Low engine oil and the problems that come with it

Hello Loyal Beaverton Readers: Over the last few months I have received a number of calls from clients, asking questions about check engine lights, engine noises, and engine oil usage. Here is some useful information that we should all know.

Today’s engines use a full synthetic motor oil. This oil is extremely slick and very thin. The service schedules in the owner’s manuals of many of our cars today say we can drive 10k miles between engine oil changes. This is a controversial issue at best.

If we travel the number of miles recommended by the manufacturer, there will in fact be oil usage. This means engine oil will burn, and our engine will become low on oil.

Say we drive about 5k miles, the oil will eventually become diluted and saturated with fuel. If we pull out the engine oil dipstick and smell gasoline, then the oil has become diluted, reducing its ability to do its job.

The timing chain in today’s engine has a hydraulic tensioner. This tensioner operates off of crankcase oil pressure, and if the oil level in the engine is low, or lower than it should be, too much slack in the timing chain will occur. This can cause a number of issues including rough running, check engine lights coming on, or even worse, the timing chain becoming so loose that it makes contact with other components of the engine, and this can cause substantial engine damage.

My neighbor Mark, for example, who has his Mercedes Benz C300, was using 3 quarts of oil in between oil changes. Mark never checked his oil and had it serviced at the local dealership.

When his check engine light came on, he asked me to scan the car’s computer to see why. The scan revealed that the camshaft sensor was reading inaccurately. However, after further inspection, we discovered that his engine was 3 quarts low on oil with only 50k miles on it. We added three quarts but it was far too late. The engine was making a loud valve-train noise. I grabbed my automotive stethoscope, and isolated the noise to the timing chain. Running the engine so low on oil had caused excessive heat and the timing chain had stretched. The timing chain tensioner was no longer able to do its job of keeping the camshafts in time with the crankshaft.

Mark then took his vehicle to the dealership where the cost of the timing chain replacement was nearly $5k. All of this could have been avoided if Mark would have been checking his engine oil.

The moral of the story is we should all check or have our engine oil checked regularly. Thank You all for reading.

Please let us know if we can help with a new or used vehicle purchase or lease. If you have vehicle you wish to sell, we can help with that too. Call Larry at (503) 930-1493, email fergusonautobrokers@gmail.com or visit fergusonautobrokers.com