It's been a bad week for my beater car. 
Vehicle is a 1995 Corolla with the 1.6L and 153K miles.
About two weeks ago I changed the oil. I also forgot to put the oil cap back on. Drove it for about 1.5 weeks (mostly around town but a bit of freeway too) before last Weds I noticed the oil light flicker on my way home from work. I immediately pulled into the next parking lot, and found out I hadn't put the oil cap back on. It was almost empty, but the oil light was not on when I parked the car. All it had done was quickly flicker 20 seconds prior when I was driving. I jogged to a gas station, bought the needed 3 qt, filled, and drove home. Would this likely cause immediate permanent damage?
Yesterday I went to a self-service car wash and sprayed down the engine bay to try to get rid of most of the oil that had sprayed out of the uncapped hole. You cannot believe how much oil will sit in the hood support pieces. I did the spraying with the car on, and drove 10 mins home with no issues. I also tried to keep the spray as low pressure as possible.
This morning drove to get gas and then work with no issues. Filled gas at Costco across the street from work, turned car on, drove .25 mi to work, and parked at work for the day. Of note is that I have a 12.9 gal tank and filled 10.9 gal, so it was most of the tank.
Started car to come home and it sounds like it's a 3 cylinder or something. Super rough, especially with load on it. If it put it in neutral it gets a bit smoother. Has way reduced power. Luckily I live close to work so I just limped home and parked.
What's likely the cause? Running without oil, spraying down with water, or water in the gas? If it was either of the first 2 I don't understand why it suddenly happened when I left work. Shouldn't have I had issues driving to work in the morning?
How should I proceed? Is this sort of issue one that a mechanic can make a cheap diagnosis on? Or should I focus on bad gas from Costco and go talk to customer service tomorrow?
Vehicle is a 1995 Corolla with the 1.6L and 153K miles.About two weeks ago I changed the oil. I also forgot to put the oil cap back on. Drove it for about 1.5 weeks (mostly around town but a bit of freeway too) before last Weds I noticed the oil light flicker on my way home from work. I immediately pulled into the next parking lot, and found out I hadn't put the oil cap back on. It was almost empty, but the oil light was not on when I parked the car. All it had done was quickly flicker 20 seconds prior when I was driving. I jogged to a gas station, bought the needed 3 qt, filled, and drove home. Would this likely cause immediate permanent damage?
Yesterday I went to a self-service car wash and sprayed down the engine bay to try to get rid of most of the oil that had sprayed out of the uncapped hole. You cannot believe how much oil will sit in the hood support pieces. I did the spraying with the car on, and drove 10 mins home with no issues. I also tried to keep the spray as low pressure as possible.
This morning drove to get gas and then work with no issues. Filled gas at Costco across the street from work, turned car on, drove .25 mi to work, and parked at work for the day. Of note is that I have a 12.9 gal tank and filled 10.9 gal, so it was most of the tank.
Started car to come home and it sounds like it's a 3 cylinder or something. Super rough, especially with load on it. If it put it in neutral it gets a bit smoother. Has way reduced power. Luckily I live close to work so I just limped home and parked.
What's likely the cause? Running without oil, spraying down with water, or water in the gas? If it was either of the first 2 I don't understand why it suddenly happened when I left work. Shouldn't have I had issues driving to work in the morning?
How should I proceed? Is this sort of issue one that a mechanic can make a cheap diagnosis on? Or should I focus on bad gas from Costco and go talk to customer service tomorrow?
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