Well other than the shutter upon starting I believe there is noise now coming from the engine once warm. Would you care to estimate the cost of exploratory surgery and subsequent repairs if the Rod or mains have been effected. Would it be worth it on a car of this age? It has approximately 135,000 miles but brakes are needed soon and CV boots are busted. Thanks for your input

 

I could estimate, but I'd be wrong; probably very wrong.

If there really is noise coming from the motor, then I'd be inclined to go buy a good low-mileage motor from a bone yard and just do a complete engine swap. The price of a used motor varies, but I've heard any number of folks posting that they'd found a good motor for under $500, sometimes well under.

At this point what you have to do is to weigh the cost of repairs against what you can get for your car with a sick motor and then apply that to the purchase of a replacement vehicle.

FWIW, I was faced with a similar situation a few years ago; I had a car well into its second hundred thousand miles that lost its transmission. The car was otherwise sound and was essentially worthless without a transmission, however, the flip side is that I needed a car regardless, and to buy something comparable would have cost easily double the cost of the new transmission. I bet on the new transmission; turned out to be a good bet, I drove it another 70,000 miles (with very little extra unscheduled maintenance) and then got decent value as a trade-in when time came for a new car.

 

oil pump is burnt and not functioning properly. Could have also done everything everyone above has said.

Get an oil pressure gauge and hook it to the sender unit see what presure you develop. should be 25psi after warm at idle. on a cold start-up should be around 75-100psi

 

How much oil did you add when the light first turned on?