11,000 miles overdue for oil change

I have not heard of such a thing happening, but nor have I heard of someone going 11,000 miles past the recommended change interval.

Just have to ask, but prior to this were you good about changing the oil at regular intervals?

 

I've never heard of such a thing either, but 11,000 miles overdue seems like an awful long time to wait.

 

How does it seem odd when you obviously don't ever check it?

Even if you don't change the oil (for whatever reason) you MUST check the levels and add oil if required.

I think you've learnt an important and expensive lesson. Oil and oil changes are much cheaper than a new engine.

 

Too late now to ascertain with big holes in the block but you could have had an oil leak (loose filter or drain plug). You also could have holed the crankcase.

 

Perhaps, but remember that issues with oil just compound on themselves - as the oil breaks down it looses it ability to lubricate and it thickens up and you get added heat and wear which causes the oil to break down even more quickly - you can go from marginal to bad pretty quickly.

 

I tell it as it is. Don't check or change your oil for 11,000 miles and question why your engine went bang? Come on mate, what you playing at?

 

Those on here that think checking the oil level is a waste of time and plan to depend on the "oil light" to let them know when they are low on oil need to read this thread

 

when i first read the title... i thought to myself, "i wonder if your oil has gotten low" (thinking to myself that you at least topped it off)

it seems natural that it blew up. my brother made the same mistake with my grandpas el camino. even if i dont change the oil, i still have to top it off.

its 3.5 quarts... not 4.

you didn't hear the engine getting loud upon a non lubricated startup? they get rather clicky and vibrate.

i did a very overdue oil change last week. i wont say how overdue... i did add in a good 4 quarts if not more over that period of time. i could only imagine what the inside of that oil filter looks like (or the engine itself...)

 

So, does 11k miles overdue mean that you actually hadn't changed the oil in 14k miles, 16k miles, or more?

 

I agree with you it's a surprise to me, +11k is your bad but Prius is kind and gentle little engine. Was it synthetic oil? it might have survived. It could have leaked out somehow or bad service (no refill oil) at the getgo. if you have high miles on the vehicle that is a factor.

 

Quite a handle our OP has: BS prius BS.

I'll not waste my time here.

 

More than likely a loose oil filter. That's why it is recommended to check your fluids everytime you fill up. Personally, I don't do that. I do however check the oil when the sun is out and it isn't too windy. Pop the hood, grab a rag, and you're done 20 seconds later. Mine doesn't eat any oil... yet.

I also use pure synthetic. I know the oil will last 10K miles minimally, 20K miles with more than likely no issues. 10K mile oil changes are normal outside of the sue-happy USA. But there are also inspections that check this sort of thing even if you don't and they can deny your car being on the road if you fail.

The lack of oil is what made the engine explode. That will happen to anything. The problem was not that you didn't change it every 3K miles, it is that you didn't check the oil level at all during this period. Oil is pretty cheap, and it is very important. Lesson learned. Perhaps you might have a warranty case if your "maintenance required" light never illuminated. But if it did and you ignored it, then double shame.

 

Gumpy I could not agree with you more, not changing the oil at 10k foolish not checking the level even once a month criminal.
The oil light is not there to say your low on oil it's there to say stop the engine could blow any second, you have zero oil pressure.

 

Whatever the game, it obviously doesn't require a full deck.

 

Probably burned it up after going 16-21K. Bam!!

 

I've been in charge of fleet maintenance before - once for a company and once for the taxi company, and have seen some cars run down to virtually zero oil by some idiots, yet the car has still run. You can run a car right down on oil and it'll still go for a considerable distance, giving more and more warning signs that something is wrong - the loud clatter when you first start it is a pretty good clue.

On this subject, I remember chatting to the taxi fleet mechanic where we were on about idiots not checking their cars and ignoring obvious defects. He said the worst he had seen was a guy who dropped the car off overnight and left a note saying it was making a funny noise. The mechanic started it to see what the noise was - BANG BANG BANG, so he switched it off quickly. Turned out the crankshaft had actually snapped in half! He was amazed the car had run, that the driver had coaxed it to the garage under its own power and not impressed with the 'making a funny noise' understatement.

 

To bs-OP-bs. The problem is not so much going 15k+ miles without changing the oil, it's going 15k+ miles without checking the oil.