Engin knocking

[Kieran832]

My engin started knocking on the motorway, managed to get it to a service station, rac man said it was bone dry and was a new engin job, after putting oil in it nd turning it over. It drove on and then off the recovery truck and down the lane I live as recovery truck wouldn't fit. A mechanic said it was savable as it hadn't seized. Is it worth trying to save it or scrap it. It's a desil, 05 plate with 210,000 miles on it.

[Mooly]

My initial reaction is that it will not be economic to repair and you also have the real worry of whether anything not obvious at the time of a repair might cause problems down the line.

Starship mileage, knocking (no pun intended) on the door of being 20 years old and its just not viable imo. Labour costs would be far more than it is worth.

Sorry it is not better news but that would be my feeling on it.

 

[Cyker]

An idea what's wrong with it - i.e. Is it just a leak that can be fixed? Or something more serious?

Running with no oil will not have done it any favours, but those older diesel engines are a lot more resilient than petrol engines so if the leak(s) can be fixed and it still runs okay once refilled with oil you might be okay.

If you have an attachment to the car and/or the repair isn't too expensive I'd say it's worth repairing and keeping it running for a few years or so at least.

The problem is whether your mechanic is good enough to be able to investigate it for any hidden damage.

[RAV4-D4D]

Hi

When you say your engine was knocking I have assumed you mean it got loud and rattled rather than it was misfiring and exhibiting engine knock?

Assuming you mean it was loud and rattled, have you seen any oil where you park the car? If not then you're almost certainly losing it when the engine is running. When did you last check the oil level, any idea how quickly it's going down?

If it's leaking on the drive I'd try some 10w-40, if not I'd stick some 5w-40 in and monitor how much oil you consume and how the engine seems. To my mind you've got very little to lose by trying.

In the past have there been any signs of smoke from the exhaust perhaps on start up or under hard acceleration? (perhaps less recently if the engine was really dry)

I only have one experience of low oil and found it to be a faulty turbo. I'd noticed car had started making an odd rasping noise under medium-hard acceleration. The engine was very low on oil and I realised I was getting through 1L every 300miles, although if I didn't accelerate hard and kept below 60mph so I never got the rasping sound it used no oil.

I see that you had the problem on the motorway *maybe* you consumed a lot of oil on that journey and actually the engine hasn't been running on low oil for quite as long as you think?

Anyway, 5000miles and one new turbo later and the car uses no oil and shows no issues from having been low on oil. I've also noticed I get no soot/smoke from the exhaust now ever, even at night with headlights behind when I accelerate hard so I think the turbo seals hard been deteriorating over time.

 

Good luck

 

 

 

 

[Kieran832]

It's knocking as the pistons go up and down but doesn't seem to be miss firing. The last oil. Check was before the 4 hour drive to Norfolk for ten days should of checked befor the drive back as well. There is no oil on the drive when parked but the bottom of the engine was very wet  oily when we pulled up at the service around one of the oil filters but none on the ground when we left and the rac had put a tub of oil in it. There does seem to be a rasp now when I sat in it and reved it slightly on the drove. but not whilst driving befor the breakdown. 

 

[RAV4-D4D]

What oil have you put in?

The rasping I had was only under load on the move, never on the drive. The thing is when you've had an experience like this you hear noises that may or may not have been there before.

But you have nothing to lose really by driving it and seeing what happens.

[flash22]

sounds like it's done its big and little ends, more than likely done the piston rings too, and it's just burnt the oil or blown it by - another cause is an injector has gone duff and killed the bottom end, if you can do the work your self its £1500-2000 to rebuild plus new injectors, a used engine is £700-1000 plus there is a "while you're in there" tax (clutch and water pump) the labour is the killer tho

the old tin worm will get it in a few years - time to let it go IMHO