Engine Oil 2009 Civic

G

gollum

Legacy Member
So, I gave my old man my 2009 Civic a couple of years ago, it was in great condition with about 100,000 km.

He tells me today that the exhaust was smoking. Asked him about oil changes, claims he added some himself a week or so ago. Engine light went on when it smoked, he put in more oil, a lot meaning it emptied out.

What are the odds that he's totalled the engine? Grrrrr

Going to get it checked out tomorrow.
 
You dont say how much he drives per year but yes most probably he damaged the engine by not changing it for 2 years and it either burned most of it, or the oil was no good anymore and did no lubrication.

I dont remember exactly but on my 2013 civic I think it was required every 6 months.
 
NisMobile said:
You dont say how much he drives per year but yes most probably he damaged the engine by not changing it for 2 years and it either burned most of it, or the oil was no good anymore and did no lubrication.

I dont remember exactly but on my 2013 civic I think it was required every 6 months.
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On the 2013 it's every year or when the maintenance minder tell you to (computer calculated based on your driving). Unless he was doing 40,000km per year even if he didn't change it, it shouldn't have burnt through enough oil and if anything he overfilled it.

Good Luck
 
250Rocket said:
On the 2013 it's every year or when the maintenance minder tell you to (computer calculated based on your driving). Unless he was doing 40,000km per year even if he didn't change it, it shouldn't have burnt through enough oil and if anything he overfilled it.

Good Luck
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No, oil does degrade no way it was still good after 2 years, at least I would never take the chance with 2 year oil changes considering the winters we have. Even it was not driven much if he was doing short trips that is even worst as there is no time for the moisture to burn off.

OPs post is not very clear to me, maybe he can share more info.
 
NisMobile said:
You dont say how much he drives per year but yes most probably he damaged the engine by not changing it for 2 years and it either burned most of it, or the oil was no good anymore and did no lubrication.

I dont remember exactly but on my 2013 civic I think it was required every 6 months.
Click to expand...

I believe he did regular changes but he clearly did something wrong recently. That or an issue not caused by him. He doesn't drive much, he's 89.
 
gollum said:
I believe he did regular changes but he clearly did something wrong recently. That or an issue not caused by him. He doesn't drive much, he's 89.
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Alright then, I dont think anybody here would be able to guess you whats wrong / if the engine is damaged until you see what happened. Report back curious what went wrong.

Why was he adding, missing a lot of oil?
 
"why was he adding"

Good question, that was his way of doing an oil change, I didn't get full answers over the phone. Don't ask, old age. Trying to save $40 on an oil.change might cost him big. Grrrr
 
I ran a jetta 60000km without changing the oil, just kept topping it up with wtv. No issues after 120000km , i am guessing rings or hole in piston. My old Tempo blew a hole in the piston, drove it home, it was smoking bad. I wonder if the timing belt had slipped
 
So, I went over to check my old man's car, I check the dipstick and it's clearly not oil. I ask him to show me the bottle he used, he comes back out with a jug of antifreeze. He did this a few days ago, claims he didn't drive too much but the car did stall a couple of times. If that wasn't enough he topped it off with another 4L of antifreeze yesterday just for good measure but didn't drive it since.

I went to his mechanic nearby, told him the story he said it shouldn't be the end of the world, he'll flush it (probably at least twice) and see how that goes. He said antifreeze is mostly alcohol so its just burning away, he said it would have been a different story had it been something like brake fluid.

Does anyone have feedback on if this will cause any long term damage?
Car is currently with the mechanic.

Unbelievable.
 
Props to your dad at 89 driving! That's nice.

It sounds like there was either lacking oil, or maybe he's put in too much without checking?
Either way if the engine is toast, don't bother fixing it, find a scrap motor and change it out - cheapest fix.

Edit: just read your last post.
Shouldn't be a problem if he didn't drive it much. Nice flush, fill with oil and drive around. Maybe switch to high mileage oil, and 5W30 instead of 5W20
 
Dude, 89, i'm surprised that he is actually able to drive. But he shouldn't be driving.
Forget about diagnosing all that. Get rid of the car and teach him how to uber or something

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He must been thinking... if I put Anti-Freeze in my engine... my engine wont freeze!

Gran-Pa Logic!
 
infinite said:
Dude, 89, i'm surprised that he is actually able to drive. But he shouldn't be driving.
Forget about diagnosing all that. Get rid of the car and teach him how to uber or something

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Faut pas généraliser. Mon grand-père conduisait à cet âge. Il allait à la messe le dimanche et faire l'épicerie. Il choisissait ses journées et heures pour pas se mettre dans la marde, il roulait pas vite et prenais son temps mais était capable. On a fini par lui retirer son véhicule quand sa santé a vraiment décliné, c'est ce qui l'a achevé. Perdre cette liberté est fatal pour pas mal de vieux.
 
89 ans pis y met du prestone dans l'huile... sérieux sans offence il commence p-e à être mêler pis pourrait causé un accident du style je me suis trompé de pédale...

Sans dire de lui enlever son permis mais p-e évaluer si il est encore toute la pour conduire. c'est pas une petite erreur d’inattention de mettre du prestone dans l'huile à multiple reprise.
 
He's in really good shape for 89, I actually took him to the optometrist just this past Monday and the optometrist was really impressed with his sight. His English/French has never been any good, all these years here and they never bothered properly learning either language so that is the main reason why he just grabbed whatever he found downstairs, it's not that he is losing it. He knows that engine oil typically comes in the small liter bottles so something definitely misfired when he grabbed a 4L of antifreeze, not once but twice. He actually went out and bought the second one, not sure what was going through his mind.

I'm still waiting to hear from the mechanic, he claims he didn't drive it much but did mention it stalled a couple of times. Ughhhhh
 
to know or not Fr/Eng has nothing to do with putting anti-freeze. Engine Oil doesnt look the same as Prestone.

Anyways, hope it doesnt cost too much
 
In Gregistan once you hit 65 you can no longer vote and at 75 need to stop driving

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