So I bought a car ad a lien sale, from a local tow yard. 1998 montero sport ES. From the first time I looked at it I noticed greyish colored smoke coming out of the exhaust, but my stepdad said don't worry about it, it's nothing... So I bought it. Well I've done a full tune up aside from new gear oil, fuel filter, and distributor cap- cause I ran out of money. Well, today I drove from San Diego to big bear and back (300 miles round trip). Halfway into my trip I noticed my montero making a clicking noise from under the hood. It sounded as If it were an exhaust leak, bad belt, or something stuck in the fan- but I couldn't find any of those... Stupid me; I forgot to check the oil.

So anyways I drive the 150 miles back home with the obnoxious clicking. My car didnt overheat once, and all seemed well until I was just nearly home and my oil light started coming on Intermittently. First it would flash every minute or two, then every 30 secs, then eventually every 5-10 seconds. I drove it for maybe 2 minutes after the first time the oil light flashed on, and made it home. Checked dipstick, and nothing left. Bone dry. I realize I'm an idiot for not checking earlier, but here are my questions:

1) why is my car burning oil? Because its old? It has 180k miles. I check for leaks constantly since I just bought the car on Saturday- haven't found a single drop of oil. I know it's burning it because the car smokes out of the tailpipe if you start it when it's cold, and it smells like oil or fuel.

2) If the car was clicking for 150 miles, did I f**k up? Or would it still survive with low oil? So long as there was at least a little in there? How do I go about making sure everything is still intact? Where do I start? What all do I need to check?

I don't know what to do! Help!

 

clicking most likely no oil pressure to the tappets. In itself, not destructive.
If your oil pump is gone. Bugger. Rebuild.
If not, youre looking at rings.
Oil wouldnt be in pan immediately the engine off.
Top it up, do a compression test.

 

Akzle is right about the tappets. Mitsu refers to them as Valve Lash Adjusters (VLA) and they will start making a worrysome knocking noise when oil pressure/level drops. Not as bad as it sounds, but even after you top off the oil (AND check to make sure you have oil pressure) the VLA's will probably still make that noise as they are not designed to refill themselves. For that, you'll need to follow this easy procedure:

Mitsubishi Tech - Minute Mod: The 5 Minute Lifter Noise Fix

Good luck!