I just blew up my Explorer!!! Ahhh!

[mikeh]

I just drove my Explorer 2 miles with no oil in it and I toasted the engine I think. I changed the oil and the filter ended up threaded wrong. I dumped 5 quarts in and I never noticed it all drained onto my driveway!!! My wife drove off in my Explorer this morning and got two miles before she noticed that something was wrong. It didn't have a drop in it. She called me and I went and found the problem and fixed it and drove it back but the damage is done.

The engine now makes a loud clicking sound. And the oil pressure guage jumps from 0 to normal when I'm idling.

I parked now until I find out more or drive it to the junk yard.

Any idea if it might be fixable? It's a 98 Explorer with 135K miles on it.

I'm starting now to look for a new vehicle. Don't know what I want yet.

Ug I'm mad! I've babied the hell out of this car hoping to get a lot more miles out of it.

mikeh

 

[410Fortune]

Wow I am sorry to hear this!
It is VERY important to start up a vehicle after an oil change, always look underneath for leaks while it running.
First thing to do is check for oil pressure or an oil light.
Then let it warm up to operating temp, shut it off and check the dipstick again.

You can likely buy a replacement engine for $500-800 and it takes 8-12 hours to swap them out.

 

[Papa]

You did not say if it was synthetic oil or not. 410 is right about checking we have all cleaned up at least one mess. You could do some compression checks, use a bore scope and look inside each cylinder, use a stethoscope and narrow down the location of the click but the prognosis is not good for this engine.

 

[tawd77]

You did not say if it was synthetic oil or not. 410 is right about checking we have all cleaned up at least one mess. You could do some compression checks, use a bore scope and look inside each cylinder, use a stethoscope and narrow down the location of the click but the prognosis is not good for this engine.

Look inside the cylinders? Thats the last thing thats going to be damaged from oil starvation. He shelled the bearings. It is fixable, but not worth it. Just get a lower milage used engine from the salvage yard. Next time you make a dumbass mistake, try not to make it a $1000 one.

 

[David Suesz]

Even when you do everything right, bad things can happen...

coupla years ago my wife drove her just oil changed car to work. Smelled like hot oil when she got there, and looked uner the front end, to see a small puddle of oil. Seems the new filter was defective, and the seal was allowing a drip. Just a little worse, or a little farther drive, and disaster could have resulted to her one-year-old car.

 

[mikeh]

Well I'm buying a new engine from a guy for $500 with 64K here locally to drop in the Explorer. We'll see if I can do a better job changing the engine than I did changing the oil.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I'm passed being steamed. I've also bought a 2004 X to replace the 98. I'm just going to sell the 98 when I get it fixed.

 

[tawd77]

I just put a SOHC engine in a 97, it was pretty easy. Good luck with yours.

 

[gijoecam]

That's one of the first things my father taught me when he taught me to change the oil: Start it up and CHECK FOR LEAKS by getting on your hands and knees and looking underneath the vehicle. It saved my bacon once very early-on.... the old filter seal had stuck to the block, and the new filter seal didn't line-up. I started it up, got out of the truck, bent over and looked, and there was already a quart of oil on the floor. It doesn't take long to pump it dry!

So, lesson learned: CHECK FOR LEAKS!!!

Sorry about the bad news... Good luck on the repair!

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Next time you make a dumbass mistake, try not to make it a $1000 one.

easy now!

 

[mikeh]

So who wants to come over for some beers and help me change out an engine?

The new X is running great. I'm not exactly excited about digging into this project. Maybe I should just part it out.

 

[410Fortune]

Hell no just replace that sucker!
Can be done in 10 hours if you are prepared and all goes smooth