?

       we need a better description of the symptons to be of help
4

Unfortunately, the remedy for your Sebring will likely be very painful.

First of all, that warning light is not telling you that the oil level is low.
It is telling you that the engine’s oil pressure is dangerously low.

As the Owner’s Manual should tell you, this warning light means that the engine should be shut down immediately and the car should be towed to a competent mechanic. If you have been driving it with these symptoms, then the engine is probably severely damaged at this point.

The white smoke is probably an indication that coolant is being vaporized in the cylinders, and that is a very bad sign–very possibly an indication of a breached head gasket. If that situation has been present for a while, coolant could have contaminated the motor oil sufficiently to cause major internal engine damage. Coolant is not a lubricant, unfortunately. The white smoke, coupled with an indication of low oil pressure very likely means that this engine has very badly worn bearings and other internal damage, and is now ready for the junk yard.

Did you have this car checked out by a mechanic of your choice, prior to purchase?
If not, then you made a really big mistake, as I suspect that the person who sold it to you was aware of some major mechanical problems, and that he dumped the car on the first unsuspecting customer.

Have the car checked by an independent mechanic. Do NOT take it to Midas, Meineke, Monro, Sears, Pep Boys, AAMCO, or any other chain. Do not waste money taking a ten year old car to a dealership. Use an independent mechanic to determine the extent of engine damage and to evaluate the condition of the rest of the car. Then, after getting a repair estimate, you can decide whether to walk away from this car, or to spend more money on repairing it.

Good luck, and please report back to us with the mechanic’s findings.

5

Thanks