Car is missing oil, found in radiator! Won't start either! HELP?

Question

My girlfriend just brought home her '93 Geo Prism on a tow truck. =p She was on the freeway and noticed through her loud music that her car was making a loud lawnmower type sound, then her car completely lost power and died there. After a two hour waiting time for a tow, it came to me where I discovered that her engine was bone dry of oil! The coolant overflow was empty except for about two ounces of sludge that is brown and smells like sweet scented oil. Not milky though. Under the radiator cap is the same story: mostly dry with the same sweet smelling sludge. I unscrewed the oil cap after finding the oil dipstick to be completely dry and smelled a distinct burning scent.

I suspect this to be a blown head gasket, but don't have the tools right now to check the spark plugs for the same sludge or green coolant. So let's say hypothetically that it is the head gasket, I can fix that, but it must have blown for some reason. What would those reasons be? I don't want to replace it just to have it blow again!

Any and all advice would be great! I plan to take it to a mechanic but I'd like to diagnose the problem myself to try to save money.

Thank You!

Answer 1

You're crazy if you spend $1.00 fixing that thing.  

Answer 2

basically the engine was run too low on oil and has whats comomnly know as "blown" The bearings were starved of oil,if this happpens for only a second, the engine is finished or very short lived. It's a 1993 dude, junk it and get a new one. ain't worth the $$ to fix. sorry. The coolant things you state, is kinda,uh, you guys never opened the hood and checked oil or coolant.Thats why the car is done. It's 15 years old, so,you got your money outta it.

Answer 3

Sounds like the engine is done.  Find a Toyota Corolla or Prism (same) engine in a salvage yard and have them quote you installed.  This is only a good idea if the rest of the car is in good shape.  Otherwise just junk it.  

Answer 4

definately sounds like ahead gasket.  it might have ran dry on coolant causing it to overheat and blow the gasket, or maybe a seal somewhere has split or burst.  you'll have to pressure test the head and the coolant system to check if its all ok.  head gaskets go, its just one of those things that happen , dont sweat too much and get a few quotes before you decide

Answer 5

yea, you suspect right.it,s a blown head gasket. those cars are cheap made. she would be better off to get another car.

Answer 6

HI

OOOHHH

Not good.. sounds like it might be toast.. but yea a blown head gasket most likely.

good luck

tim

Answer 7

three things are possible, none are good on that engine.

1, blown headgasket

2, cracked head

3, cracked block

the good news is that in a class that i took years ago, we replaced an engine in one of those in a week, but the engine came complete minus the intake for  about $250. and pizza for starving students.

btw it took that long because our shop time was only about an hour and a half or maybe two on a good day.  

Answer 8

If she was driving on the interstate and it got noisy and quit and there is no oil in it, it's  shot. Take her shopping for a different car tomorrow.

Answer 9

It is a geo they are junk no reason cars just suck

Answer 10

Sounds like a blown engine to me.

Answer 11

Get under the car and look for holes in the oil pan. You may even see things like connecting rods through the side of the engine.

In short, if it were only a head gasket, there would be plenty of fluid in the oil pan. But there isn't.

I think she just made a motor into a boat anchor.  

Answer 12

I would like to commend you on wanting to get whatever got the head gasket (suspected) to be blown fixed as well. First off if you do this job yourself, I would take the head to a machine shop and ensure it was not cracked or warped (especially if its aluminum which I suspect). Then, get the crankcase flushed out, along with the entire cooling system. Generally a head gasket would blow due to some form of an overheating problem. A couple of inexpensive but vital parts I would suggest replacing would be the thermostat and the radiator cap (over time the cap cannot hold pressure, resulting in a loss of coolant and/or overheating). Also check if coolant had gotten into the crankcase. If so, you might want to think about the oil pump.