# OMG! What happened to my car?!?!



## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

Last night I went on a quick gas run and I was looking for a 24-hour station. So I was heading down this street called tower road when I passed the only one I knew of on it(and it was closed), so I got into a left turn lane and turned around. I was accelerating up the street and before I shifted out of 2nd gear, I felt a BIG drop in power(like 30hp or so) and my oil light came on. I was like, "WTF?". So I hurried to the nearest 24-hour station and quickly bought 3 bottles of 10W-30 and put them in right there. I started the car again and it ran ok for about 3 seconds until I heard this splashing sound. I looked underneath and all of the oil I had just bought was falling out of my car! I left a HUGE puddle in the parking lot. I tried to get it home before it died, but I just kept losing more and more power so I had to park about 2 miles away from my house. What happened?!!?! I remember seeing some oil splashed in the engine bay between the valve cover and the TB. Please tell me it's something easy to fix. I hope I didn't too any major engine damage either. My poor SE-R!! My mods are listed below and the car has about 75k miles on it. Would this have anything to do with me disconnecting my EGR valve? Maybe I did it wrong? Also I've taken the heat shield off of the underside of the hood. Help my baby!


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## Sanyo (Dec 19, 2003)

Just a suggestion...when your car starts dumping massive ammounts of oil and you loose power, DON'T DRIVE IT. Just get it towed by AAA or just get a local tow company, paying a 50 dollar tow fee is better than a new engine, on why the oil just blew out that fast, thats a mystery to me dude, good luck.


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## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

Could be a blown oil pan, incorrectly seated oil filter, or a massive leak from somewhere in the engine. Only way to find out is by looking.

I ripped my oil pan once, so I know how it feels watching all the oil spill around like that. One smart move I made was that I immediately stopped and got the car towed instead of taking the risk of driving it without any oil in the engine.


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## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

Yeah, about that...what exactly happens to an engine when it's run with very little oil in it? It was stupid to try and get it home with no oil, but I'm very, very poor and couldn't afford a tow at the time. It was also 2:30am.


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## cybrsoldr (Jan 4, 2004)

If I were you, I would take off your cam cover to see how your cams and rockers look. Depending on how long they were without oil they may be shot. Thats about all you can do to inspect for damage to the engine without having to tear it apart.


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## Sanyo (Dec 19, 2003)

Well, probably the worst that could happen would the engine would seize, no oil in parts that are metal on metal= bad combination. No oil in the engine will mess it up BIG TIME. Hopefully its fine though..


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## tomd (Oct 18, 2002)

why did you put 3 qts in, was it 3 qts low? it should hold 3.75qts of oil....

if it didn't need all that oil it might have been spewing it out cuz it was too much?


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## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

Thanx for the concern guys. I found the problem. Apparently the Grease Monkey that I took it to less than 1 month ago replaced my oil filter with the wrong one. It wasn't even for any Sentra of any year. So I guess it just finally busted off. So that's where all the oil was coming from. I stormed back into that grease monkey and demanded a redo. They were actually very cooperative about it. The whole crew wasn't anybody I recognized from the last time, but they redid my oil change(with the proper filter), steam cleaned my engine bay and gave me $10 for a car wash or gas or whatever. I don't think there was any engine damage incurred because it didn't run very long when it was low on oil, it was never completely empty, and it feels like it's running very strongly again. Whew, I thought I was gonna lose my baby.


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## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

tomd said:


> why did you put 3 qts in, was it 3 qts low? it should hold 3.75qts of oil....
> 
> if it didn't need all that oil it might have been spewing it out cuz it was too much?


Yeah, it was VERY, VERY low on oil. It took all 3 quarts easily but after it all poured onto the ground I just said forget it and tried to get it home before it got too low again.


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## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

Do oil changes yourself. That way you know that everything going in is right and won't pop off like it did with you. Last thing you want is a blown motor because a shop messed up. The only time I take my car to a shop is when its not motor related or when I don't have the tools/help to do the job. Even then I only take it to one guy who has served me well and knows what he is doing, unlike many dumb mechanics you see every now and then.


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## Captain Obvious (Jan 2, 2004)

fugiot said:


> Yeah, about that...what exactly happens to an engine when it's run with very little oil in it? It was stupid to try and get it home with no oil, but I'm very, very poor and couldn't afford a tow at the time. It was also 2:30am.


when I was a kid we had a 2 level parking lot at the school and there was a litle ramp like drive connecting it and at night I took my old hardbody out and jumped it doin like 30 well I bottomed out one day and the oilpan came right off and I drove home it was like one and a half miles and I went slow 
but after I fixed the pan about a week later I had a piston rod that came right thru the block and I was screwed so I wish I stopped drivin it too


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## mrRICEguy (Jan 1, 2004)

*do you own oil changes!!!*



Harris said:


> Do oil changes yourself. That way you know that everything going in is right and won't pop off like it did with you. Last thing you want is a blown motor because a shop messed up. The only time I take my car to a shop is when its not motor related or when I don't have the tools/help to do the job. Even then I only take it to one guy who has served me well and knows what he is doing, unlike many dumb mechanics you see every now and then.


do ur own oil changes.....i wouldnt trust anyone else....i work at jiffy lube and from what i see, workers tend to get really lazy and do a half ass job.... oh yeah if u ever come to the jiffy lube that i work at and ur being an asshole to me, ill just bring ur car into the bay, sit down, wait for 10 minutes, then pull ur car out and ring ur ass out...haha jk...


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## tomd (Oct 18, 2002)

mrRICEguy said:


> do ur own oil changes.....i wouldnt trust anyone else....i work at jiffy lube and from what i see, workers tend to get really lazy and do a half ass job.... oh yeah if u ever come to the jiffy lube that i work at and ur being an asshole to me, ill just bring ur car into the bay, sit down, wait for 10 minutes, then pull ur car out and ring ur ass out...haha jk...


Heh, i work at a Lube Shop too, our local jiffy lube is pretty half assed, and hten some of hte local dealers always dry gasket hte filters, gets our pit guys pretty pissy sometimes... I would never take my car in to get it worked on, after workin at a lube shop esp, and just seeing some crazy shit on other peoples cars and such. But then again, i do everything myself, that way, if i ever screw it up, i'm the only person i can blame =P

Oh yah, whenever we have people w/ leaky filters or when we had some -30* weather, we had some with gaskets splitting and such, we have no problems w/ replacing filter, plug or gasket on the plug....


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## halfshaft (Nov 2, 2003)

fugiot said:


> Yeah, about that...what exactly happens to an engine when it's run with very little oil in it? It was stupid to try and get it home with no oil, but I'm very, very poor and couldn't afford a tow at the time. It was also 2:30am.



The usual events that occur in an engine without any oil (or oil pressure) are these.

1. All oil pressure is lost. Oil is no longer being pumped into main crank journals, valvetrain, and on some engines, big ends of rods and/or piston squirters and/or timing chain/valve timing devices. Shut off your engine.

2. A slight knocking or rumbling sound is heard about 10-40sec after pressure loss. This is the sound of the main bearings and crank journals slightly contacting each other at engine speed. This occurs because the film of pressurized oil that the crank usually floats on is now becoming absent. There is a slight power loss. Slight wear is now occuring on these parts. Slightly decreased engine life expected. Shut off your engine!

3. If continued engine operation occurs, knocking becomes very pronounced, to the point of overpowering normal engine operation sounds. This is the sound of the crank and main bearings slamming into each other at engine speed, and pounding the slight oil film that was protecting them off of bearing surfaces. Major power loss. Major wear is occuring at main bearings, and possible crank journal scoring may occur. High decrease in engine life expected. SHUT OFF YOUR ENGINE!!

4. Knocking turns into extreamly loud banging(30sec-1min after pressure loss) 
that can be heard over normal road noise. (All previous indications might not be heard whilst driving) This is the sound of the crank moving freely in the main journals. Unbelivable wear on main bearings, bearings may sometimes seperate from seats, valvetrain starts to wear. Engine may stall. Possible catistrophic engine failure may occur, including, but not limited to, Crankshaft snapping in two and exiting engine through oil pan,(happened to a buddy's Mustang), Rod and crank seperation,( this is throwing a rod) Shattered pistons, cracked block(yes, it can and does happen) and torn out main webs.
JESUS CHRIST!!! TURN OFF YOUR FRIGGEN ENGINE!!!

5. 1min-5min after oil pressure loss. If the damned thing is still running, massive valvetrain wear is occuring, your crank is hoplessly scared, you need a new camshaft, you need new pistons, you need to reevaluate the way you drive your cars.

Oil is the lifeblood of an engine. DO NOT drive on a engine with no oil pressure, and get a oil pressure guage and don't trust the idiot light.
I can only wish you the best of luck, and dont dispair, the SR20's a tough motor, mabey it will be all right  . Good luck!


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## OddyseusDSM (Mar 19, 2003)

and the moral of the story was: SHUT OFF YOUR ENGINE! MORON!!!






j/k
same thing happened to a friends Neon, DOHC Neon = not rally car


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## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

halfshaft said:


> The usual events that occur in an engine without any oil (or oil pressure) are these.
> 
> 1. All oil pressure is lost. Oil is no longer being pumped into main crank journals, valvetrain, and on some engines, big ends of rods and/or piston squirters and/or timing chain/valve timing devices. Shut off your engine.
> 
> ...


Well, judging by the sound, it seems like I only made it to #2. But judging by power loss, I'd say it was more like #3. The engine seems ok right now but it does sound a tad different in the 2500-3000rpm range. Don't know what that's about but I'll check into it. Overall, I don't think anything was really harmed.


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## halfshaft (Nov 2, 2003)

You could try running a good heavy weight synthetic oil like Mobil One 20w-50
or Amsoil 20w-50. These would take up the exess clearences you might have in your crank bearings, and would provide a better shock loading in case of bearing contact when the engine is cold. I wouldn't worry too much, because there is really nothing much you can do, and your engine most likely sustained a fair amount of wear, but will probably be fine if its still running normaly.


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## fugiot (Jun 27, 2003)

20w-50? Ok, I'll look into that.


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## Sentra5646 (Jan 2, 2004)

*Same Happened to me!*



fugiot said:


> Thanx for the concern guys. I found the problem. Apparently the Grease Monkey that I took it to less than 1 month ago replaced my oil filter with the wrong one. It wasn't even for any Sentra of any year. So I guess it just finally busted off. So that's where all the oil was coming from. I stormed back into that grease monkey and demanded a redo. They were actually very cooperative about it. The whole crew wasn't anybody I recognized from the last time, but they redid my oil change(with the proper filter), steam cleaned my engine bay and gave me $10 for a car wash or gas or whatever. I don't think there was any engine damage incurred because it didn't run very long when it was low on oil, it was never completely empty, and it feels like it's running very strongly again. Whew, I thought I was gonna lose my baby.


I had the same thing happen to me, i bought my 93' sentra SE-R and brought it in to get checked up, and the Previous owners had the wrong oil filter on, it only tightened 3/4 of a turn and could have busted off at any time. dont know what it is with some people.


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## cwiceman (Oct 20, 2003)

To add to tornd and MrRiceGuy's comments about working at a lube shop, I have to say from experience working at one myself that I dont trust them at all. Most of the time the guy in the pit changes the oil and filter no problem (Valvoline VO-33 on a sentra ), but nonetheless, on vehicles that are a pain in the ass to change (namely volkswagens and others with skid plates), people will often times not change the filter if it already has lube shop's filter on it. I always change my oil myself, and I know that it is a pain in the ass to jack it up if you dont have a lift or a 2 level bay like most lube shops have, but it is well worth it, not to mention cheaper..... Just my $.02 

cwiceman
94' Sentra XE


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I don't understand the "I'm poor and don't have money so I didn't have it towed." Approach. If you're poor, you can't afford to not have it towed because you'll end up having to buy an engine, and from the sound of it, labor for the swap as well. Spending $50 to save your car is worth what the car is, minus $50. And if money is that tight you should get a triple A membership for $40 a year or whatever it is and have your towing covered so it won't even have to occur to you to do the math if it happens again. Then again, if people didn't make mistakes like that my wife wouldn't have had a cheap car for 5 years. Some lady tried to drive home after an accident where she ripped open her oil pan. Engine siezed up (big surprise) and she surrendered the car to the shop since she didn't want to pay for whatever work they'd already done. Granted it was a POS '91 Ford Tempo, but considering my wife was broke and needed a car, she bought the car for $200, paid another $200 for and engine that her brother threw (damn near literally, jackass that he is) and I think she paid him $200 for his time and she had a $600 POS '91 Turd Tempo that had 90K miles on it and drove it for like 5 years without spending any money on it other than belts, O2 sensor, battery and water pump, and those were all easy fixes that I did, and we sold it for $450 2 years ago. I guess I did put a new trunk lid on it and gave it a $100 paintjob. That cost about $125 total. But alas, once again, I digress.  I miss that POS everytime I see one. Ah, memories.


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## atomicbomberman (Jul 6, 2002)

Well you're looking at a fair amount of wear and tear on your engine internal, DON'T DRIVE WITHOUT OIL!!! That's a no brainer, knocking is major bad for your engine, i guess u can pop off your valve cover and see how worn out your camshaft is.

In the future, if you're poor, please change your own oil, not only will u be able to control what kinda oil you put in your car (shops usually go with whatever is cheapest), you can put in geniune nissan oil filter, AND everytime u go under your car u automatically do some kinda checkup. A.k.a. if there's a leak, you'll see it first.

I'd say go to some shop and get a compression check, if it's lower then spec, then i would suggest u run some higher visc. oil, and drive nicely from now on if u want the engine to last, otherwise, you should gohead and start shopping for a JDM


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