Note: this concerns a 2008 Nissan Sentra 2.0l.
So I get a call last night on my way home:
Sister: What does it mean when the red can dripping symbol light comes on? It was coming on and going off all week but now is on more often.
Me: It means you've neglected your car and can expect to be putting an engine in soon. Don't drive it. Have you or Chad(her husband) checked the oil level at all?
Sister: No.
Me: When was it changed last?
Sister: It was only about 6k miles ago
(Keep in mind this is her going off memory. Which isn't good. Could well be longer)
Me: Check the level and get back to me.
20min go by...
Sister: its not on the dipstick. He added the half quart that was leftover from when the oil was changed on the other car(an older Kia Rio5 that was also low when I changed it a few months ago)... And it's still not showing on the dipstick.
Me: I'll be over tomorrow.
-------
So I got the stuff together to get this taken care of... Some Castrol GTX High Mileage 5W30 and a Fram TG6607. Also 2 more qts of some old 5W30 Valvoline I bought for our 2012 Equinox in an emergency when finding it was consuming oil on a long road trip.
Get over there and check it. Nothing on the dipstick. I wasn't doing the change at her place so added the extra oil I brought along. It took 2 quarts(in addition to their half quart added the night before!) just to get to the minimum of the safe range. Ugh. It's about a 4qt sump for reference.
Get it to my place and change it. The oil was surprisingly not bad. No tons of metal glittery [censored], no chunks, etc. Then again I just added 60%+ of the capacity in fresh oil... Heh.
The filter was cut and found some sludgy bits caught in the filter:
No markings on the filter, just a plain white thin can with hard feeling ADBV, and very weak media, it did not appear torn before me handling it, but did tear very easily.
I couldn't believe it wasn't worse than it was. I had to dig that crud out with a small pick from the pleats. Thankfully wasn't caked in doo doo butter.
So I changed the oil and filter and it now is SO much quieter.
Hopefully they learned their lesson and check the level regularly from here out.. Without needing an engine soon.
The kicker? I'm a tech. I offer to do this stuff for the cost of parts. Yet they still take it to [censored] quick lube places and pay more for worse quality oil/filter, and ignore the recommended intervals for service.
Who else goes through this?
So I get a call last night on my way home:
Sister: What does it mean when the red can dripping symbol light comes on? It was coming on and going off all week but now is on more often.
Me: It means you've neglected your car and can expect to be putting an engine in soon. Don't drive it. Have you or Chad(her husband) checked the oil level at all?
Sister: No.
Me: When was it changed last?
Sister: It was only about 6k miles ago
(Keep in mind this is her going off memory. Which isn't good. Could well be longer)
Me: Check the level and get back to me.
20min go by...
Sister: its not on the dipstick. He added the half quart that was leftover from when the oil was changed on the other car(an older Kia Rio5 that was also low when I changed it a few months ago)... And it's still not showing on the dipstick.
Me: I'll be over tomorrow.
-------
So I got the stuff together to get this taken care of... Some Castrol GTX High Mileage 5W30 and a Fram TG6607. Also 2 more qts of some old 5W30 Valvoline I bought for our 2012 Equinox in an emergency when finding it was consuming oil on a long road trip.
Get over there and check it. Nothing on the dipstick. I wasn't doing the change at her place so added the extra oil I brought along. It took 2 quarts(in addition to their half quart added the night before!) just to get to the minimum of the safe range. Ugh. It's about a 4qt sump for reference.
Get it to my place and change it. The oil was surprisingly not bad. No tons of metal glittery [censored], no chunks, etc. Then again I just added 60%+ of the capacity in fresh oil... Heh.
The filter was cut and found some sludgy bits caught in the filter:
No markings on the filter, just a plain white thin can with hard feeling ADBV, and very weak media, it did not appear torn before me handling it, but did tear very easily.
I couldn't believe it wasn't worse than it was. I had to dig that crud out with a small pick from the pleats. Thankfully wasn't caked in doo doo butter.
So I changed the oil and filter and it now is SO much quieter.
Hopefully they learned their lesson and check the level regularly from here out.. Without needing an engine soon.
The kicker? I'm a tech. I offer to do this stuff for the cost of parts. Yet they still take it to [censored] quick lube places and pay more for worse quality oil/filter, and ignore the recommended intervals for service.
Who else goes through this?
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