Engine goes BOOM!

[pingwin77]

I was merging onto 100 north Saturday night and the woman in the left lane wanted to move on over. I stomped on the gas to get past her. I almost red lined the motor then when i let off the gas I heard a knocking sound. Towed it to my old man's place the next day, pulled the valve cover off to see if anything was broken or missing but everything looked fine to me. Towed it to the garage last night and got a call from my mechanic today telling me the motor was shot and there was no oil in it. I did an oil change 2 months ago and there has been no oils leaks, burning oil smells and no CEL light. A pretty crappy way to start a Monday.

Speaking of the light, I am assuming that the CEL of something should come on if the oil level gets too low right?

 

[Slim]

You wouldn't get very far without oil or with an extremely low amount. My guess would be it lost it after the "knocking sound".

 

[mndsm]

Only thing I can think of is the oil pump seized, or there was MASSIVE sludging or something that caused the oil level to look faulty. Or maybe you holed the oil pan w/o realizing it. A lot of times, lights won't come on in the event of sudden catastrophic failure.

 

[YSOSLO]

Bummer man...how many miles were on the motor?

 

[pingwin77]

I'm having the mechanic look for holes now. The motor had 135k on it. Considering the only major repairs I had on this thing were an engine mount and a transmission pressure solenoid, I have been pretty damn happy/lucky with this car.

 

[DrWebster]

You have the 2.3L, which means you have a cartridge-style oil filter. The plastic cap on those is known to fail if overtightened; that's the most common cause of sudden oil loss in our cars. Do you do oil changes yourself?

 

[pingwin77]

I do. Well I have a friend at Jiffy lube do it after hours and I supervise.

 

[JohnnyT]

Sounds like your typical 'rod through the block' story from the MS3/6 guys. They usually blow when cruising, not WOT though. Obviously a different engine, but you didn't have a giant pond of oil underneath your car? Just heard a 'knocking' sound and were told there was no oil in it? That's freakin' odd.

Is it a head tick or definitely a rod knock/piston slap? Tough for an average person to distinguish, but it'd help diagnose your problem.

 

[pingwin77]

Yeah, no oil puddle that I saw and the bottom of the car was bone dry. The mechanic just said there was no oil on the dipstick. He cracked the drain plug and there was oil coming out so I really have no idea if the motor was dry or just a tad low.

It sounds to me like the tick is in the head, but like you said, it is had to tell. I have a second guy looking at it today or tomorrow and actually pulling some stuff apart. His first thought was a bearing. I'll keep ya post on any news.

 

[mndsm]

I can see a worn bearing at 135k.... that seams a more likely story. Hole in the block is pretty freakin catastrophic, and likely the car would have shut down on you. I've done that once or twice.

 

[dmention7]

Agree with Tom. If the motor was really shot, there would be no ifs ands or buts about it. Sounds like your first mechanic is either lazy or greedy IMO.

My guess would be that you're looking at something like a cooked bearing--worst case a bent rod. In either case, for the time and labor spent replacing the motor, you could simply replace the necessary parts. In fact unless the motor actually needed machine work, I bet you could do all that in your garage without pulling the motor.

 

[pingwin77]

Crankshaft, rod, head gasket. $2600

 

[mndsm]

ooog. That's no good. But at least you didn't hole the block.

 

[JohnnyT]

I hope that price includes labor. Yikes!

 

[spek1098]

Dude, I'll sell you and help you install my old engine for less then that.

 

[pingwin77]

How much for the motor and labor and how long do you think it would take to get in? I can pay cash and homebrew beer. That price my mechanic quoted includes all the labor and everything.

 

[mndsm]

Motor swap like that- with someone that's done it before, a day. Since you're just unbolting the old crap, and plugging the new one in... no fab needed.

 

[JohnnyT]

Hell toss a few more dudes into the mix and we could crank that out in a few hours.

Oh wait, you have homebrewed beer? Ok, I call supervising then.

 

[pingwin77]

I do. Currently an Oatmeal stout and a Coffee Stout. The cream ale should be ready in a about a week. I'm just waiting to hear back from Jurgen about the price, then I need to find a place to do the work. Hopfully sooner than later so I can tell my mechanic to just toos the parts in a box and drop her off the lift. I'm not sure how much he has already done.

 

[pingwin77]

Well, for $600 cheaper I can grab Jurgen's engine. I would still need to find a spot to work on it, tow my car there, and he would not be around until next weekend. Since the car is already in the air and torn apart, I'm thinking I may just stick with the the replacement parts at my mechanic's unless any of you got a place and some time this weekend. Any thoughts? (beer)