just started today, about 10 miles ago...waiting for a light and i heard clicking, giving it gas makes the clicking faster and louder...it felt like it was bogging down during acceleration and then was choppy while driving along

it did it for two or three miles and then stopped...then came back for another couple of miles and had stopped by the time i got home...my oil light had flashed and stayed on for 10 seconds or so last week and then briefly flashed one morning this week...i'm waiting for it to cool down a little before i check it

2002 saturn SL1 with 165k miles

i don't think it's the original timing chain (or belt)...but it might have 75k on it...in any case, i thought they were good till 200k or something unless the engine was run low on oil (which i'm waiting to check)

[Edited on December 23, 2011 at 4:28 PM. Reason : .]

12/23/2011 4:22:08 PM

my car is on a SLIGHT incline, but the stick isn't picking up ANY oil

12/23/2011 5:12:11 PM

so your oil light flashed

and you didn't do anything about the oil?

pray for your engine

[Edited on December 23, 2011 at 5:36 PM. Reason : ]

12/23/2011 5:35:50 PM

Quote :

"so your oil light flashed and you didn't do anything about the oil?"

it was my understanding that it's not uncommon for the oil light to flash briefly (or stay on for a few seconds) when you FIRST turn the car on when it's cold outside...at least the older a car gets...something about the oil being too thick upon startup? or, in a car that's got more miles, the thinner oil not giving the proper oil pressure due to increased clearance from general wear?

is this not true?

sure, it's not cold today, but it was pretty cold each of these days when it happened...i'm about 1500 miles into a new oil change and there's no (major) leakage i can find, nor is there any (major) burning

Quote :

"pray for your engine"

aside from divine intervention, what's your suggestion? i put 3/4 quart (all i had lying around) and ran the engine for about 30 seconds...it brought the level up to the tip of the dipstick (i'll pick up some more to fill it up)...in the meantime, is there anything i should look/listen/smell for? or is my engine a timebomb waiting to...explode?

[Edited on December 23, 2011 at 5:56 PM. Reason : though in hindsight, 35F isn't THAT cold...]

12/23/2011 5:49:50 PM

The light could have just been coming on intermittently b/c you are leaking/burning oil up and it got so low that it was having a hard time keeping the pressure high enough. Definitely not good, but might not be the end of the world.

Maybe the clicking noise was from the valves b/c of low oil pressure?

12/23/2011 6:07:40 PM

^ that's what the google told me...and i'm hoping that's it

i'm generally pretty good at keeping up with maintenance items

12/23/2011 6:11:59 PM

are you changing your oil and filter enough that the lifters aren't clogged?

12/23/2011 7:16:55 PM

top off the oil and listen for alarming clattering/knocking sounds. could have been low oil leading to valve clatter

12/23/2011 9:09:22 PM

^^ i used to change it every 5000 as per the suggestion of every mechanic i ever asked...it never burned or was especially gunky...i started changing it every 3000 around 120k

^ that's what i'm doing...can't decide if i want to use my car to go out of town or my wife's to be on the safe side...but we're not going THAT far and i thought it might be a good chance to see if it pops up again

12/23/2011 10:20:16 PM

unless your car lives on a track or was built to really piss poor tolerances, I highly doubt you have enough blow by to warrant changing oil every 3k if you use anything above dollar tree grade oil.

12/24/2011 12:26:07 AM

yeah, even my acura manual says change normal oil every 7500 miles or 15000 for synthetic.

12/24/2011 9:08:25 AM

jeebus, it took 2 quarts to bring it to the low end of the full hash marks

i drove it for another 15 miles or so...no clicking and i checked each time i parked to see if there was an oil leak or something to explain how i (supposedly) lost that much oil since the last oil change and nothing...i also never smelled anything burning

i hate to admit that i do frequently (more than half the time) have quick-lube places (mostly pep boys or firestone...most recently firestone) change the oil because it's cheap and is more convenient

given that, i suppose it's possible they underfilled it or didn't change it at all?

ugh

12/24/2011 2:24:09 PM

you would be amazed how little oil an engine can run on

it's a Saturn SL2. Buy some oil and top it off after every other fill up, unless you spot a serious leak

12/24/2011 3:38:31 PM

Quote :

"given that, i suppose it's possible they underfilled it or didn't change it at all?"

obviously. fyi, jiffy lube is the #1 buyer of remanufactured engines in the US. Jiffy Lube does not install engines as a service. Think about it.

12/24/2011 7:12:17 PM

The saturn engines with the aluminum blocks have an oil consumption issue that kicks in around that mileage.

Welcome to buying a quart of oil at every fill up.

12/24/2011 7:50:26 PM

^^ i haven't been to jiffy lube in probably 5 years...when i don't do it myself, it's pep boys or firestone with a coupon for a $20 oil change (at which point you're now saying something along the lines of, "and you're SURPRISED this happened?")

i get your point, though

^ one brother has an SC2 (150k miles) and the other an SL1 (210k miles)...they both use oil on the regular, so i expected it a while ago...it just never seemed to happen

anyway, drove it out of town (about 200 miles so far) and it's still showing good, so i'll just do as suggested and check it regularly and keep a quart in my car

thanks, y'all

12/26/2011 12:37:20 PM

When your mileage starts to get up there it is best to routinely check your oil level. And the clicking sounds of your valvetrain is almost always a good indicator of being low on oil. Just keep an eye on it and you should be fine.

I'm occasionally guilty of not checking the oil level often enough on my Integra and when I looked at it the day before going to Charlotte the dip stick was indeed dry 2 quarts later it was registering on the stick I suppose I need to be more mindful of that as the car has high mileage and I only check it's oil once a year (it's only driven 5000-7500 miles a year at this point).

12/27/2011 10:44:28 AM

Quote :

"given that, i suppose it's possible they underfilled it or didn't change it at all?"

A co-worker of mine's son who worked at a local oil change shop told her that when they got really backed up they would pull the cars in, change the oil filter, top off the oil, and pull it out without ever draining the crankcase. She wouldn't tell me which shop he worked for.

12/27/2011 11:08:56 AM

civic uses oil, rather quickly....

I have been known to change only the filter around 4k, since it needs a quart every 1k miles or so

[Edited on December 27, 2011 at 3:03 PM. Reason : -]

12/27/2011 3:03:19 PM

1400 miles and i'm below the "full" hash marks (though just barely)

so if i don't see any oil spots under the car, what's most likely wrong with my car? just getting old and bad seals (or whatever) causing oil to be burned with fuel?

i get the feeling my poor saturn is going to be hard-pressed to hit 200k without some work

also, dumb question: my driveway isn't very steep, but it's not level, either...if the front is pointed (slightly) downward, would that significantly alter my oil reading from the dipstick? fwiw, i've been measuring the oil at work where the ground is flat, but i was curious

2/24/2012 5:35:52 PM

Pitch of the driveway will definitely alter your reading. How much depends on the car and how steep the drive is. It doesnt do me any good to check mine at home because my driveway is too steep.

2/24/2012 5:59:23 PM

the miata takes a quart every 1k miles

2/24/2012 6:23:41 PM