My 99 Mercury Sable is on the side of the road....Any ideas??!!

[shar77]

As I type, my car is on the side of the road It is 40 below where my husband is and I am trying to help him figure something out quick so there is less time in the cold. What happen was he was driving and after about 20 mins of driving the oil light went on, he stopped to chk the oil about 2 mins after the light went on. he chked the oil, it was normal....got back in and started the car, the oil light was off, drove about 3 km and the light went on. Then the car turned off! while he was Driving....no lights or anything. Once stopped he tried starting it again but instead of the engine turning he herd a loud noise (that sounded like when your battery is dead and there is that tick sound when key is turned.... but it was like 5 times louder) and that was all he heard. Someone stopped and tried boosting him but the same thing happen.... Can Anyone please help me get my Man out of the cold.
I understand it might not be an easy fix but it would be so nice to have a clue where to start looking Thank you so much for any info anyone may have

[65comet]

There are two different engines for that year, which could have different causes for that symptom. My first guess is the oil pump died. And it could have died from something else breaking sending metal into it, and later sending more metal into other areas causing the full shutdown, or the pump itself could have sent its parts into the motor. Nothing that could have been done on the side of the road for those types of symptoms.

[junk yard doggie]

Gosh 40 below I would call a tow truck for a flat tire even. I spent too many years laying in that snow bank on the side of the road trying to fix some old car that broke down. Any time that oil light comes on it usually means bad things. I've run into problems with some old clunkers where that oil pick up screen gets clogged from sludgy oil due to lack of oil changes. I fixed one by pouring some gas in the engine crank case. I ran the car for a short while then changed the oil. This of course was an extreme last resort case. The car was a 300 thousand mile car, with a complete lack of maintenance done to it. I would suggest get it towed to a warm garage to have it checked out. It's 9 degrees here this morning don't know how much shop work if any, I will be getting done today.
Good luck.

[MagicRat]

If the oil light comes on, it means you have lost oil pressure. You can lose pressure, but still have oil in the engine, BTW.

When you see the oil light come on, you must switch off the engine as soon as it is safe to do so to avoid severe engine damage. As noted above, there is no easy fix for this failure and you have to call a tow truck. A loss of oil pressure will ruin a running engine very quickly, often in under a minute. That extra minute can add many hundreds or thousands of dollars to the repair bill. Unfortunately, such a failure is very rare, so rare that drivers often do not know what to do if they see the light come on.

I am sorry for the bad luck, but I think its time for an engine rebuild, or a used engine from a wrecking yard. IKf this is required, my guess is $1000 - $2500 repair depending on the option you choose.

Please let us know how the repair goes.