My oil pressure light came on, my car overheated and now wont start. What's wrong with it?

Question

it's a 1996 Chrysler Concord LX. Does it need a new engine?

It happened so fast. When I stopped most of the water boiled out. It didn't stall. The engine does crank but it wont start. I had a mechanic look at it and he said it was the serpentine belt then he said the valves were bent and wanted $4000 to fix it. I had it towed home and he left some parts to the engine in the trunk. I looked under the hood and he never took off the valve cover. All he did was remove a belt and some pulleys the belt went to. I'm going to get a second opinion but I want to do as much research as I can. Is it hard to replace any of the parts on my own? It would be a learning experience for me but if the engine is salvageable, I don't want to do more harm to it. The oil looks fine. No water in it. The battery was the first thing I check and the water was drained by the Mech. I haven't tried starting though.

Answer 1

SOUNDS LIKE YOU BURNT THE ENGINE UP. JUST HAVE TO GO GET A NEW ONE OR NEW CAR

Answer 2

First thing you want to do is actually check the oil in the engine, to see where the level is at, then you want to drain the oil, when you drain it, look for small metal particles in it, and it will probably be very black and stinky. If you see alot of metal, you will probably have to have it rebuilt or get a new motor, if there is no metal, fill the engine with fresh oil and a filter. Since the radiator was flushed, you will want to do a 50/50 mix water and antifreeze, and refill the radiator. There should be several pulleys on the car, crank, alternator, power steering, A/C, water pump, and an idler or two. See if you can see which pulley was removed, replace it and get the belt back on it. Attempt to start it again. If it won't start, you will probably have to rebuild or replace it, if it does start, remove the oil filler cap and see if it is smoking really bad out of the filler hole. this is called blow by, and is caused by a cracked ring(s) or cracked piston, or a bad valve. Well, really, the best thing to do is pull the engine and give it a once over, with low oil and overheating, you could have many problems that you can only see with the engine tore down. Or an easier way would be to do an in-frame rebuild, where you don't pull the engine but rebuild it weith it in the car still, you just take the oil pan off, and remove all the bearing caps, crank, rods, pistons, and you have to take off the cylinder head(s). But it is much easier than pulling the entire motor, altho some things will be harder to do.And it will be much cheaper then getting a new engine, and more dependable then buying a used engine that you have no idea if it will last 6 months or not.

Answer 3

You did not provide enough information for us to adequately answer your question. When you said your car won't start, you didn't say in what manner. Does the engine crank smoothly but not catch, or does it not crank at all? If it cranks smoothly, it is probably not seized as others have suggested. The original problem is likely to be oil pump failure. Oil pumps can be repaired at an affordable price. Since a quality diagnosis from a one-sentence description is nearly impossible to do over the internet, why not have your car towed to a good mechanic or (gasp!) a dealer, and find out what really happened instead of making thousands of Yahoo users try to guess what the problem is.

Answer 4

Yup I can see what happened from your story. You were driving and your serpentiine belt snapped. This belt needs to be replaced periodically or it will break and f*ck your whole engine. The belt power your engine pumps like water and oil. so you engine was not being cooled and friction built up due to lack of oil. The your head prolly got warped from the heat. This ruins your compression and makes it hard to start. The valves may be bent because the timing got f*cked and the pistons rode up into the valves.

Anyway, I would suggest you either get a new car. Or find an engine from another Concord and have the mechanic put it in. Both of these could be cheaper than fixing your current, f*cked to the max engine.

Answer 5

First your oil is low. That cause the engine to overheat. Because of the two things, your car has a stucked pistons and therefore wont start. Try to add oil into your car, cool it down, get a strong battery and re start it. If it does not work, then time to say goodbye to your engine. You may need a new engine or a major repair on this.

Answer 6

I am not a mechanic but from my past experience is - when the oil light came on you should have stopped right there and checked your oil. Odds were you were way low about 2 quarts. When the oil doesn't touch the dip stick you are next thing to out of oil. The overheating was because the oil cools the engine plus lubricates it. I would say your engine is runined. But get your second opinion. It he thinks it is something simple fix it yourself. Save that $50 and hr. fee. Instead of $4,000 fee to fix it replace the motor for about $2,000.

Answer 7

it could have just been a head gasket. Do you change your oil regularly? If not, it could be "blown up." You say it won't start. Will it turn over but not start or will it not even turn over? If it won't turn over, that's Really bad news. Locked up. If it will turn over, but it won't start, then it may not be as serious. If you drove it much at all with the oil light continuously on then you may have killed it. If the lightcame on, then immediately overheated then check your oil. If the dipstick has antifreeze on it you probably just blew a (head) gasket. Also, if either the head or block are aluminum then that further complicates matters. when you overheat aluminum it warps much faster than cast iron. Either way, sorry your car tore up.

Answer 8

You blew your car up. Its not going to start wihtout a whole new engine! Thats what happens when you don't but oil in your car and your car overheats. Keep an eye onyour oil, and make sure your antifreeze is always full, but never check the antifreeze after the car has been running let it sit away or that too is a big problem!

Answer 9

First off, your car has overheated - we normally think that water in the radiator is the promary engine coolant, but oil is. The water cools the engine oil. Your car has turned off because there is probably not enough oil. wait let it cool, check the oil level, check the water level AFTER the car has COOLED! If the oil is low, add oil, add water if you need it. You may have "burned the engine up, or, if you're leading a charmed life, when the car has cooled, it may start up again, but have it checked = Valves and rings. Good luck

Answer 10

When a timing belt breaks it causes the internal parts of the engine to move at the wrong time rather than when they are supposed too. Many times this causes the valves to strike the heads. Your mechanic knows what he is talking about and is probably speaking from experience having seen the symptoms in many cases. Also, there are test you can run to verify what he is telling you without pulling the heads. A compression check will tell you for sure that there is a problem with either the valves or the rings and pistons.

Your Mechanic is probably telling you the truth.

Answer 11

Ouch, if your oil pressure light came on and then it started overheating you probably lost oil pressure which caused friction ultimately seizing your bearings. Get a mechanic to look at it and we'll cross our fingers for you.