Hello, I had my car parked for about a week or two in front of my neighbors house who does like me very much (no other place on the street to park) the car was turned on and driven every few days. Today when I started driving the car it was making a loud knocking sound, I pulled out the dip stick and the oil was sludge, last oil change I got was about 8k miles ago. Is it possible my neighbor did something to my car to turn the oil into sludge?

  • Spksnppr@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Looks like the engine has been running hot for a long time. I’ve seen it before. Because the electric fan did not pull enough air. The knock is not necessarily a deal breaker. If it’s not severe and you don’t run the car hard, it may last a while. It will still knock though. My friend’s lasted 2 years before he sold it. Oh, and fix the cooling issue and change the oil a couple of times.

  • chanarang@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    You killed that engine off. You aren’t supposed to go that long on oil changes especially given Fords usually use synthetic blend. I wouldn’t even go that long on full synthetic and my oil is stupid expensive. I’m guessing it was burning oil already if it was a 4.6/5.4 and was consistently low which meant you needed to do them more frequently. Make sure to take care of your next vehicle or this’ll happen again. This could happen to any car with lack of maintenance.

      • chanarang@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I don’t know how insurance companies work personally. I’d imagine they’d probably consider that type of engine damage as negligence, lack of maintenance, or wear and tear from age. They don’t cover that kind of thing.

  • apextek@alien.top
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    1 year ago

    8k miles is about where oil turns to sludge. Get an oil change and check your level at 1000 miles. Older vehicles or ones that the owner makes infrequent oil changes tend to burn a quart every thousand miles. If it burns faster than that Id be concerned.

  • guitarmaniac17@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    8k is enough for sludge to form. Especially if that’s been consistent. I don’t think your neighbor would go out and be able to add anything to sludge it over night, let alone having access to what I would assume is a locked car. So I’m going to say no foul play, just a lack of a better maintenance schedule.

  • PBmaxprofit@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    If you’re using a synthetic blend, depending on age and mileage of your vehicle. That interval is at the top end of when you should change oil