Kwando

today on the way home from work as i was approaching an intersection i saw the oil light come on. immediately i looked up at the oil pressure gague and 0 psi!

i immediately turned off the car, turned to a side road and was in the process of turning into a parking lot. at the same time this lady was leaving the parking lot but she left the drive in the center so i had to stop.

1/2 the car was sticking out, so i started the car for less than 5 secons to move it into a parking spot.

i get out and see oil everywhere! i can see the trail of oil i left behind. oil was coming from the front of the car, so i immediately thought oil cooler.

the car is turbo charged and i had a oil cooler running from the oil filter relocation. my friend stopped by with some tools and i removed the a/c access cover and sure enough the line had ripped off the fitting.

my question did i harm anything? i'm worried that the second start i might have damaged something. i was using mobile 1 synethic oil. car is at my mechanics shop.

Any help/input is appreciated.

Carbon Blue

I would think the car would most likely be just fine because once you noticed it you pulled over immediately. Even after the second startup I would still think there would be atleast a tiny film on of oil on the walls of the cylinder to lubricate after startup. You would be in deep water if you were running the car hard while this was happening.

Kwando

the rpms never got past 2500 because i was slowing down for the intersection...

nutar

I think your o.k. good thing you noticed

jzz30

you can only really tell if you drop the pan and look at the bearings...

SpitfireS

Carbon Blue Posted on Sep 29 2006, 06:26 AM

IMO it is more important for the crankshaft bearings to have oil pressure & flow.

jzz30 Posted on Sep 29 2006, 09:57 AM

snakeeater

Get a used oil analysis at a lab like Blackstone. I bet you at least scraped the babbit material off of the main bearings. The outer layer is soft enough that you can wipe it off with a paper towel. The bearing is made of different layers of metals. THe UOA will tell you how deep the crank has eaten into these layers.

Ek9

I've run a car with no oil pressure because I had to. Later on, I took off the pan and checked all the bearings and they were all still in tolerance. I think you should fix it, put oil in it and drive it. Do the analysis of the oil to be on the safe side.

It's either damaged or it isn't. You might have shaved 20K off the engine's life expectancy but, that doesn't mean it won't run fine for a good long time.

You may want to put money aside for a shortblock. If you sell it before you need one then you've got $2200 more to put towards your next car.

snakeeater

I did not mean to sound alarmist. She is probably OK. Every cold start spins the crank on bearings for a few seconds (at low RPM) until oil pressure is generated. So think of this as doing a couple thousand more cold starts. This assumes RPMs and load were indeed kept low during the incident.

The point is that if you did hurt her, you want to know about it now and for sure. If she's slightly worn at the bearings, no problem. Oil pressure drops as bearing clearances open up. If you had a previous oil pressure reading to compare to it would help.

I would do an oil change and keep an eye open for metal particles on the magnetic drain plug. Don't dispose of all the used oil. Send a sample of used oil to a UOA lab. Keep a sample of the old oil (at least hang on to a quart) for insurance.

Listen closely to engine at first startup after oil change for grinding noise. If no noise, check oil pressure. If oil pressure is OK, drive it. If pressure is low, you will need to make a decision as to whether it is safe to drive or not. That might mean garaging her until UOA lab result is back. Or getting to the bottom of the low oil pressure. If you drive her, keep a close eye on the oil level.

After the lab report gets back to you, dispose of the used oil.

dhayner

You've got an oil pressure gauge - after you fix the leak and run the engine, are the oil pressures normal? If so, don't worry. If not, worry.