MX5 - No oil and knocking noise

Forgive me FCCUK’ers, I have sinned. I have made the cardinal sin, especially as an ex Coupe owner – I didn’t check the oil on my fiancés MX5 mk3, and now I have paid the price.
 
Yesterday, I was accelerating up a hill when it had a very brief drop in power, only a fraction of a second, and now it has a clicking/knocking noise which is more apparent on run down.
 
I thought it was a bearing, possibly water pump or alternator but suggested that she take it to the local garage for them to have a look. When the garage looked it had no oil, they put in some and as it was still not visible on the dipstick concluded that the crank was gone (this is only information relayed from my fiancé, I’ve yet to ring the garage).
 
They wouldn’t let her drive the car home and said that it will need a new engine, most likely sourced from ebay or scrap yard.
 
It still runs so I’m wondering if this sounds a little drastic to jump to replacing an engine? There were no warning lights for low oil pressure and I didn’t notice the oil pressure indicator as low, although I do not specifically remember looking at the gauge, it’s one of those things you notice if it’s not right.
 
Anyone have words of advice on what I should do? Preferably, I’d like to keep this as cheap as possible – we’ve just bought a house and are in the process of a total renovation.
 
All abuse appreciated and duly accepted.

If it was a Mk1 I would top it up with oil, then run it and see how it goes. Japs make pretty tough engines.

I don't see how the garage can not let her drive it home. It sounds like they are trying to frighten her into getting the work done there. There is a chance they are genuinely concerned that her driving it more will cause more damage, but seeing as they are suggesting a new engine then it wouldn't matter anyway.

My best advice though is to ask on the MX5Nutz forum as you'll probably get some good advice there. Could also try the MX5OC forum but it's a lot quieter.

I'm inclined to agree, chuck some cheap thick oil in it and see how it goes. If the engine's dead, it's dead. Hundreds of years ago I did this on a Mk3 Escort. Brimmed it with oil and it was fine, or the engine was the least of my worries!

PS Can you not blame the other half for not checking it?

I spoke to the garage and I may have been a bit abrupt with them, although I tried not to be, but they were pretty unhelpful.

The guy who looked at it put in 5 pints of oil and it didn't touch the dipstick. He's said the crank shaft has gone, possibly big end and small end bearings too, which I would tend to agree with.

What worries me is he said that you cannot repair the crank on the VVT engine.

I spoke to two MX5 specialists this afternoon, one is not doing any big jobs as he is building a house and the other is on leave for two weeks.

The noise apparently got a lot worse on the way to the garage so I'm dubious about filling it with oil and driving it back. If it does go completely, will it sieze the engine or cause more damage (assuming the engine doesn't need to be replaced)?

Thanks for the advice already, I've posted on MX5nutz and had a few responses but not updated since speaking to the garage.

I daren't mention her checking the oil, my life would be miserable for a very long time.

100's of years ago lol

i too did the same on a mk2 fiesta xr2,it was low and starting knocking,no dipstick reading so i filled it with 5 litres of cheap oil and it quietened down but still lived lol
If the engine has already gone,your more likely going to make it worse driving it unlubricated.Id bung some oil in it till you get a reading and see what happens,whats the worse it can do. It wont clog up if theres nothing in it,its bone dry as it is.

It could be noisy purely because there's still not enough oil in it, but TBH, it sounds like it's ready to be weighed in for its scrap value (which will be a good few quid for a complete engine)

Shouldn't be too difficult to find a decent lump from a breaker - I rather doubt if its worth rebuilding the existing lump, although the prices of MX5 engines appears to be scarily high, so maybe is an option worth investigating (apparently the crank can be reground)

Time for a 20VT MX5 conversion

Me too! I've loved that car, insured it on my 19th birthday. Mercury grey. Oh the noise it made when the oil got low...well it taught me a lesson about car maintenance

Can't believe how much they are selling for now.

I thought that too Nigel and whatmoretyres, a good glug of oil could sort it out, but I very much doubt it.

Engine prices are looking around the £2000 mark which is a lot more than I was expecting, especially as fitting would be additional. Approximately how much would a re-build cost?

having a special moment trying to edit the above post.

lol i tried to kill it but it wouldnt die,no water,no oil due to oil leak...it just carried on going ha till i scrapped it in the end lol mine was white but yeah prices are rocketing up now on classics. esp mk3 escorts.

I collected the car from the local garage yesterday. It still has a knocking noise despite being topped up with oil.

I've got it booked into Autotronix after the bank holiday for him to have a look at the engine with an intention to rebuild. Clive sounds very knowledgable and races MK3's so I'm confident he'll do a good job. I just hope that it's minimal damage.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Crikey 5 pints and still not on the stick .....

They only take 4/4.5 litres from memory????, and between the min and max on my Mk1 was just under a litre..
Is it not a cheaper option to buy another tatty car and pull the engine from it?.
Didnt see what year were talking about??

5 pints would have mean't it was empty - a mate of mine let his GF's run a bit empty and that rattled on cold start but was fine after. If it was so low on oil you'll be lucky if it's not destroyed some bearings as it would have been low for a while.

Where did the oil go? Is it burning it or a serious leak? I can't see a healthy car loosing ALL it's oil!

I suspect it had about 2 - 2.5 litres of oil remaining. It's about 5 litres to fill and I think 1 litre from bottom to top dip-stick marker, so adding 5 pints (roughly 2.5 litres) wouldn't have given a visible difference.

It's a 2005 mk3 (newest shape) MX5 so the cheapest options are still pretty pricey, as are the engines.

I'm not sure where the oil went to be honest. It doesn't leak as there is no mark under the car where it is parked, and I haven't noticed any blue smoke. When I used to check it regularily it used very little to no oil so I'm not sure. I guess it has just been burning more recently and as I haven't checked it in a while, it has got so low.

I think I have destroyed bearings Big_muzzie. I thing the big end(s?) have gone and potentially it requires a new crank shaft. It's with the garage now who will be re-building the engine with an estimated cost of £1500 which is obviously dependent on the level of damage.

Ouch!!

Still strange for an engine to use so much oil so would suggest some kind of an issue. Do you service it yourself? Could it have been under-filled by a garage at service time and therefore that be the issue?

It's about 10 months since it was serviced, I can't remember the last time I checked the levels, but it was within that time and it had sufficient oil.

I asked the garage and Clive, the owner and mechanic said at about the mileage my girlfriends is at, about 60k, they start to burn oil a bit.