Hit a brick and oil pissing out!

[AIRBORNEGOD]

Drove over a brick that fell off a lorry and oil pissing out, managed to get home but there’s no oil in the car now.

Could it have fucked the sump!?

Go on holiday tomorrow so will have to sort it when I get back. Fuming!

 

[R3k1355]

If you ran it out of oil you could well have lunched the engine, deffo wouldn't take that car on Holiday.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

If you ran it out of oil you could well have lunched the engine, deffo wouldn't take that car on Holiday.

It was like 5 minutes home. Could it f**k the engine in that time?

 

[JamesBryan]

It was like 5 minutes home. Could it f**k the engine in that time?

5 minutes.... It takes seconds to kill an engine from low oil pressure.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

5 minutes.... It takes seconds to kill an engine from low oil pressure.

What are the signs?

 

[Ant1]

General rule of thumb - knocking/rattling bottom end.

Sounds like you have smashed the sump. Replace it, fresh oil and keep your fingers and toes crossed.

If no good I have a grand here for the car 🤦‍♀️😂

 

[JamesBryan]

What are the signs?

Bottom end knocking followed by the engine seizing up.

If it made the 5 minute drive, potentially it 'could' be ok.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

Is it worth getting the sump sorted etc then finding out? It’s was starting to rattle as I got home

 

[JamesBryan]

Is it worth getting the sump sorted etc then finding out? It’s was starting to rattle as I got home

Chances are it's done then.

You could get it recovered to a garage and get them to remove the rod caps and check the bearings.

Do you have a dash cam, hopefully captured the brick falling off the offending wagon?

 

[Ant1]

Yep if rattling it’s done.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

Chances are it's done then.

You could get it recovered to a garage and get them to remove the rod caps and check the bearings.

Do you have a dash cam, hopefully captured the brick falling off the offending wagon?

I can’t even think straight I’m gutted. No I don’t have one.

I’ve booked it in to DDC when I get back

 

[JamesBryan]

I can’t even think straight I’m gutted. No I don’t have one.

I’ve booked it in to DDC when I get back

Yeah i'd be gutted too.

It will essentially be a write off through insurance unfortunately.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

It’s an RB with 50k on the clock, just spend 2k on it too. Took a different route home for a change and this happens.

thanks for your advice

 

[Ray Gin]

This was always a fear of mine when I ran my Golf pretty much as low as you can possibly go whilst still being able to drive it. I had spacers to raise the sump, chassis notches etc the whole works. The general rule of thumb was ‘if you can see a trail of oil in your rear view mirror, it’s too late’

This happened to 2 of my mates and I’m pretty sure they had to get new engines. 🙈😂

 

[JamesBryan]

You could get another engine for £500 ish but it would probably need belts doing for that price.

Then labour on top... You're looking at £1000 minimum.

Might be worth seeing what insurance say. Probably a £3.5-4k car privately and £2.5-3k as insurance will see it.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

You could get another engine for £500 ish but it would probably need belts doing for that price.

Then labour on top... You're looking at £1000 minimum.

Might be worth seeing what insurance say. Probably a £3.5-4k car privately and £2.5-3k as insurance will see it.

Yeah I’ll see what they say when I take it in. Thanks

 

[Inequality Street]

RIP Engine.

How frustrating!

 

[Krarl]

If you need an engine I know people that might have one who are fairly local to you @AIRBORNEGOD

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

If you need an engine I know people that might have one who are fairly local to you @AIRBORNEGOD

Really? Yeah I could potentially need one by the sounds, cheers

 

[Louis]

Get underneath and take a photo of the sump. Itll be pretty obvious.

Did the oil light come on at any point? Alongside the STOP sign? If it didnt you'll he fine.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

Get underneath and take a photo of the sump. Itll be pretty obvious.

Did the oil light come on at any point? Alongside the STOP sign? If it didnt you'll he fine.

No stop sign came on but the oil light did at the end

 

[Louis]

No stop sign came on but the oil light did at the end

How far from the end?

 

[JamesBryan]

Get underneath and take a photo of the sump. Itll be pretty obvious.

Did the oil light come on at any point? Alongside the STOP sign? If it didnt you'll he fine.

They're just confirmation lights to tell you it's actually dead 😅

 

[PhillipM]

The oil pressure light is set so low unless you were toddling along with next to no load and turned it off immediately it'd be fucked by the time you turned off anyway.

Why on earth would you drive it home with oil pissing out if you were only 5 minutes away instead of walking?!

 

[Mr Squashie]

1: insurance writes car off
2: buy car back from them
3: use money from insurance to stick a Megane lump in it 👍

 

[Louis]

The oil pressure light is set so low unless you were toddling along with next to no load and turned it off immediately it'd be fucked by the time you turned off anyway.

Why on earth would you drive it home with oil pissing out if you were only 5 minutes away instead of walking?!

That's not true. The oil light comes on with about a litre of oil missing.

 

[JamesBryan]

That's not true. The oil light comes on with about a litre of oil missing.

Pressure he means, not level.

 

[Louis]

Pressure he means, not level.

Oh boy. Level is directly related to pressure though anyway? My oil pressure light came on in wales, shoved a litre in and it was fine.

 

[hopgop1]

What a nightmare, gutted for you. As above though, I'd let insurance write it off, buy it back and use the money to get a new engine. A shame you didn't pull over and get recovered rather than driving home, but what's done is done, try not to beat yourself up about it too much.

 

[JamesBryan]

Oh boy. Level is directly related to pressure though anyway? My oil pressure light came on in wales, shoved a litre in and it was fine.

Most of the time yeah, although you can have a full oil level and low/zero pressure.

 

[Brigsy]

Itll be more or less terminal if its been rattling, you have seconds to stop the engine if you damage the sump like that. Once oil light comes on its game over usually, however i had an oil cooler hose fail on my old astra gte years ago, and i stopped it when oil light came on and it somehow survived but did not strip engine to see if any damage. Trail of oil about a mile long behind it.

Sump off and pull the caps off one at a time to see the damage. If the bottom end has survived, then the top end will have suffered some trauma for sure.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

What a nightmare, gutted for you. As above though, I'd let insurance write it off, buy it back and use the money to get a new engine. A shame you didn't pull over and get recovered rather than driving home, but what's done is done, try not to beat yourself up about it too much.

What would be the cost of buying it back so you think?

 

[Krarl]

What would be the cost of buying it back so you think?

Usually 10% of the write off

So if they give you £3000 you'll pay £300. Then again when they wrote my old car off they gave me £900, I kept the car which they didn't even bother charging me for 😂

 

[McGherkin]

This thread makes for truly painful reading. Sorry OP, that's one expensive lesson to learn.

 

[Not a Diesel!!!]

Sorry about your dilemma. I live on an unadopted road and once every 6m someone goes down it to quick and gets a suspension compression at point where there is a prominent flint.

If Insurance route the best?

Sounds like a pretty tidy car that probably appreciating a little over the coming years. Once written off thats out the window?

And Insurance be a bit more expensive for the next few years protected ncb or not.

If we are talking £1000-£1500 is it better not to swallow that?

Guess it depends if you have the ££ to fix or you need the money to move forward.

 

[Darren S]

This thread makes for truly painful reading. Sorry OP, that's one expensive lesson to learn.

Was thinking the same - hopefully the OP can get something sorted 'relatively' cheaply.

 

[MicKPM]

Easiest and most inexpensive thing to do would be to pull the sump and inspect the big ends. If they’re not damaged check the mains and if they’re also good, replace/repair the sump, new oil and filter… see how it goes. The only thing you’ll waste is your time.

If the bearings/crank is scored, write the engine off. The cost to rebuild the bottom end Vs a used engine is major, unless you’re doing it yourself.

 

[Chrisgti6]

What would be the cost of buying it back so you think?

Entirely depends on the insurer. You don't have an automatic right to buy it back so you may have to buy it back through salvage auction. I had to do that a few years back.

 

[GiT]

OK, look - we KNOW nothing yet.

Yes, it's probably toast, but not 100%. Let the garage have a snoop - won't hurt to have a new sump plonked on and oil refilled to hear the score. It's hardly expensive that way.

The rattling may have just been gobby valves up top, so don't count it as dead just yet.

Sump, oil, try and then decide its fate.

 

[AIRBORNEGOD]

OK, look - we KNOW nothing yet.

Yes, it's probably toast, but not 100%. Let the garage have a snoop - won't hurt to have a new sump plonked on and oil refilled to hear the score. It's hardly expensive that way.

The rattling may have just been gobby valves up top, so don't count it as dead just yet.

Sump, oil, try and then decide its fate.

Yeah that’s what I’m going to do. See what happens, what’s done is done