Friends Toyota won’t start

[Chestrockwell]

I’m unable to go and see the car as I don’t have time but hopefully someone can tell me what it could be so I know if it’s worth going there or asking my friend to have it scrapped.

Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto, 100k miles.

Friend is clueless about cars, rings me up, says it won’t start, It had fuel so it sounded like it needs a jump, he calls his other friend with jump leads and after 10 minutes explaining how to jump start it, they did and it wouldn’t start.

He then tells me the oil light come on before the car turned off, so I asked him how and why as I thought he turned it off and it wouldn’t go back on, he said it turned off by itself as he was idling.

His friend had oil on him in his car, the same kind so I asked them to check the dip stick and put small amounts of oil in accordingly just in case they put too much and he tell me when he opened the oil cap, the oil was ‘gunky’ and ‘Metallicy’, they put oil in anyway and it still won’t start.

I don’t know that much about cars but surely the car turned off by itself as a safety feature for the engine and needed oil to turn on again, my dad has a Honda generator and it turns off automatically when it needs oil.

The whole things a disaster as I have been on and off the phone trying to help at my nephews 2nd birthday party.

Any ideas?

[Silent1]

Chestrockwell said:

I’m unable to go and see the car as I don’t have time but hopefully someone can tell me what it could be so I know if it’s worth going there or asking my friend to have it scrapped.

Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto, 100k miles.

Friend is clueless about cars, rings me up, says it won’t start, It had fuel so it sounded like it needs a jump, he calls his other friend with jump leads and after 10 minutes explaining how to jump start it, they did and it wouldn’t start.

He then tells me the oil light come on before the car turned off, so I asked him how and why as I thought he turned it off and it wouldn’t go back on, he said it turned off by itself as he was idling.

His friend had oil on him in his car, the same kind so I asked them to check the dip stick and put small amounts of oil in accordingly just in case they put too much and he tell me when he opened the oil cap, the oil was ‘gunky’ and ‘Metallicy’, they put oil in anyway and it still won’t start.

I don’t know that much about cars but surely the car turned off by itself as a safety feature for the engine and needed oil to turn on again, my dad has a Honda generator and it turns off automatically when it needs oil.

The whole things a disaster as I have been on and off the phone trying to help at my nephews 2nd birthday party.

Any ideas?

It’s been run low/out of oil and has seized, it’s fked, write it off.

[Chestrockwell]

Silent1 said:

It’s been run low/out of oil and has seized, it’s fked, write it off.

Thanks for that, it’s a massive shame as it’s a massive waste of a great car, would have run forever if maintained properly!

[stevieturbo]

Chestrockwell said:

Any ideas?

take it a mechanic ?

Rather than trying to get people to diagnose remotely, based on descriptions from two people who know little about cars ( your own admission )

But reading what your saying, whether accurate or not...it doesnt sound good. But the internet isnt going to have your answers.

[bearman68]

Silent1 said:

It’s been run low/out of oil and has seized, it’s fked, write it off.

It does sound like it, but it might be a bit early to write off a decent car. Get someone who knows what they are doing to have a look at it before scrapping.

[Chestrockwell]

stevieturbo said:

Chestrockwell said:

Any ideas?

take it a mechanic ?

Rather than trying to get people to diagnose remotely, based on descriptions from two people who know little about cars ( your own admission )

But reading what your saying, whether accurate or not...it doesnt sound good. But the internet isnt going to have your answers.

Did you read my original post? It’s a Sunday, no mechanic will see it, I’m busy right now and was hoping for some ideas on what it could be so I don’t go and waste my time trying to jump start it again

[Willhire89]

Just running low on oil won't stop it starting - it may just make bad noises when it does

Our next door neighbour ran his Corolla so low on oil it seized - he then put oil in it and ran it for two more years and it didn't rattle. I bought my MR2 after a low oil incident and it rattled over 2500rpm but was fine trickling around for four months until I stripped it.

There's something else relevant we don't know

[Pothole]

Chestrockwell said:

Did you read my original post? It’s a Sunday, no mechanic will see it, I’m busy right now and was hoping for some ideas on what it could be so I don’t go and waste my time trying to jump start it again

Steady. Get annoyed at your mate, not that poster. If you're at a family function and you want to be there, tell the mate he's not that important right now, to go and have a cup of tea and wait for your call. Once the party is over, call him back. He'll be calmer and so will you. Take him through the basics, then tell him he'll have to call a mechanic tomorrow (and that for a mechanical dullard like him, breakdown cover with home start is essential.) If you'd rather have an excuse to leave the party, go help your mate.

[stevieturbo]

Chestrockwell said:

Did you read my original post? It’s a Sunday, no mechanic will see it, I’m busy right now and was hoping for some ideas on what it could be so I don’t go and waste my time trying to jump start it again

And did I say you had to take it to a mechanic this very instant ?

[Silent1]

bearman68 said:

Silent1 said:

It’s been run low/out of oil and has seized, it’s fked, write it off.

It does sound like it, but it might be a bit early to write off a decent car. Get someone who knows what they are doing to have a look at it before scrapping.

Indeed, but bear in mind the car is worth probably £1500 tops so unless it’s a quick diagnosis and cheap fix you may well be better off buying a new car.

[Chestrockwell]

stevieturbo said:

And did I say you had to take it to a mechanic this very instant ?

No but your tone sounded condescending and I didn’t ask any stupid questions in my OP, I only wanted to see what other people had to say as my knowledge is basic when it comes to the oily bits.

No big deal

[stevieturbo]

Chestrockwell said:

No but your tone sounded condescending and I didn’t ask any stupid questions in my OP, I only wanted to see what other people had to say as my knowledge is basic when it comes to the oily bits.

No big deal

You only asked a single question, to which gave the only answer that can be given.

And therein lies the problem, if your friend cannot relay useful information to you, and your knowledge is limited to relay that information to anyone trying to give a remote diagnosis.....you can hopefully see the massive problem there.

[GreenV8S]

Chestrockwell said:

surely the car turned off by itself as a safety feature for the engine and needed oil to turn on again

I've never seen a car with that feature so I wouldn't count on that.

If it's cranking over OK it seems unlikely that the low oil pressure is what stopped it running, but there are so many potential causes on a knackered old engine that hasn't been maintained properly that it's futile to guess. You need somebody with basic troubleshooting skills to come take a look at it. At that age it wouldn't take much to put it beyond economic repair so you need to be prepared for that possibility.

[M_A_S]

Chestrockwell said:

Did you read my original post? It’s a Sunday, no mechanic will see it, I’m busy right now and was hoping for some ideas on what it could be so I don’t go and waste my time trying to jump start it again

I'd have gone to see it on a Sunday. In exchange for money of course.

[tapkaJohnD]

Piston heads is familiar with remote fault diagnosis - that's what it does on this forum.
But this one is 'twice removed' by being filtered past the posters family events to an even remoter 'friend who has no clue'. This must be a first.
If you can solve this one, gurus of PH, you are indeed worthy of that name!

John