You Know What Sucks?
Driving to work down the freeway, when you notice the sound of your engine's lifters clicking. Then there's a "pop!" under your car, and the clicking turns to clacking. You try to make it to the nearest exit, but then there's a louder "pop!" and a clunk, and your car suddenly uncontrollably slows down. Instead of doing the smart thing and immediately pulling over, because there's no good place to pull over anyway, you go a little further, and suddenly another loud clunk, and the engine dies completely.
Dead car. Suitable now only for the junkyard; engine shot.
Dammit. This was not a good time.
Are the lifters you refer to the valves?
I guess I mean the valve lifters.
I'm not a car guy, I just recognize that clacking noise from when the oil's running low.
Guy, there's NEVER a good time for that!
That sucks man... an engine dieing is never a good thing.
What a total drag. It makes me glad I do not need a car...
Depending on circumstances, you may be able to replace the engine. I had a Geo Metro in the early 90s; the tranny failed on my while driving home one day. New tranny cost a hell of a lot less than replacing the car would've. Few years later I bought a used Buick with a dodgy engine. Replaced it with one from another Buick in a junkyard, and it worked fine.
I too have been compelled to replace an engine. It was the 4-cylinder fuel injection engine (the "Iron Duke", as they called it) that came with our oldest car, a 1983 Olds Omega. Stefi let it run out of oil, and suffered the consequences of fools.
In any case, as chances would have it, we had a good Iron Duke 4-banger, replaced at no cost to us by General Motors in the early 1990s because of some unrepairable cylinder defects, available from a 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon that was rotted out and headed for the junk yard. Only cost us about $500 or so to switch engines. Now our fine 21-year old Omega runs like a good Swiss watch.
My personal vehicle, until I replace it, is a 1994 Ford Aerostar extended-body AWD van. It now has 213,000 miles on the original engine. I change it's oil every 3,000 miles, without fail, and feed it about two quarts between oil changes. (A lot cheaper than tearing down and rebuilding the engine just to get at a leaking rear oil seal or whatever the problem is.)
If you insist on treating your vehicle badly by not keeping enough oil in it to keep the valve lifters lubricated, you may want to consider getting a make and model equipped with an OHC (overhead camshaft) engine, in which the valves are directly opened by the camshaft and snapped shut by their heavy-duty springs. But even these require regular lubrication.
Our next new vehicle likely will be a Subaru Legacy sedan, possibly the GTX model. Because we want a combination of all-wheel drive, ABS brakes, and the useful combination of viscuous-coupled limited-slip differential and four-wheel independent suspension.
When and if the engine dies on the Ford Aerostar, I may purchase a shop rebuilt complete replacement, which is a good investment. Or I may replace it with a 4x4 truck.
What I would really like if I could get it would be an AWD version of the recently introduced Toyota Prius vehicles, with their combination electric and petrofuel power plants. (For service up here in the snowbelt, I won't buy anything other than an AWD or 4x4 vehicle, no matter how gorgeous it looks.)
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Let me guess: import with a timing belt, rather than a chain. Replace those buggers at 60K, folks.
Rick: That's a lot easier to do for some people than for others. People without significant mechanic's skills and equipment can't just go to the wrecking yard, pull an engine, and replace it.
If the car's old, it's generally cheaper to replace it with another one than to pay someone else to replace the engine.
That said, I am blessed in that both my cars have iron-clad indestructible engines - a Toyota 22RE, and a Mercedes OM617. The former should get maybe 300,000 miles before it needs significant work, and the latter probably 500,000.
(Also, if you care about longevity, synthetic oil is the way to go. Mobil 1 "sticks" better, in my personal experience, as well as cleaning goop out of the engine. Only problem is it costs about five times as much per unit, and only decreases change intervals by perhaps a factor of three. Still, it's made my OM617 much happier and quieter than the non-synthetic it came with.
Dean, do you know what really sucks? Breaking down on the exit ramp from the NY Throughway, and watching AAA and the Throughway officials come out at different times over FOUR HOURS, arguing in the snow over who had authority to tow us. There were four of us and only one pack of "Smoking Joe's" for the entire lot of us! Now that sucked!
Tough luck. I know how it feels. I must have broken down in more states than anyone I know.
Tonto,
You hit the nail on the head man.
I got a used engine for my Toyota Celica installed for $500 by a mexican run establishment... and a FINE establishment it was. They didn't care I was a gringo, they just wanted the $$$ Obviously, it wasn't a long term solution, but it did last me several months until I traded my car in for something else.
Depending on what you've got, you might be able to find a deal if you look for it.