So my friends' boyfriend hasnt gotten his oil changed in over a year. And on a few occassions, he has put water into his oil tank "to make it last longer". Today his car broke down. What could be wrong with it, and how much will it cost to fix? It's a 1998 Ford Escort.
2006-12-11 04:16:53 · 7 answers · asked by Nicole W 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
That is not very smart. The only reason why it took so long for it to break is that the water goes to the bottom. The only thing to do now is sent that baby to the scrapyard.
2006-12-11 04:19:56 · answer #1 · answered by frigon_p 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One year at the Indianapolis 500, Andy Granatelli had a Miller front drive Ford entered. The driver sat behind a flathead Ford engine turned backwards to drive the front wheels. A device had been made by a machinist to return the oil to the crankcase that was lost through the magneto adapter. It was a simple device, just a shaft with threads like on a bolt to throw the oil back into the engine. Unfortunately, he cut the threads backwards and it threw the oil out instead of in.
At Indy, you cannot add oil, but you can add water. Andy went to the off side where the official could not see where he was putting water. He removed the radiator cap, laid it up on the hood, pulled the oil cap and put water in the crankcase. 125 laps later the car quit. When it was pulled in, engine parts were scattered all over the inside of the engine compartment.
A small amount of water in the oil will make the slickest, slimiest lubrication solution you ever saw, but when the water evaporates from the heat the oil has been destroyed and is no longer a lubricant. The inside of the engine will be full of rust. The rust may be clogging up every thing, and may be bad enough to warrant a replacement engine block. In other words, your engine is now an expensive boat anchor.
I would go to a salvage yard, buy a complete engine and have it completely overhauled and installed and when it gets low on oil, add only approved engine oil.
2006-12-11 12:42:51 · answer #2 · answered by eferrell01 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The engine is history. Water in the oil is always a recipe for disaster.
Anyway....the car is 1998 so I doubt Ford would be willing to take into their shop. Most dealers these days won't repair cars that are more than 5 years old. If he can get a GOOD independent shop to do it the engine will run probably about $2500 - $3000 not including labor and tax. The shop will probably also want to change out the water pump and all the coolant hoses at the same time. Changing these out certainly won't hurt anything, might prevent extra headaches later too.
2006-12-11 12:44:58 · answer #3 · answered by ModelFlyerChick 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whats wrong with his car is that it has a rather dumb owner.
Putting water in the oil does nothing per se. The engine heat quickly evaporates the water in minutes or causes the oil to foam and degrade.. but that leaves him with nothing but whatever oil was in the car before he played stupid.
If you run a car without sufficient oil it overheats verrrrrrry quickly from not only the normal combustion but also from the friction heat that the oil was supposed to minimize....and the result is that the engine will sieze up eventually (as in soon).
Your friend's boyfriend has likely traded off a few $2 bottles of oil for, potentially, a new short block or, if he is lucky, just a new set of heads to repace the warped ones with the blown head gasket - minimum of $1000 is my guess.
Auto repair and maintenance is not geneticly inherited like IQ. He will have to read a book or ask someone to learn about it (or pay the freight for his mistakes).
General guidelines... Oil is the lifeblood of a car. I change mine once a month (about $20 and 30 minutes).. that is cheap insurance that pays off in the long run (one of my cars has over 300,000 on it and still runs tight).
2006-12-11 12:44:59 · answer #4 · answered by ca_surveyor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What could be wrong with it?
1. Rust creating holes in the tranny
2. A seized up tranny
3. Water that got into other parts of the car.
Set aside about $3500 for worst case scenario: you have to drop a new tranny in it.
2006-12-11 12:33:04 · answer #5 · answered by hawkthree 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what a fool! now he can either replace the engine or the car. oil is in the engine to lubricate the moving parts . water does not provide lubrication and he has probably seized the bearings to the crankshaft
2006-12-11 12:20:14 · answer #6 · answered by D42D 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My husband says you would need a complete engine rebuild...that he's basically rusted out his engine...possibly clogged up the oil pick-up tube...He could try completely emptying out the oil...change the oil filter...do a tune-up etc...
2006-12-11 12:29:11 · answer #7 · answered by Little Jeannie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋