Quote Originally Posted by Simpsomt View Post
Crap - I just started it and am hearing a lot of noise. The dipstick says it's full of oil. Should I drain out the oil and start investigating? Any recommendations?
I hate to try to troubleshoot by email and remote control = I almost always never have all the information I would like.

A. If you have not changed the oil, by all means do so. Look at the oil you drain out. Is it all oil? Is there water in it? Does it have gas in it? Water and anti-freeze whip up into a frothy mess that mixes in the oil. Do you see any metal shavings in it? I'd change the filter as well.

B. Can you get an oil pressure gauge that you can connect into the plug where the oil sensor mounts? That will tell you if you have oil pressure or not. At idle even 10 PSI should be enough to prevent engine damage, but you should see 30 PSI for a good engine. Low pressure could be oil pump, or badly worn bearings internally.

This is starting to look like more than we can do as an email troubleshoot - you might need to get a mechanic to look it over. In an hour or so he can probably give you a good idea of what is going on in that engine,