Low Oil Pressure or a Leak? Don't Drive It to the Shop

Get off the road as soon as it is safe and shut the engine off. Low oil pressure means parts are not being lubricated, and damage happens fast. Once the engine cools, check the dipstick. If the oil is very low, adding some may turn the light off, but whatever caused the loss still needs a shop. If the light stays on with oil at the full mark, do not restart the engine.

If oil poured out on the road, do not drive the car any farther, even back to that business. Call them first; some will arrange the tow and an inspection themselves. Otherwise we can take the car to the shop that did the work or to another of your choosing. Photograph the leak and the spot where the car stopped, and hold on to your receipt.

It can, especially on engines that already burn a little oil. Old oil thickens into sludge that blocks the small passages feeding the top of the engine, and timing chains and turbochargers are particularly sensitive to it. A few hundred miles past due is rarely a crisis. Skipping service for a year or more is how bearings and camshafts end up failing.

No. Roadside, we handle dead batteries, lockouts, spare-tire swaps and cars that ran out of gas. Oil and fluid service is shop work. If the car isn't safe to drive, we tow it to your own garage or an independent partner, which handles the service and puts a quote in writing before starting. You can also send it to a quick-lube place you already use.

The towing charge comes from our published card: a hook-up fee, a per-mile charge for the drive out from our yard and a rate for each loaded mile, plus any late-night, weekend or highway surcharge. See rates for the actual numbers. The shop sets its own price for the leak repair and will give you a written estimate before doing it.

Usually not. A few drops from an aging valve cover or oil pan gasket can be watched and fixed at your next appointment, as long as you keep checking the dipstick. The time to tow is when the drip becomes a stream, the level falls quickly between checks, or a warning light or new noise shows up alongside it.

Coolant is the big one: let it run low and the engine overheats. Transmission fluid that leaks away can leave the car unable to move, and low power steering fluid makes steering heavy and noisy. Brake fluid is the most serious, since a leak there reduces stopping power. A shop can check all of them during an oil change, which takes a few extra minutes and can head off a breakdown.