Engine damage from oil running low?

Beckyy

On Wednesday my car was in the garage because of a collapsed wheel bearing, and it's booked in on Monday for it's MOT. Today I was driving a short journey (4/5miles) to take the dog somewhere to walk. Half way there I could smell a faint diesel-like smell. I dismissed it, as I was driving past a distillery/factory and put it down to that. Just as I was pulling into the Forestry Comission car park my car really stunk of the diesel smell - like I had some inside the car.

By this time I was parked up, but noticed a couple of whisps of smoke coming from under my bonnet. I immediately turned off my engine. A minute or two late I turned my ignition on to check my engine temp and it was double what it normally was (about half way up the gage, it's usually on a quarter)

I left the car for about 45 minutes while walking the dog, and when i came back I had a rough check of the oil dipstick - it was pretty damn low. I haven't checked for a while, so I only have myself to blame!! I vaguely remember seeing my oil light on when I noticed the smoke, but I can't remember if it came on properly, or was just on when I turned my ignition to check the temp. I planned to take a very slow drive home and put some more oil in, but my car wouldn't start. I only tried it once then left it and called OH.

As we were due to take OH's car into the garage this afternoon I asked them about it. They said to put a good litre or two of oil in and leave it to run for 15 minutes. We went straight to Halfords for oil, put in a good couple of litres - but it wouldn't start, at all.

I called the garage back and they said all they could do was leave it (in the foresty commission car park) until Monday (it's due it's MOT then) then tow it in and have a look, and assumed it's engine damage from running low on oil.

My question is: what type of damage should I expect, and what cost to repair it? It's an 03 reg Ford Fiesta 1.4tdi. I think I better brace myself...

hewhoisnotintheknow

sounds like a seized engine

forgotmyname

Lack of oil possibly overheated and also blown the head gasket, Problem now is how much damage did
it actually cause?

Maybe some fresh oil & filters and all will be well? Diesel engine with a turbo? Turbo's need lots of clean
oil to keep the bearings happy.


You may have damaged the piston/rings and bores, Crank and bearings, Cam and bearings, Oil pump, Turbo.

And a few other bits.

Hintza

Time to start looking for a new car. Doesn't sound good and I wouldn't be spending much money on it. The car is past it's economic lifespan at 7 years old (yes many go on for years but you get my gist).

newbie007_2

See what price the garage quote for repairs, most likely need to replace the engine. Then start looking for a second engine on somewhere like ebay and ask what the garage would charge for fitting.

nektonic

try an oil change

mine broke down last week. had recent problems with overheating, oil light flashing, service neglect, and other symptons. first garage towed my car from home,( demolished my garden wall with their truck), and quoted me £500 to replace headcasket and labour.

took it to another garage, and they asked when the last time i had an oil change. i hadn't had an oil change for about 4 yrs. but i did check the oil regular.

The oil had solidified and blocked, pistons, filters, tubes....
they ended up using some stuff called tapit, to break up the oil solids, and then flushing the engine, and finally an oil filter change.
they said if it didn't work, then they'd have to strip the engine - £500.
IT WORKED! - cost me £60.
they suggested going back in 2 months to check it.

£60 is easily better than £500.
at least i can get my wall fixed with the difference.

Hammyman

Beckyy wrote: »

My question is: what type of damage should I expect, and what cost to repair it? It's an 03 reg Ford Fiesta 1.4tdi. I think I better brace myself...

At worst, completely wrecked engine and a repair bill of around £1000-£1500 to fit a reconditioned one.

Beckyy

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was wondering if the repairs might be more than it's worth. I paid £2995 for it 11 months/14,000 miles ago, so I think it would only be worth about £2000 now without any problems (mileage is 76,000ish), if I'm lucky. I've already spent a fair bit on it lately; £250 for a new set of tyres, £150 for windscreen, £160 for collapsed wheel bearing, £30 tax etc.

...but I'm quite limited with cars that are suitable for me at the moment. I'm still quite young and don't have much driving experience on paper, so my insurance is ridiculous (currently £780 fully comp with my OH added on). The great thing about this car is it's very cheap to run, I get about 600 miles from a tank on motorway driving and it's big enough for my Great Dane to fit in the back with space. I think I'd struggle to find something suitable at a resonable price, AND shift my current car without making more of a loss than repairing it.

I guess at the moment I just have to wait and see what they say on Monday. I'm kind of limited to where I can go garage wise - as my car won't start once it's at the garage I've spoken to, even if I found one cheaper I'd have to pay for them to come out and tow it.

Thank you to those who have included rough prices. Can I ask what the cost of any other repairs mentioned would be please? I've recently paid £160 to have a collapsed wheel bearing replaced from the same garage who should be picking it up Monday. £45 for the bearing, and £90 labour - they towed me in, I guess that's included in labour.

I was meant to be visiting family next weekend (1200 mile round journey), so that doesn't look promising anymore!

optimus_primera

When you say 'won't start', do you mean it won't turn over ie turn key, nothing happens,or it turns over but will not fire up?

reeac

All might not be lost. Firstly regarding overheating, if the gauge reading was "half way", you saw no steam from under the bonnet and it was only a 3-4 mile journey then the engine may well not have overheated. Secondly in my experience you can run OK with a pretty low oil level and not damage anything especially if it's only gentle driving. I have an old sports car which leaks oil from the crankshaft seals so I tend to keep the oil level low anyway. The first sign is a loss of oil pressure when cornering to the right as the sump oil sloshes away from the oil pump. This effect is exacerbated when the oil is cold as a good proportion of it is around the upper reaches of the engine as its greater cold viscosity slows down its drainage back into the sump. I rebuilt this engine nearly 30 years ago and its always behaved like this. Of course my respectable cars don't use any detectable amount of oil and so there's never any oil level problem.

PsiDOC

optimus_primera wrote: »

When you say 'won't start', do you mean it won't turn over ie turn key, nothing happens,or it turns over but will not fire up?

What the primera man says.. Will the engine turn over at all or it it... CLICK and nothing?