So last night I noticed my car oil getting the hottest I've seen it, maxed at around 260F and stayed at 250F for a few minutes. I drove like that for around 5 minutes, maybe up to 10. I've never seen it that hot and I was pretty worried. Before this, no abnormal temperatures. The stock temperature gauge was at normal levels

I also heard a weird sound (engine sounded a little groany) but it mimicked the floater plate chatter of my twin disk (in how it come and goes) so I pushed the clutch in and my car immediately stalled. Pulled to the side of the road and tried to restart it but nothing, it wouldn't turn over or anything. It seemed to be driving decently fine beforehand.

Got it towed home thinking once it cooled down maybe I'd have better luck. This morning it was really sluggishly turning over but wouldn't start. When checking the oil, there wasn't any on the dip stick. Today I bought oil and filled it up, I put around 2-3 quarts in, so I was clearly very low on oil. I was thinking that maybe with the low oil there wasn't enough lubrication which was causing it to not start. I don't know if that is ridiculous or not. Still isn't starting. I tried jumping it because there were symptoms of lossing power/battery issues. At first it almost started but it still didn't.

I don't think it's completely seized because it does turn over at least a little bit, just not enough to start.

I guess these are the questions I have:

1. Could the low oil have caused damage to my engine that would cause it to not start? I never saw low oil pressure light come on. If so, any ideas what that damage could be?

2. My car has no leaks so I'm assuming that it has been burning oil lately and I haven't noticed (never had that problem before) - could that be because of a bad head gasket? There has been a burning smell lately now that I think about it.


It seems like the head needs to come off to get inspected. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

I would pull the oil pan and see if you cooked your bearings. Is there any reason that you decided to keep driving for that period of time knowing how hot your oil was?

If you were added that much oil to the motor, its currently not starting, and has a hard time even turning over.....its not looking to good.

 

Yeah..agreed.

I was doing a bit of hard driving when it happened so I thought it just got a little hot and would cool down. Obviously I had no idea that it was burning oil.

 

If there was an electrical problem (either bad battery or alternator wasn't charging it), could that have caused the car to stall once I pushed the clutch in? Something strange happened with the electrical system because my radio presets were reset.

 

man, i would be worried about those bearings. hopefully you didn't fry them.

 

Just from the oil temperature? I know that 250 is higher than you want it but I've done some reading around and it isn't THAT high, like "engine melting die". I've seen people say it gets that hot on the track.

 

The temp is one thing. Above 240 on a standard (non sythetic oil) it will start to break down. On a sythetic you'll have a higher temp rating (i cant remember off the top of my head how much higher) but either way you wouldnt want to be running at that kind of temp for very like long.

What i found concerning about your story was the 2-3 quarts of oil you had to put in after your run. Running your car with an extremely low oil level will ruin your bearings as they won't be supplied enough oil to stay lubricated. Combine that with extreme heat and you have a bearing soup recipe that would make Martha Stewart jealous .

 

Well, I got her to start, but there is a nasty sounding rattle from the head/valve cover. Gonna pop the cover off and check it out at some point.

Either way it's still burning oil so I gotta check it out, but it's not as bad as it might have been (but could still be pretty bad)

Uploading a video now

 

Edit: I decided to take the car around the black just to see what happens. It it stalling whenever I disengage the clutch. I'm gonna take the head off, inspect it, needs a new head gasket most likely anyway (80psi compression on two cylinders as of a month or so ago, 130ish on the other two) and put some new belts in there.

 

FYI...rod knock is way more likely the issue, especially with that sound in your video. Don't waste ur time pulling the head. Pull the pan and inspect those rods. I'd bet there will be glitter in the oil and some of those rods will be black

 

Thats rod knock if i've ever heard it, And yeah when my honda cooked its bearings and had rod knock it would stall whenever i put the clutch in. Sorry to say it but i think a rebuild is on the cards .

 

What do you think would be a good way to remove the oil to be able to check it's condition? My normal drain pan won't work and removing the pan with oil still in it sounds messy.

Edit: Nevermind I know that's kind of a dumb question. I'll just buy a second drain pan.

 

.... a couple bucks to buy another drain pan...
i believe your engine is done dude. if i were u, i would just have it towed to a shop and start crying.

 

Cry? More like perfect chance for a 2.4 build.

 

engine is toast bro...

i would say bearings are toast and possibly damage to valve train due to not enough oil being available to take care of things.