Canadian car died when I was in the states

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by humfrz

...Yes, I know my tires are bald, but they still hold air...

I think back in my misspent youth the only reason my tires still "held air" is because they had innertubes. There were full worn through spots on some of them before I would spend the $20 for a set of "new" retreads.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I think back in my misspent youth the only reason my tires still "held air" is because they had innertubes. There were full worn threw spots on some of them before I would spend the $20 for a set of "new" retreads.

Fer sure, fer sure.

Back in the day "wear bar" -


humfrz

[nico_rsx]

Originally Posted by j3rf

What? This is literally part of owning a car and maintaining it. When I fill up I pop my fuel door and my hood. Start fueling, move around and check oil level. I'm done checking oil way before my fuel stops being pumped. This is a poor excuse to not check your oil.

Ok, and for fun how many people do you see checking their oil while filling fuel? I don't remember seeing anyone doing this at a gas station in years. The fact is that at least 90% of car owners (not twins owner), never check their oil.


Checking your oil would almost never prevent an engine failure due to oil lost (if your engine doesn't burn oil). If an engine doesn't really burn oil, for the oil to drop to a dangerous level would mean that the car sudently start burning insane amount of oil and you would smell it or notice the smoke. Or it would need to leak. If it leaks you would see it on the ground were you park.
The only way is if the engine sudently loose all it's oil within minutes (major leak), and an oil check would not prevent this.

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by nico_rsx

Ok, and for fun how many people do you see checking their oil while filling fuel? I don't remember seeing anyone doing this at a gas station in years. The fact is that at least 90% of car owners (not twins owner), never check their oil.


Checking your oil would almost never prevent an engine failure due to oil lost (if your engine doesn't burn oil). If an engine doesn't really burn oil, for the oil to drop to a dangerous level would mean that the car sudently start burning insane amount of oil and you would smell it or notice the smoke. Or it would need to leak. If it leaks you would see it on the ground were you park.
The only way is if the engine sudently loose all it's oil within minutes (major leak), and an oil check would not prevent this.

Do you have data to back up that 90% claim? I don’t check the oil level at the gas station... but I check it regularly at home. Mistakes are sometimes made when changing oil and the correct amount of oil may not have been put in at the time of the oil change and you wouldn’t know that without checking the oil level. A slow leak from any number of places on the engine can lose a significant amount of oil over the course of several thousand miles without causing a large puddle of oil when parked... again you wouldn’t necessarily notice if you don’t check you oil level regularly. Also, do you really think that the same people that are too lazy to check their oil level are really even looking for drops of oil on the ground where they park or that they are watching for smoke from the exhaust???
Certain driving conditions can also cause an engine to burn more oil than it does in normal day to day driving. The OP has posted about doing burnouts (according to what somebody previously posted)... bouncing off of the rev limiter and heating up the thin 0w20 oil can certainly lead to some oil burning off. Extended high speed driving, which likely took place on the long trip from Canada to WV that the OP was on, can also burn more oil than usual and they would have noticed this if they were checking oil level at least a time or two on this road trip.
Of course, we don’t know the whole story and as is often the case, the OP has gone radio silent after people started asking questions.

[dhuang]

Originally Posted by nico_rsx

Ok, and for fun how many people do you see checking their oil while filling fuel?

I did it with my last 3 cars (BRZ, FR-S, and GTI).

With the BRZ at a gas station, I park on level ground, engine off, start pumping gas, wait 5 minutes, pull dipstick, wipe, dip, check.

Operating an engine hard will use oil, especially something as thin as 0w-20 -- with the twins, I easily wind out the engine and hit redline frequently during my commute.

[RZNT4R]

Oil level sensors exist on many vehicles. Even Subaru has used them before. I am against them because there is a trend of manufacturers removing the dipstick when they install one.

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by RZNT4R

Oil level sensors exist on many vehicles. Even Subaru has used them before. I am against them because there is a trend of manufacturers removing the dipstick when they install one.

Random somewhat related thought... in the couple of dozen vehicles I’ve owned, the 91 MR2 Turbo was the only one that had an oil level sensor. Coincidentally, it consumed more oil than any other car I’ve owned. The sensor was a bit wonky though, the oil level light would flash under heavy braking or acceleration sometimes due to the oil sloshing around in the pan... so I didn’t trust it and always checked the level on the dipstick anyway.

[RZNT4R]

That's why I don't like them, a sensor can lie, plunging a real stick into real oil doesn't, unless it's a Nissan VQ, in which case the dipstick lies all the time.

[Turbo]

Still waiting to hear whether he had the valve spring recall done recently.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by dank

I live in Canada and two weeks ago I was in West Virigina with my car,
Thanks.

Where did you go, @dank -

Do those ridge runners down in WV still have your car?

They are probably still trying to find out where the carburetor is -


humfrz

[RZNT4R]

Originally Posted by Turbo

Still waiting to hear whether he had the valve spring recall done recently.

It's unlikely that his car was involved in the recall to begin with. The mathematics of a BRZ with less than 20000km (12427 miles) in 2019 owned by a man who joined in early 18 who is not afraid to take a road trip with it, and brings up the idea of warranty coverage, makes it likely that this car is a 2018.

[nico_rsx]

Originally Posted by RZNT4R

That's why I don't like them, a sensor can lie, plunging a real stick into real oil doesn't, unless it's a Nissan VQ, in which case the dipstick lies all the time.

But a dipstick is not going to tell you if there is a catastrophic failure where your engine is emptying itself of oil while driving.

[jbsali]

Personally I would just have it towed to your nearest dealer in Canada. Almost all new cars have some type of RSA on them. High chance you would have to pay a decent part of it out of pocket depending on restrictions and distance.

If it was under $500 for a tow to Canada I would just take the hit now, take it to a Canadian Dealer and once determined if not negligence, file a claim with SoC and see if they will reimburse the cost of tow.

Also check and see if your RSA, work benefits or credit card offers trip interruptions. This may include tow. My card covers me for Tow up to 300km.