So I was gifted a car from my cousins earlier this summer. It was wonderful, seeing as I didn't have a car, nor did I have the money to buy a car. So a free car? Perfect. I knew it was old (1994), had a lot of miles on it (228,000), but it ran great. So after about a month, the oil light went on for a few minutes, but then went off. I mentioned it to my dad and he was like, you drove around with the light on? And I was like, well it went off. He went out and checked the oil, and sure enough, there wasn't any according to the dipstick. So he filled it up and said I needed to go get my oil changed, and that every time I put in gas, I needed to check the oil level. Ok. So about a month ago, I finally got the oil changed, where they told me the car was in great condition, but it needed a new battery. Ok, I'll go to Walmart and have them put in a new one.
So last night, my car started shaking real bad while I was driving (but only when I was pressing on the gas). I made it to my destination and kind of dismissed it. Then on the way home, I was driving down the freeway, and my car was shaking sooooo bad and it was really freaking me out, so I quickly got off the freeway, and it hit me, I hadn't checked my oil level since I had my oil changed! So I pulled into a gas station, checked my oil level, and there was barely any on the dipstick. So I pulled out two quarts from my trunk and poured them in. I started home and the shaking went away.
Then, this morning, I was going to my parents and stopped off at Walmart to pick up more oil since I no longer had any spares in my trunk. At that time, I also decided that I really should put more oil in my car, since I only put two quarts in the night before. So I put in another 3 quarts, pull out of the Walmart parking lot, am about 2 seconds from getting on the freeway, and I look in my rearview mirror. And what do I see? A TON of white smoke billowing from the back of my car! I immediately swerve out of the lane that was about to take me onto the freeway, and I proceed to go to a parking lot. I am freaking out, as my car is smelling horribly bad of oil and my car is billowing smoke like crazy.
I park my car, turn it off, and check to see if it is on fire (since I was pretty sure it was!). Thankfully though, it wasn't, but I immediately call my dad and tell him what's happened, though apparently when I tell him the story, I only told him I put in 2 quarts (or that's what he understood). He says I most likely blew a gasket head because I drove around without oil last night. So he comes and rescues me (this is when it is nice that my parents live close) and I show him what the car is doing. He said, yes, that's probably what it is, and it is going to be real expensive to fix, and I need to decide what to do with the car. So we leave it in the parking lot and head home (we were having a family bbq). So I was totally upset because I really just needed my car to last me a few more months. That was all. And then I wouldn't needed it and it could die. So this totally wasn't part of the plan!
We get back to my parents house and after a few hours, I was talking with my uncle and it became clear that between last night and today, I had put in 5 quarts of oil in my car. Yes, 5. My uncle said, you put waaaay too much oil in your car, and its quite possible that that is my problem. He said he would drain in it and then start over, and see if that fixes it. So I began to have a bit of hope! My cousin has AAA and said she had free towing, so we ran to the car and called AAA and they came and towed it to my parents. I told my dad and he said he didn't know I had put in 5 quarts of oil, he thought I had only put in 2 and that that could quite possibly be my problem. So we got the car to my parents house, and my dad kindly drained all the oil. There was easily 8 quarts of oil in my car...yes, my car that holds no more than 4...
Well, long story short, I just had way too much oil in my car!! After they changed the oil, it took a few minutes for the white smoke to stop billowing from my car, but after once around the block, there was no more smoke coming out my car =]]
Now. How did I end up with too much oil in my car? This is where I inform you about how much I didn't know about putting in oil in my car.
1) I know how to check if I have oil in my car, and I know where the line should be. What I didn't know was that, when there isn't any oil registering on your dipstick, that doesn't mean you don't have any oil in your car (like I thought it did), but it means that I need more, but still have about 2 quarts left in it. Hence, I put in 5 quarts, because I thought I had zilch.
2) I didn't know that you should really only put one quart in at a time, and check your dipstick after each quart to make sure you don't put in too much.
Anyway. Now you know how uninformed I am.
And to make things so much better, my uncle is NEVER going to let me live this down =]
