dumb car...HELP

[snipez]

hi

93 grand am v6

heres the story

i live way up north, and this week has been super cold, like -50 below zero (canada terms)

the car was running like shit which is a given,

then when i was going to work the oil light came on, and stayed on. what i noticed is really bugging me.

the engine is very loud, i can feel the vibrations inside the car

you can slightly hear it when it idles but when u press the gas the car shudders and is very loud.

the power seems to be there, but this is really bugging me

could it be oil pan seals? tranny related

lately when i shift into reverse or drive i get a knock sound.

new plugs, wires, mostly everything

would a car do this if you needed a oil change? ( which i get every 5000km anyway)


please help

[Ridenour]

Kind of sounds like you're driving without ANY oil. It's a common problem to have a leaking crankcase seal - could be that. Might've dumped a significant enough amount of oil through that that it set off the light and low lube = running really rough.

[snipez]

oil, hmmmmm

i did check uit yesterday it and it looked a little low, but not empty

[Slade901]

What kind of oil are you using? 10W30? You might want to use 5W30 since it is very cold there.

[snipez]

i'm planning on getting an oil change tommarrow, synthetic 5/30

i think 5/30 is in now, but it might be 10/30

if its not the oil what could it be

[Ridenour]

You're going to be putting synthetic in it? Have you always ran synth in it? I've heard of issues with cars that have over 30K miles that have ran normal oil their life and then have been switched. The engine wears and gets use to having normal oil in it. Switching to synth late in a cars life can have adverse effects on the engine.

[snipez]

oh really?

that good to know thank you

[Ridenour]

Yep no problem. IMO, just run regular if unsure of what's been run in the past. Unless, the car has low mileage, then it'd be alright to start running synth.

[Hoags]

Watch the synthetics... I've heard that with the synthetics if you have an oil leak of any kind the oil will find it in a hurry and you may loose your oil !!!

[Ridenour]

^ ^ yeh, very true. That's because it's so rediculously thin - it's runs super thin / fast - couldn't clot itself to save its life.