Hi--my girlfriend picked up a 240 in Winston Salem on friday with the intent of driving it to NYC today.

She drove it a few hundred miles and the oil light started flickering, but then went off. Then it came on solidly and she stopped within a quarter mile--it was indeed low, and she topped it up. Well, overfilled it actually, by 1.25 the length of the hashmark section above where the hashmark section ends (i think that's about 1.25").

On she went, and it puffed out some smoke at one point or another in the next sixty or so miles. She fessed up to overfilling it and stopped at a walmart where they drained out the excess oil (she didn't check the oil after, but they said they did do it. They didn't charge her anything, but she's a sweety so you'd think they would have drained it and filled it up properly).

Somewhere up the road after walmart, with the oil supposedly at the correct level, the car quit running. She said it made a funny sound, and when she tried to start it it sounded like a pile of bolts.

Now the car is in charlottesville--she's going to take it to a mechanic tomorrow morning, so any advice before that would be much appreciated.

little old me figures that the crank frothed the oil to the point where it didn't lube the bearings properly and some engine bearings went bad.
What do you all reckon is currently wrong with it, and is it possible to fix without getting a new engine (like to put in new main bearings from the bottom and new rings from the top?).

argh, such a pity, it looked like a beautiful car.

Here's a picture of it

 

An oil light doesn't indicate the amount of oil in the system, it merely comes on when the p.s.i. drops to 7 p.s.i. I don't think being overfilled killed the car. Either Wal-Mart drained too much or, more likely, the engine was on its last legs from the get go. It is possible to replace bearings and oil pump w/o pulling the motor. Be sure to replace the oil tube seals.

 

Great to know. So, you think it's possibly salvageable then? And what are oil tube seals? Any other things she should ask the mechanics to check (there meant to be good volvo guys, but I'd like to give her some ammo).

 

The 2 rubber seals on each end of the oil pump delivery pipe. They fail more often than the pump itself. Is it salvageable? Sure...at some price. It may be cheaper to throw a used engine in it though. Depends on what all is hurt.