*NEED HELP* - Engine Oil Problem On 1993 Mercury Topaz

I'm new here, i saw that this was for cars and if people had any kinds of problems with theirs, they could come here n ask for help.

I'm wondering what is wrong with my car and i'll give you guys a quick layout on the basic details.

I got this car in October, it had 35,000 miles on it, paid 1800 for it.

It needed almost 400 dollars of repair work just after i got it, because of a broken speedometer and i needed 2 oxygen sensors put in.

After that, it was fine for the next couple of months, never gave me any problems til recently.

I had to get a new battery because the one i had was real weak and the car wasn't starting but once i got my reconditioned one, i began to have problems with my engine oil light.

I was coming home, about 2 weeks ago, the engine oil light came on and i figured ah no biggie, i can make it home, i only had a 5 min drive but once i got at the 4way stop close to home, the car just shut down on me.

Got it into this church parking lot, and i ended up gettin my friend to bring me 3 quarts of oil, put them in and drove home.

Bout a week later, just this past sunday, i went out to get my friend, and i was almost there, the light came on again, it was making a strange noise, like almost scratching, seemed like the car thinks the oil is low but it's full, according to the dipstick, it's a lil over full but that's beside the point.

I had to make several stops just so maybe the car could cool off and i could get home safely and once i got there, i didn't drive it for a few days.

I'm wondering, what is wrong with it? If it has enough oil, but the light comes on after i've been drivin a few miles, do i need an oil change or is it something more in depth that i don't know about?

Contact me on AIM Or MSN or Yahoo Messenger, cuz i'm online all the time, i'd really like to find out what i need to do so i can get it fixed.

Or just reply here, i'll be checking up.

Thanks Alot.

When your oil light comes on, in any car, that means you have no or low oil pressure. Not having oil pressure is very bad for the engine, because it needs the oil for lubricating and cooling engine parts.
From your description, it sounds like you either have a plug oil filter or your oil pump is shot, but thats not the bad news, the bad news is if you ran it until you heard scraping noises, you have wreck your engine.

The scratching sound, was it like a metal on metal screech? If so, you've probably killed a bearing and need some engine work.

I'd bet the car had 135000 miles on it when you got it.

I appreciate the responses guys, all i know, is the car came from this old lady. the interior looks brand new, inside the trunk as well, outside has a good body.

But as far as that scratching sound, i think, it did sound like metal scratching, but the day i was out, i had to get home and i was a good half hour or more away, so i had to take my time to get back but like i've said, it only comes on when i drive a longer distance away.

Like i was goin to get my friend and it was maybe 25-30 min drive and the oil light came on as i was almost there so i had to stop n check things out.

Oil is full, it acts like it's low even tho it's not.

I did happen to look under the hood last night, i noticed a smoking coming up from under the engine, it was like this protective covering that looked as if it was burned through and it was smoking from there and also, i saw this black plastic coil that goes over the wires and it looked like a chunk of it was gone and some of those wires inside were kinda burned n split.

What do you think?

Old lady? Probably needs a hella good tune up first of all.

I'd open the hood when it's making the noise, see if you can pinpoint the location.

metal scratching is definitly not good if u scared your cilinder walls your done for ull have no compression is there any loss in power?

What kinda power?

Loss in engine power.

It seems to run just as it did months ago, so i would say no, doesn't seem like there's any loss.

I did talk to my Auto Teacher i had in high school earlier, he figures that the engine is pretty much shot but i find that to be a longshot, because it still runs and it runs fine, he said somethin like i might have spun a bearing or screwed up one or something.

I do agree with what my friend says, about the possibility of it just having some kinda miscommunication.

I took it in for my teacher to look at, he says i should get an oil change and just use thicker oil.

Thanks to everybody that tried helpin me out.

does it leak any oil at all are u down a qurt or ant thing after a while of driving because it sounds like bad oil pressure but yea try one grade thicker oil on the oil chage good luck

Haven't lost any oil since i put in the 3 quarts recently. I'm still full after checkin several times over the past week or so.

Well, an update from the last time i was on here.
I did get an oil change just recently, put in 10W30 and it has been running great so apparently that was the problem, i had 5W30 in there and the weather had changed so i don't think it was able to adjust since i know that kind is just for cold weather conditions and 10W30 is for like all year round.

Hope it turns out to be ok....was worried about some major engine work there for a bit.