So about two weeks ago, my car recieved an oil change, well just yesterday, the car pretty much blew up. The car had been ticking for about two weeks, I figured it would just be a loose plate or something, didn't sound like the motor. Anways, just yesterday the car had an explosive sound in the engine, a lot of whining noises, and it shut off. All the dash lights appeared and pretty much it died. So I was stranded in the middle of the road with a dead car. It refused to start up again, plus I thought it was the tranny being all that whining when the boom happened. When I went to check the oil, there wasn't a drop. For about two weeks my car has been running without oil. And it finally just went. Please let me know what could be the worst thing wrong with the car.
I got a ride to napa from a very nice guy. Supprissingly he had a 1970's Ford truck that was about to die and he's the only one that offered to help. We got a thing of oil, put it in the car was able to start up again and I was able to get to school. And it mad a 15 mile drive back home. And this morning it started up and brought me back to school. So it's running ok I guessjust extrememly loud. It sounds like theres something wrong with one piston as though a hammer smacks metal every timne theres a revolution. I'm figuring something is seized up in one of the cylinders. Theres no smoke, the car feels very weak, the tranny doesn't skip under hard acceleration, it idles normal. So let me know if you've head anythinng like this before.

The worst part is the fact that the people who did the "oil change", are denying the whole thing.

 

Since you say it has less power now, with the car idleing pull one spark plug wire off and see if the motor seems to studder, plug it back up and try every one individually. If one makes no difference then one of your cylendars isn't hitting.

 

I'm afraid your engine is about toast. No oilwill certainly cause what you describe. The quicky-change people may havefilled it with oil but they may not have tightened the drain plug or filter so overtwo weeks you have been losing oil to a point where a bearing(s) has failed.Did your oil light ever go off? Your mistake was not listening to your cartrying to tell you something was wrong and getting it checked sooner. This is why I never trust anyone else to work on my car. It will be very hard to prove that the oil change place caused this, especially two weeks later.

I would put a heavier oil in it to see if that helps but what you probably need is a new engine. You did not give year/engine/miles.

 

Yeah, that's a question that I had as I read your original post describing what happened. I would think that, even witha slow "leak" (either via the oil drain plug or oil filter fitting or both), the low oil pressure light would have illuminated on your instrument panel. Did it?


You should have this car inspected by two different, but well-qualified mechanics to determine the cause of missing oil. If they both agree that the cause was either the oil drain plug or the oil filter fitting and you have them record it in writing, then take those two reports to the manager of the shop where the oil change was performed. Insist that it was one of their "technicians" who was responsible for the mistake(s). Bepolite but very firm. If you get denial, then you'll probably have to get in touch with the shop's owner. If you can't politely convince the shop's owner that they were negligent, then you'll probably have to go to court to get a judgment in your favor.

Unfortunately, many of these types of businesses hire unqualified labor, call them "technicians", and are less-than-ethical when it comes to owning up to problems that their incompetence or laziness causes.

Please keep us posted on your situation. I'm pretty good with consumer law, so let me know if I can help. Good luck!

 

The car is a 2000 4Cyl. LE. It just reached 92,500 miles. Unfortunately the car never overheated and the oil light never went on until the car finally stopped. As soon as the light came on, the car turned off. But the knocking sound seems to be coming from the cylinder cover.
And for listening to the car it sounded like a plate, or something like the ehaust cover and I had opened the hood and tried seeing what it was but never could figure it out. As for getting it looked at, I'm 17 in High School I can only work 3 days a week because of everything else I do outside of school. So I don't really have the money or the time to be bringing the car to different shops or whatever and spending money on an inspection of a little ticking. The car never felt bad, oil never crossed my mind, no light, no overheating,and I never thought ticking would turn into the sound of a gun going off.
Anyways I'm going to have to wait on all of the suggestions. It's going to take a while to save some money. I have to figure out transportation to my job and stuff, and that might mean a new job. I don't have the money for a taxi seeing I live out in the country. SoI currently am I little over my head in a few things right now. But I really appreciate the comments so, thanks!
I would take a vid but I never got a cable to hook up the camera with the computer. I was supposed to do that earlier.