ok I need help about a month ago I went to start my car on a cold afternoon and it sounded like a rod knocking, so I shut it off and after a quart it smoothed out and no knocking shoud it be ok or shoud I find a replacement engine. its a ecotec with 122,000miles and this car has never been a quart low I have always checked it? I have always had mobil 1 and a acdelco oil filter ever 3000m

ok, if it sounds ok now, run with it. but i assure you at 122k you really really need to change your timing chain. i just did mine at 119k and its pathetic how loose it was--sagging over half an inch from the top guide. if the chain goes, valves go with it.

i wouldn't worry too much about the low oil issue as long as there are no major sounds coming from it now. on a 3.1 in a lumina, i had an oil filter literally come apart while i was driving. i drove it 38 miles back home with no oil in it making a god-awful racket the whole way. i put another filter on, filled the oil up, and drove it another 93k miles before i sold it with 296k miles on it and it still ran just perfectly. but as with all of my vehicles, i use only mobil1 oil, and i go one weight thicker than suggested. i care more about longevity than economy : )