Sad ending..... (no, it's a car story)

My son's job gives him $500/month for a car so he bought a Mazda something SUV.  He sold his beloved Saab to a friend's 19 year old as a first car.  Ian went through the car with him, showed him how to change a tire, (there's a yoga mat for this) all the manuals, receipts, extra wheels & tires, it was a good deal.  Dad was impressed.

Ian ran into Dad, he just rolled his eyes.  The kid called a few weeks ago, the car's overheating. They brought it to a shop and discovered yep, overheating; but it's overheating because there's no oil in the engine!

I'm sure your kids are car-aware, how do you fix stupid?

In reply to 914Driver :

I suspect you are trying to make a statement but I 'm not sure what it is.  

Was Ian the fool for spending the $500 on a Mazda where as he could have stayed with the less expensive Saab and perhaps pocketed some of the $500/mo?

Was Ian the fool for not disclosing that the Saab burns oil?

Was the 16yr old the fool for not checking the oil?  Keep in mind this kid did not know how to change a tire.

Was the father the fool for buying a more complex car, Saab, for a first time driver?  

How does a modern car run out of oil? Even with a year of never even checking it I'm surprised it would be more than a quart down without it being SUPER obvious that it's an oil burner.

What was the verdict? Topped it off and good to go or it was toast?

Blah Blah get off my lawn blah blah.  

That the 2.8 v6, or just the 4 cylinder turbo?  Either way, an abused turbo never lasts long in these and is one of the f as test ways to burn out most of the oil in the car with not much drop in performance until the car no longer runs...

Uh, isn't there a light of some sort, indicating low oil pressure, on the dash, somewhere? I mean, c'mon, even my old '60 Mini had one. 

Yes, yes!  Inquiring minds want to know!  How on Earth did the car come to be without oil?

My sisters Isuzu trooper did this. Unknown leak source but empty pan s week after last service. Engine seized so hard to tell what happened after the fact. Sad part was they blamed her even though the dummy light never came on. “You should check your oil at every startup.... “ really!? 

If there was a point, I guess it would be how can a person be responsible enough to drive a car among the population and not know how to check the  fluids?  The kid was 20 and had a Honda before this.  I can't address whether the Saab burned oil, it didn't leak any.  Ian spent the $500 on a CX-5 because the job that gave him the money included a lot of driving.

914Driver said:

If there was a point, I guess it would be how can a person be responsible enough to drive a car among the population and not know how to check the  fluids?  The kid was 20 and had a Honda before this.  I can't address whether the Saab burned oil, it didn't leak any.  Ian spent the $500 on a CX-5 because the job that gave him the money included a lot of driving.

I mean check your fluids sure. Once a month for the average person. How long did he have it before it seized due to having no oil? A week? A month? I guess it's hard for me to brush this kid off as an idiot without knowing some more details.

Wait, engines need oil now? 

pinchvalve said:

Wait, engines need oil now? 

Darn new-fangled contraptions. 

crankwalk said:

914Driver said:

If there was a point, I guess it would be how can a person be responsible enough to drive a car among the population and not know how to check the  fluids?  The kid was 20 and had a Honda before this.  I can't address whether the Saab burned oil, it didn't leak any.  Ian spent the $500 on a CX-5 because the job that gave him the money included a lot of driving.

 

I mean check your fluids sure. Once a month for the average person. How long did he have it before it seized due to having no oil? A week? A month? I guess it's hard for me to brush this kid off as an idiot without knowing some more details.

 

 

Do you really think the "average" person checks fluids once a month?

I'd be willing to be that the average person never checks the fluids at all.  That's what the mechanic does when the oil is changed.  And I'm not making a joke, I really think that well over 90% of the drivers out there do not even open the hoods of their cars, unless the warning light for washer fluid goes off (if it has one).

Unless you grew up with cars that had to be checked all the time, and for those, have not paid attention to the improvements of cars, you don't ever check any fluid.

alfadriver said:

crankwalk said:

914Driver said:

If there was a point, I guess it would be how can a person be responsible enough to drive a car among the population and not know how to check the  fluids?  The kid was 20 and had a Honda before this.  I can't address whether the Saab burned oil, it didn't leak any.  Ian spent the $500 on a CX-5 because the job that gave him the money included a lot of driving.

 

I mean check your fluids sure. Once a month for the average person. How long did he have it before it seized due to having no oil? A week? A month? I guess it's hard for me to brush this kid off as an idiot without knowing some more details.

 

 

Do you really think the "average" person checks fluids once a month?

I'd be willing to be that the average person never checks the fluids at all.  That's what the mechanic does when the oil is changed.  And I'm not making a joke, I really think that well over 90% of the drivers out there do not even open the hoods of their cars, unless the warning light for washer fluid goes off (if it has one).

Unless you grew up with cars that had to be checked all the time, and for those, have not paid attention to the improvements of cars, you don't ever check any fluid.

No, I was being generous when I said the average person could check the fluids once a month but that was just a general reasonable timeframe that would have hopefully prevented this.

The expected response in this thread is for everyone to say "Yeah, these damn kids these days don't know how to do anything. The mechanic checks the oil and they don't know any different because millennials".

My point is we aren't given a time frame one how long this was before this happened. A few weeks? A month? 4 years?

If it's a month then I don't blame the kid. That's a modern Saab and unless it's got puddles of oil under it or giant clouds of blue smoke everywhere I went, why would anybody expect a 20 year old to check the oil within that timeframe?

If it's 4 years, then yeah that's on the kid. Happens every day.

pinchvalve said:

Wait, engines need oil now? 

My Craftsman lawnmower seemed to do just fine without any...Surely a much more advanced car engine should be able to do the same.