wrote:

> Welp... The van died. I'm assuming that the engine seized up on me, and
> I'm also going to assume that it was, in fact, rod knock. It did sound
> like a ballpeen hammer banging against the inside of the engine.
>
>
> Tuesday afternoon, the oil light came on, which was odd because I had
> just dropped a couple of quarts of oil in there over the weekend. I
> checked my oil level and it appeared to show that all was fine. Not
> being one to chance it, I added 2 more quarts of oil and the light went
> off. I get off work and headed home. About half way there, the light
> came on again. This time, it was accompanied by sluggish response when
> accellerating (I did try to keep my rpm's between 1500 and 2000
> though). I stopped, checked the oil, which, again showed plenty of oil.
> I added 1 more quart and the light went off. I drove about two miles
> and the van was barely moving. I decided to pull off the road and just
> as I tried to make my way over, I heard a "POP" and the engine stopped
> running. Right now, it won't even attempt to turn over.
>
> 129K on the ticker, I'm selling it for $1500...
>

Why do people equate oil volume and oil pressure? They are two
different things. Why do you add oil if the level is correct? (1) if
the level is in fact correct, but there are other problems, overfilling
is not going to fix anything, and (2) Overfilling can in fact create a
new problem that the engine won't survive even if the original problem
is survivable. Not saying that your original problem did it in, but you
didn't help by continuing to add oil.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')