Oil starvation outcome?

fonecrusher1

Lads a friend of mine told me his car (1.6vvti avensis) was making a fierce rattle so i took a look to see if i could diagnose the problem. (im no mechanic, just interested in anything car-related & always interested in poking around engines.)
Turns out the rattle is coming from the engine & when i dipped it for oil, the oil level was almost off the dipstick itself. Way way below the lower oil mark indentation!!!:eek:

He's not the most enthusiatic car owner. So we got some oil in her, topped her up to the correct level & i said who knows what might happen? You might have wrecked it?!

He says the rattle started just after christmas so the engine has probably been starved of oil for almost a month. He's now telling me the rattle is almost gone since i put oil in the poor engine.

Question is whats the damage going to be do you reckon? Has he got away with it or will it show itself sooner or later?

If there was still a bit on the dipstick it may well be ok ish, it won't have actually starved. Min to Max in a litre and there's another half litre to a litre to the bottom of the dipstick. The VVTi do burn a lash of oil though so weekly/fortnightly checks are advised.

Once the oil pressure light wasn't coming on going around bends etc he may well be ok.

The rattle may well have been off the valve timing mechanism.

alias no.9

RoverJames wrote: »

The rattle may well have been off the valve timing mechanism.

I was just going to suggest the same thing.

problemchimp

I had a rattle in a 2000 primera 1.6 petrol. had to replace the timing chain. Not sure if Avensis has belt or chain.

bmw535d

id say it did no favors for his piston rings anyway.a bit of premature ware just.

fonecrusher1

Do you think its worth him getting an engine flush solution thrown into the engine & then new oil & oil filter or would it make a blind bit of difference? There must be some serious gunge hanging off various engine components.

RJ there was literally about 3mm of oil showing at the bottom of the dipstick & it was like marmite.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Do you think its worth him getting an engine flush solution thrown into the engine & then new oil & oil filter or would it make a blind bit of difference? There must be some serious gunge hanging off various engine components.

RJ there was literally about 3mm of oil showing at the bottom of the dipstick & it was like marmite.

If the oil was like that, it is in desperate need of a change.
Get the oil and oil filer changed, and go from there.
When the old oil is taken out, check it for any metal fillings

fonecrusher1

Bryn wrote: »

When the old oil is taken out, check it for any metal fillings

Which would mean piston ring failure i presume? Or worse?

As above, it it was all black and sludgy its well due a change, I'd be tempted to throw in a diesel engine oil of the correct spec for 2000 miles or so for a gentle flush than put in proper petrol engine oil.

Defo needs a change anyway.

langdang

Don't do this

bmw535d

langdang wrote: »

Don't do this

WTF

gbee

langdang wrote: »

Don't do this

It would depend on the quantity, as with all tips of sometimes bizarre nature, if the engine stopped far, far, far, far, far, far tooooooo much was 'added' ~ and I don't think it should have been powder either.

pajor

langdang wrote: »

Don't do this

If someone put washing powder in it why does it need a clean?

greenermetals

when i was a lot younger, and working in another yard, we dropped the oils out of a scrapper (xantia i think it was) we took it out into the yard and revved it as hard as we could, less than 30 second later....you should have heard the bang. Wish it hadve been in the time of camera phones, it was amazing to see the damage and how quickly it was done. A hole the size of a 50cent piece blew right out the side of the engine block.

reilig

Toyotas were always great engines for running on low oil. Had an old corolla a few years back that had a seal gone and she used to lose a small bit of oil regularly. Sometimes it was only topped up when it couldn't be seen on the dipstick. Hopefully the car will be allright for your mate.