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Forgive me for I have sinned...

695 views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  knifeboy2 
#1 ·
Well I commited one of the utterly stupid things drivers can do. I failed to check my oil levels. Today I was driving to work and about 3/4th of the way there (20 mile trip) she stalls on me. I pull over and try to start it. It'll run good for a bit but keep dying. I finally get it limped off the tollway and into a parking lot. I parked it for the day and got a ride to work from my dad who came to pick me up.

After work I decided to try and fix whatever was wrong. I went to Autozone and bought a can of carb cleaner and another fuel filter, although I was pretty dang sure it wasn't the filter since I just added that marine sized one.

After taking my carb apart in the parking lot (I took it apart farther than I knew how..but got it back together right) and cleaned it all out with the carb cleaner. I swapped fuel fitlers and the engine still stalled out.

Oh, and recently I started hearing a ticking noise from the engine that correlated with RPM's. So one time after turning it over I notice smoke coming from the oil fill tube in the front of the engine (304). Out of a whim I check the oil and it wasn't even registering on the dipstick. Now when I first pulled the dipstick out it had oil on it, but when I wiped it down, put it in, and pulled out it had nothing. So I immediately stopped trying to turn it over and ran down the road to a gas station. Four quarts of oil later I was showing full on the dipstick, started it up and it ran great. No more ticking noise and no more stalling out.

Now I just hope I haven't done any major permanent damage to the engine. I know having no oil can be a real big problem. I'm hoping it had just enough to run for a bit and then stall when it couldn't lube anymore.

I'm just wondering where it all went now. I never smelled burning oil, nor did I see it in my exhaust. But it must have burnt off cause I just don't know where else it could have gone. I think my CJ is throwing a temper tantrum so I don't sell it.

So now you can all smack me upside the head and remind me to check my oil more often.

 
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#3 ·
Yuup, I did the same thing a few months ago. Had a small leak coming from my filter, no way it could leak that much I thought, then I heard the ticking. Changed the oil and put the new filter on, ticking still there. Found out today it probably won't be but a few thousand miles and I'll have to rebuild, or something. Gonna try the Sea Foam thing before I change my oil again, hopefully that'll work. If not, dunno what I'm gonna do.
 
#7 ·
Thing that would worry me is - why did it stall?

AMC 304 does not have safety check to shut off if oil is gone...


IMHO
watch oil level close for next few weeks. watch close what kind of smoke comes from tail pipe and when... what does the exhaust smell like? - here you will find indication of what is going on inside


possible no serious damage was done...


check your oil
 
#8 ·
Also, and obviously, monitor the oil level for thenext few weeks, if it goes down again, ad you're not smoking, look for leaks from seals, and gaskets, don't forget the back of the heads...

hope you dind't do any permanent damage. reminds me of a Ford truck my brother had, I had it for a year while he was in Korea with the Army. i took good care of that thing. he came back and about a year later I borrowed it to haul some furniture about 60-70 on the highway. fired it up, horrible noise of clicking that went away after a few seconds. hhmph, ok, drove about 40 miles down the highway, all was fine. got out for a bit, got back in, fired it up and the sme noise. turned it off, pulled the dip stick, NO OIL! LANCE you stupid $%^%! he had oil bottle of oil in the tool box, i dumped it in, and went to the store to get more.

I sure am glad that when I had it, I used Duralube in it. The engine never got hot, ran beautifully, and kept running for as long as he had it.

Hope you have the same story with yours.
 
#10 ·
In reply to:

I'd also fill it back up with synthetic

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the last thing you'd want to do to an engine that has been run dry is fill it up with synth (unless you have used it before). It has a nasty tendancy due to its high detergent properties to eat the gunk that's built up around the seals and keeping the oil in the engine to begin with. I would change the oil and filter, drive it for 10 miles then do another oil/filter change to make sure that any possible contamination would be washed away. Some SeaFoam couldn't hurt either.
 
#11 ·
I filled it up with non-synthetic oil. An oil and filter change is in the works soon. I also bought my first bottle of Sea Foam today from NAPA. The guy said he never put any worth into addatives until he saw firsthand the difference a can of Sea Foam did for a VW Bug.
 
#12 ·
I'm guessing the lack of oil pressure allowed the lifters to collapse and not open the valves enough. Hopefully, with oil now everything will be fine. I don't think it stalled because of friction.
 
#13 ·
Will, thats the kinda stuff I like to hear. I really know nothing about how the internals of the 304 work so I was assuming. I didn't hear any noises other than the 'tick' and it seems to run great now. I'm not as worried now as I was when I first saw the dipstick.
 
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