Mitsubishi 1.3 GLX – lots of white smoke/no torque – after running without oil?

[Tiago Ferreira]

Hello all!

I am once again requesting your help in this amazing forum. Let me start by saying that a few years ago and due to the amazing help of this forum and it’s members, I was able to learn and fix some issues on this exact car that I never thought it would be possible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

This time, the problem is slightly different from last time: the car produces a lot of white smoke and has no running power at all. In short, my father has asked me to check the car due to those two things so I reach out to the car and try to start it – no luck. I thought it was out of battery (because the starter motor did not spin at all) and pushed it into a ramp so that I could jump-start it with movement. The thing is that the motor appeared to be “stuck” and did not spin, even on a reasonably gradient descent. At this time, I thought the starter motor had seized somehow and did not allow the engine to spin.

Since I could not start it and did not have much time, I decided to leave it until today on the side of the road. As I am going to the “parking spot” (still descending), the engine started to spin and I tried starting it. After a few tries, it did but with a LOT of white smoke. Again, without time, I decided to still leave it (because the car would not run up the hill) but I verified the coolant level on the radiator (it was fine) thinking that maybe it could be burning coolant for some reason. Now that some time has passed, I am leaning into that the car probably has ran out of oil and the engine seized (hence why it would not turn). With that said, I was thinking of:

Go to the car this afternoon and put oil on the engine. If it starts and the car runs, bring the car for ~1.6 miles until my house where I can try to properly diagnose it. If not, tow it with my Volvo S60 (I guess it’s capable of doing it, judging by the numbers).

So, my questions to you are:
1 – Should I try to bring the car to my house while driving, with oil on it? Or that’s a bad idea?
2 – If the car indeed has ran out of oil: how do I know exactly what needs fixing and what doesn’t?
3 – Is there any chance the car might start of fire if I try to drive it with oil?

Thank you all in advance!
tgferreira

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

1 – Should I try to bring the car to my house while driving, with oil on it? Or that’s a bad idea?
Really got nothing to lose.

2 – If the car indeed has ran out of oil: how do I know exactly what needs fixing and what doesn’t?
Running an engine with out oil to the point of it locking up … probably most cost effective path would be look for a used replacement engine.
3 – Is there any chance the car might start of fire if I try to drive it with oil?
If it starts at all …. I’d be more concerned with possibly throwing a rod

[Author]

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