I think I killed my car : (
 

I recently noticed my power steering belt was eating into my oil cooler line, so I did a quick fix on the tube (with some RTV, aluminum from a can and some clamps) and was waiting on a new ordered upper oil cooler line to come in. It's arriving today, but it's two days too late. This past saturday I was driving down the highway when I felt the engine loose some power and saw my oil pressure gauge drop to zero. My heart dropped. I pulled off as quick as I could and coasted to the side of an off ramp and just as I was about to turn everything off the engine died. My heart sank further. I opened the hood and there was oil absolutley everywhere. I got a tow back home (thank god for AAA) and let everything cool overnight. In the morning I filled the beast with some new oil and cranked it over. It ran fine for about 30 seconds and then started shaking terribly and was pouring black smoke out of the exhaust. It then shutoff on it's own after about 2 minutes. Now it will turn over but it won't idle. I think my car is dead :(. Is there any hope? If not, expect me to be on the used parts forum....I got a lot of really good stuff to part out and I need the cash for a new car asap.

I guess I learned the hard way.....but let this be a lesson to anyone with the makeshift oil cooler lines that I've seen posted on this forum (the heater hose with the hose clamps over the barbs on the hard lines) or anyone thinking about doing it. Don't do it.....it's not worth risking your engine.

Even good parts go bad
 

My lines were leaking a little so I ordered new ones just to have on hand when I was ready to put them in. The leak wasn't bad so I waited. I had to jump my wife's car, and noticed a little pool of oil had hit the driveway and I knew it was time. I'd had the lines for about a year and a half by this time, sitting in my garage in the box they were shipped in. Took me about six hours to do the job. Two weeks later the upper hose failed catastrophically - the rubber parted from the crimped metal fitting. It's a parts car now for me and my neighbors.

The good news is that I found my "new" 300SD with 90Kmiles two days after I started looking for it. God Bless Craigslist.

Wait this cant be the end does this mean it cant be fixed and you will have to throw your car away or sell it for parts?? do everything you can to save it try sending a private message to doktorbert I cant tell you what to do, I dont have the expireence I hope you can save your car

jeremy weerasooriya

srilanka

Sorry to hear of your car's demise. I'd say there's a world of difference between the proper hose, barbed fittings, double hose clamps and rtv, aluminum can and hose clamps. Also, for future such events, in my opinion, if the oil pressure gauge goes to zero, the key is turned off and the shifter moved to neutral IMMEDIATELY before I begin coasting to the shoulder.

That wasn't a good part. If it slid off under nominal operating pressure, you probably could have pulled it off the crimp w/ your hands. I expect that the crimp was too shallow, or that the hose was not properly assembled before crimping. Another possibility is the internal stem that supports the hose as the ring is crushed around it. If that was way out of spec, there would be less clamp force holding the assembly together.

Unless the hose was actually torn off of the crimp, it was a bad crimp. If the hose was torn, that's a defective hose. That's an issue that I would pursue, at least briefly w/ the OEM, given the considerable cost of the failure. Makes me think of a truck & bus part manufacturer / reseller I used to work for. On the hook for literally tons of *****ty chinese fittings, upside down, out of tolerance, assembly stackup problems. Good thing airbrakes are a failsafe system, all i got to say.

Make sure the key isn't turned to the steering lock position! :)

Nope...I did not turn off the engine and shift into nuetral before coasting to the shoulder. Looking back I know it was stupid that I didnt. It happened so fast. It kills me too, because I had just gotten the car running so nice. New radiator, AC Compressor (was blowing nice & cold), sealed up the whole engine so there was not a drop leaking anymore...etc, etc., etc.

I wasn't intending to imply you were stupid. These things happen fast with little time to reflect. So now that we do have time to reflect, I was only intending to plant a seed in other people's minds that if it happens to them, stop the engine as soon as possible. Even then it could be too late since it would be very unusual for someone to see the oil pressure guage dropped to zero the second it occurred. Which leads us back to the threads on audible oil pressue loss indicators.

Couple of questions... when you refilled it with oil and restarted it, did you first replace the broken hose, or did you let it run leaking again?

When it started shaking and pouring black smoke out the exhaust, why didn't you turn it off to investigate instead of letting it run until it died on it's own?

During all this time, did it make knocking noises to indicate a bearing failure?

Yes...I replaced the broken hose with a makeshift hose. It was not leaking at this point.

It was running rough and I was trying to investigate why while it was running

It was not making knocking sound during that brief period where it was running

If it wasn't knocking and it had oil pressure, it may be OK. I'd drain the oil through a fine screen and look for bearing bits. I'd do a compression check. I'd check the turbo. I'm sure other's will have more suggestions.

Bummer.

new OE lines from the dealer are less than $250. the first set lasted 24 years on my car.

heater hose IS NOT an acceptable substitute. max pressure in the cooling system is like 10% of the oil system. they make oil/ trans line hose, and hydraulic hose for these apps.

Wow....I would never have driven the car in the first place. You should have ordered the new parts, and rented a car for those few days if necessary.

When the oil pressure gauge starts to fall while driving, its key OFF immediately....no matter what.

Sad that the engine had to die. I'd look for a good used engine and do a swap.

That is what I was thinking.