Help. I have a 1999 saturn sc2 it burns oil kind of fast and i accidently let it get really low before i had an oil change the other day. right before i got an oil change it started making a funny clicking noise, but thats just what happens when you get low on oil. so i got the oil change and the noise went away but the next day a noise that sounds very similar started and its only when i accelerate passed maybe 2000 rpms. if i pop the clutch it goes away and if i break it goes away, just when hard accelerating. a friend suggested it might be the timing belt, which i think is jsut the S belt. no noise when turning, just accelerating, i also opened the hood while it was running and had a friend give it some gas and it sounds like its coming from either the belt or right underneath the engine. any ideas? is it easy to change the belt myself?

That funny noise when you run low on oil like that is normal for BLOWING YOUR ENGINE!! Brace yourself for thousands of bucks to remedy that.

Taking care of your car is YOUR responsibility. What were you thinking about?

T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/

when i got my oil changed the guy said the oil pump and everything looked fine. im going to take it back to him tomorrow and see what he says, but it doesnt feel like the engine is blown. its not rumbling or huming any more then normal, it might just be something in the oil line?

If for whatever reason the oil didn't get to lubricate internal engine parts they can wear out from new in just a minute - it's not a joke! Letting an oil change go too long is not so harmful so fast. Think of like a nice sharpened pair of ice skates that when only used on nice clean ice can stay sharp indefinately but just one run (like a foot) across cement or something they are trashed. The skates can be resharpened fairly easily. Your engine can be reworked (rebuilt) but it will never be close to as good as the original.

You said it used some oil and that alone suggests neglect. Some much older cars routinely used some oil but that isn't the case anymore.

You might squeeze out some more life by getting the oil pressure back up to par and don't let it get low. When it says to add a quart that's the maximum amount low it should ever have to tolerate. Don't wait for a light to tell you it needs oil as most are inaccurate and many are just TOO LATE lights.

The cost to repair that damage is staggering. The best of the best isn't as good as the original. Oil has nothing to do with the belts and other parts that are not lubricated by it. Some parts can get worn and effectively be replaced but the general neglect will show up and haunt the engine forever.

All the harping about oil changing and qualities of oil is not a joke. It really works to take care of them. Oil is the most important thing for your engine. Get it diagnosed as to how far it has been damaged fix that if practical and if you take care of it you might get more life out of it. I have acquired many cars that were neglected and if not too bad, with taking care of them from then on they got no worse and some improved. Those were all tolerant old American style cast iron engines that could tolerate more abuse back when. Virtually all newer engines don't tolerate poor lubrication from any cause as well but do just fine with care,

T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/

so i took it back to the place i got the oil changed and he said the same thing, that it sounds like one of the pistons is knocking on the inside. he said that i should use thicker oil from now on and then i will probably have to get it fixed in less then six months. im going to take it to a shop to see what they say.

Thicker oil or the stuff like STP can thicken what you already have but don't overfill the oil by much. That is a cover up of a real problem and the fix is basically an engine overhaul which I already said that is never as good as original. It's really not worth the money unless you want to replace the engine with a good original. Either way it may continue on for quite a while if you just take it easy with it. By the time it starts getting worse you will have to make the hard decision to fix this or consider another car,

T
Tom Greenleaf - MetroWest Boston - USA
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http://www.autoacsystems.com/tomgreenleaf/