My neon has about 160k miles, and I service it regularly. Anywho, yesterday my car was running fine, nothing wrong at all. Today I get in it and start her up and the engine immediatly starts making a horrible LOUD knocking squeeling sound. I shut it off, open the hood, turn it back on to see if I can see anything in the engine and it sounds like its coming from the left side of my engine near the alternator. I turn it back off. I look under the car and realize that there is a HUGE puddle of oil on the ground and it is continuing to just pour out. What the hell. I check the oil level and it was a bit low but not dry by any means. I can't really find any info about whats going on other than the knocking could be rod issues or something. I'm not a mechanic by any means and don't really understand the jargin. Please dumb down the langauge for me. Having said that, I've also learned how to do alot of engine work from my father in-law, so I'm not completely dumb on the subject either. I really need some help on this, as I can't afford to tow it to a mechanic just to have them tell me its kaput and then owe a nice chunk of money to them for doing absolutely nothing!

Thank you!

P.S. I tried pulling codes from the car but nothing came up other than the code (can't remember exactly what it is) that says the battery has been disconnected recently.

 

I also forgot to mention that I smelt a burning smell when turning on the engine. I didn't see any smoke, but it was also dark outside.

 

can you find out where the oil is leaking from? may have to get under there and start wiping it down with a rag to clean it up and follow the oil trail back up.

but a quart of oil spilled under the car will look like someone spilled a gallon. its deceiving. so being a little low on reading the stick might be accurate but it also migh tbe acurate that it was pouring out.


was anything done recently? it'd be great if it was as easy as the drain plug came lose (sans damage).

 

I will get under the car later and see if I can figure it out. Would the drain plug coming undone account for the really loud knocking?

 

It could if u lost too much oil.

 

I'd say if the oil was lost before you started it that day the knocking might be the rods the squeeling might be the timing belt? Not sure if these things have belts or chains. Don't know to much about these other than my brother owns a 05 2.0 auto and the belt could make sense seeing you said it sounds like it's behind the alternator.

 

I definitely didn't lose the oil before staring it, I actually saw all the oil spilling out of the bottom of the car. I'm hoping its not the rods because I never ran out of oil and I read that's what causes them to break or whatever.

 

were you able to get under it and look for where its coming from? I would say jack it p, get some engine degreaser (a couple cans), some rags and start wiping it down the best you can. You can then start to track the leak back up the engine or flat out see where its coming from if its truly from the very bottom. If after you wipe it down you cant see a leak cause its not dripping, make sure its full of oil and try and start it to see if you can get it to squirt.


basically you have multiple issues. oil leaking is major. Strange sounds may or may not be major. You have start to diagnose it some place so start with why there was oil on the ground. From there we can try and figure out if the squealing was one thing or another. good luck !

 

Unfortunately I've been very busy working and haven't gotten the chance to check anything out. I will update when I get under and take a look! Thank you!