You don't have to have it towed to a AAA recommended shop, if you use AAA to tow the car. I was just recommending using the AAA network to tow the car (if you have AAA), as they'll tow you for the first 5 miles or so free, and then you only have to pay some mileage fee for the extra miles. It's a lot cheaper than paying straight-up for a tow out of pocket.

If you don't have AAA already, it's worth it to get it now, since it will probably be cheaper to buy a AAA membership and then have the car towed, than to pay to tow the car the whole way without AAA. Having AAA also gives you like a $75 discount on your auto insurance every year(at least my insurance company does), which pays for the membership cost in its own right, even if you don't use any of their services during that year.

 

Hey ya'll, thanks for the input! icekewl and re-crue13 had it! Went to the garage.. amazing service. They key was the oil change, the car was bone dry.. maybe 0.5L in it. (my car could be burning oil though, will have to check the oil very often from now on)

MY problem was I'm terrible at gauging the oil on these cards because my previous car was a Toyota where the dip stick was basically vertical and easy to read, as opposed to G's that are on a terrible 60 degree angle causing messy readings.

I was also worried about the CAMSHAFT censor which i replaced myself last month.. symptoms of it malfunctioning again (VDC and SLIP lights on + spuddering) but the mechanic cleared all those errors with his diagnostic hookup..

Currently car is running very smooth, mechanic said sounds great... really good thing i didn't drive it too much in that condition...

Total cost of all the work from my local new mechanic: $56.60 all incl.

This post definitely steered me in the right direction, thanks everyone.

 

Holy smokes!@# No oil?!@#

Do you check the oil level regularly, or was the oil recently changed?

When I took delivery of the car, one of the things I checked was the oil level. It read about 3mm below the fully full mark after sitting outside for a bit. This gives me a reasonable frame of reference to monitor future oil use/consumption. You should check your oil at least every other fillup or more often if you have an oil use issues.

 

Yah, crazy how little oil there was :S

it was recently changed 2.3k ago... every other fillup is good advice.. and maybe randomly in between... i never want to hear that sound again lol..

thanks for the advice!

 

Thats not good... running the car with that low oil most likely could have caused some serious damage to your engine. You need to check the oil every couple weeks since youre probably burning oil. Wait until the car sits level for a few hours before checking, its not hard to look at a dipstick

 

the angle of the stick has nothing to do with the reading...you never checked it..you ran the engine dry...you now think your problem is solved. ha....you now have major wear on rod and crank bearings...you have not yet begun to see your future problems

 

actually for me it had everything to do with the reading, since I thought the engine had oil, when it didn't... the dipstick had oil all over it every time I would check/re-check...

Since this is my weekend car, and I don't race it.. hopefully it will be alright for the next few years.

 

Well the extent of the damage I won't know till things start going bad. Hopefully if I maintain the oil at optimal levels and don't push the car too hard should last.

Thanks for the advice.