Pretty much the worst day ever...

[ZEUS]

That IS a pretty tough day! Sorry you have to deal with all this. I guess when it rains it pours... oh, I get it now!

[Ascinder]

About 1/2 a mile later, I found out that noise was the engine... out of oil... completely seized up... dead.

So do you know yet if it's totally fried yet or did you get away with just having to add oil? That's a hell of an awful run of luck. Hopefully it changes soon. If you need a new engine, hit me up, I'm prepared to let mine go cheap, I need the space in the garage.

[pbkid]

oh man paul... thats absolutely terrible!!!

however, i do know the feeling, it sucks when you hear that awful sound out of your VX motor

sorry buddy, things will get better soon.

[phines]

So do you know yet if it's totally fried yet or did you get away with just having to add oil? That's a hell of an awful run of luck. Hopefully it changes soon. If you need a new engine, hit me up, I'm prepared to let mine go cheap, I need the space in the garage.

Thanks. Sending you a PM now...

[vt_maverick]

If anything the people living in the area around the plant despise the thing. Apparently it makes a ridiculously loud sound when it goes off, which must be pretty frequently. Do a Google search and you'll find links to local news channel reports.

I think one of the articles said that there are at least 70 of these things in North America, most of which are placed in the middle of fields to protect crops from hail damage. From what I read they should work in theory, but you're right there's no evidence that they actually work, other than that the Nissan factory hasn't been hit once by hail since they installed it.

I imagine if I had $10 million in inventory sitting in an unprotected parking lot I'd be willing to throw a few hundred K around on snake oil too.

And nice SF reference.

[nocturnalVX]

Sorry to hear such a sad story. More so that you had to go through all that... Hope you get back to normality fast.

[CowboyErik]

Seen a new block on ebay, cheap!

[navistar]

Wait a minute. How exactly did the oil level get so low that the engine locked up? Ah...just curious.

[phines]

Wait a minute. How exactly did the oil level get so low that the engine locked up? Ah...just curious.

Good question and a mystery I would love to solve. I topped off the oil exactly 3 weeks before this happened. I had been driving it a little more than usual to get it ready for Moab, but just locally. I did take it to Firestone to have the transmission flushed, new filter, etc. I just can't explain how the VX used 5 qts of oil in 3 weeks. Any ideas?

[RickOKC]

Wow, sorry to hear about all your misfortune. Just... heartbreaking.

[phines]

Thanks for all the support guys & girls... I appreciate it. I'm sure everything will work out eventually. I certainly hope none of you ever experience a day like that!

[ZEUS]

It's not like this is the first report of a 3.5 doing this. Jack swears he had a full crankcase of oil... and then... all gone! It has been a discussion among VXers for a while. Joe Black calls it a rumor while others fear it will happen to them. People have claimed to have discovered the problem and cure - I'm skeptical on that one. There is even a poll here asking which model year VX has gone boom... more than half were '99's. The Moab checklist even lists a case of oil as an inside joke amongst VXers! It sucks it happen(s)(ed) but I don't really find it surprising at this point. It is even one of the fears that convinced me to sell my VX.
Oh, I drive a Jeep and own a few Chevys right now... I know that's important to know.

[vt_maverick]

Probably best advice I've heard is to check the oil at every fill-up, that way you're guaranteed to be looking every week or two, though it sounds like that may have not fixed your problem. Also good to be in the habit of looking under your VX every time you walk up to it to make sure nothing's leaking. If you lost 5 quarts in 3 weeks you would think that it had to puddle somewhere along the way.

Please don't feel like I'm lecturing; even though I know all those things to do, I rarely remember to do them myself.

[Ascinder]

Seems like something like oh, I don't know, a low oil pressure light or a low oil level switch could be installed/upgraded to actually warn of impending doom. You'd think some clever car manufacturer would come out with something like that

[nfpgasmask]

Seems like something like oh, I don't know, a low oil pressure light or a low oil level switch could be installed/upgraded to actually warn of impending doom. You'd think some clever car manufacturer would come out with something like that

Linda's Porsche has an oil level light in the dash. Everytime you start the car, you turn the key without starting and the dash lights up and you wait like 3 seconds and it shows the oil level. Kinda cool....leave it to German Engineering.

Bart