quote:
Originally posted by paulo57509:
I remember a few years back I was in line paying for my fill-up at the self-serve station booth when a woman driving an Escort asks me how much oil do engines hold.
I told her that most engines hold 4 or 5 quarts. She then told me that her oil light came on while she was driving down the freeway (we were about a 1/2 mile from the off ramp) and that she already put in 3 quarts and it was still not showing on the dipstick. The sump must have been close to empty when she pulled into the station.
I was filling at the local station one day last summer when a Mom asked if I could check her daughters oil for her as she was leaving to drive to college after their fill up. The Eclipse was a fairly new convertible, and was piled with college stuff: sheets, pillows, assemble it yourself furniture, you get the picture. I pulled the stick, dry. The Mom went in and got 2 quarts of the only 10-30 they had, QS. Added them, still dry. She went in and got 2 more, added all the first, 90% of the second and had a level half way in the safe zone. I quizzed the daughter to see if she had any lights. She had a light on for a couple of days, on and off. It was the oil light, verified by turning the key on without the engine running. I asked her what she did at red lights in town when she saw them. She said she stopped. I said "Good. Since this light is red also, you know what to do when you see this light again, right?" "Stop?", she said. I showed the girl how to check oil, and tires, and I gave her my gauge from the glovebox. The tragedy of this is not that she was low, well out of, oil. It is a young, attractive college student, off to school, by herself, driving to wherever in the next state, with a car that could give up on her. I explained to both of them that the next guy they came across may not be as nice as me ( I am a dad and a husband, and am very obsessive), and that if her car wasn't taken care of, it could put her in a situation she may not want to be in, inconvienient at best, horrifying missing college girl at worst. Mom got the message, and promised that a visit to a Meineke, Sears, etc. for a change and safety check would be done. Hope she did....