Hello all, this is my first post to the site. I acquired an 88 supra turbo about 2 months ago for $1000, spent another $1500 or so getting the engine running, new clutch, nice tires, etc. Ran great since, then a few days ago coming home the engine started making grinding noises a few blocks from my house and I noticed the oil pressure had fallen to about zero. After I got home (only drove it for about one more minute after the noise started) I check the oil and it's bone dry! Now, this is certainly my fault as I havent checked the oil in a few weeks, but my car doesn't smoke and never has any oil drips, I always check for puddles, so I don't understand how it could have been completely empty. Refilled the oil with good synthetic and almost all of the noise went away immediately, but there is now a pretty loud tapping coming from the head that seems to come on a bit over 2000 rpm, it increases speed with the engine, but it only seems to tap when the throttle is open (as soon as I let off the noise stops even when the revs are still up). There does not seem to be any power loss or hesitation, just the noise, and it's holding the oil fine now.
So I guess I have two questions:
1. Did the car really just consume that much oil that quickly? Does anyone else's supra do this too?
2. (The Important Question) What should I do about this tapping? Will it cause the engine more damage to run with it? Do I need a mechanic to look at it? Is it probably the valves?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
So I guess I have two questions:
1. Did the car really just consume that much oil that quickly? Does anyone else's supra do this too?
2. (The Important Question) What should I do about this tapping? Will it cause the engine more damage to run with it? Do I need a mechanic to look at it? Is it probably the valves?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.