What do i do? Oil Sensor Out?

[Johnathan Wilds]

My car ran out of oil and apparently my oil sensor isn’t working because no lights came on to warn me. Now my engine makes a horrible knocking noise. Am i Screwed or can something cheap be done to repair it? I’m dirt broke now and need my car. How would i diagnose this??

Topic

[Drunk32]

Well the first thing that you will need to do is get some oil in it. I would also say you probably run a bottle of the Lucas Oil Stabilizer in it. I have only ever used it for extra lubrication but the bottle does calm that it helps with knocking sounds and it is supposed to free up lifters and things like that. It can’t hurt. As far as I know this is your best bet.
You should probably undo your spark plugs and just let your engine turn over so you can get everything nice and lubed up.
This is your best bet. You are going to need to get oil in it to figure out how bad it is. This way you can probably do this for under 30$ Maybe under 25$ depending on how cheap you can get oil.
Good luck man I hope its not to bad.

[Matt]

Honestly man, I think you would be wasting money throwing any kind of snake oil in there. Your best next step is to find a good salvage yard unit, and make sure you get a new oil sending unit for the next engine.

[spelunkerd]

I’m inclined to agree with Beefy, though it wouldn’t hurt to get a professional opinion, if only to help decide whether it would be worth it to put in a new engine. You could start by finding out what your vehicle is worth, so you know what the bottom line is. Of course for some people there is an emotional overlay regarding a vehicle, so it’s not necessarily all about money. I’m interested to see what some of the pros here say as to whether it’s even worth spending some time to find out what the knocking sound is caused by. Problem is, it would take a few hours to tear it down enough to isolate the cause. Likely if you just drive with that sound it would die in the next few months, from heat generated by extra friction. Is there anything that could be fixed easily that a mechanic wouldn’t want to miss?

[EricTheCarGuy]

+1 if you run an engine low on oil and now it’s making noise that pretty much says you need a new engine. Of corse fill it up with oil and see if the noise goes away but if not then I’d start looking for a car as pointed out above or a salvage engine to replace the one you have.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

Replies