Billman250

If you kept the rpms and load low, your engine may be fine. If you were to vtec with 1.75 quarts remaining, it would pull the remaining oil out of the pan, drainback from the top end would not keep up, and you would suck air and lose all pressure (instant spun bearing).

There is a layer/pool of oil that sits between the windage tray and the block, that lines up with the full mark on the dipstick. This layer coats one side of the stick, resulting in a false reading.

Check it in the morming (the false layer drains off) and check both sides.

I have checked the oil on every car in existence, and the S2000 is the only car I know that has this problem.

aumhra1496

This might be a noob question (I'm new to cars) If I spun a bearing would I know instantly

windhund116

May or may not have: tapping rod bearing noise, metal in oil, loss of oil pressure.

Only way to know for sure is to remove oil pan. Remove bearing caps and inspect bearing & crank surfaces.

bgoetz

It would show up in the oil, it would have to. The best sample would have been the one drained though

aumhra1496

I have the oil I drained but the container I drained it into held fuel at one point would that effect my test results again I'm new to cars

zeroptzero

It would cause the sample to read really high on fuel content , and dirt (silicon), so just ignore that data in the used oil sample report that you would receive. You are most interested in bearing wear numbers for lead and copper, and perhaps iron (cylinders, cams, rockers), and aluminum (pistons and journals etc.).

PdxPartsCo

Cross your fingers and pray. Typically with honda motors, once the oil light comes on, it's a ticking time bomb. Usually not instant

zeroptzero

That certainly can happen, and I am sure that is what happened in my case. Most cars are able to sustain a some wear, it just depends how you were driving the car at the time. There is a chance that it may not lead to issues if it happened under light load conditions and not during hard cornering. The best option is to have the oil sampled and check for high lead and copper readings. Hi lead or copper readings would be a tell-tale sign.

In my case even dropping the oil pan didn't reveal anything, so I buttoned it back up with a Mugen oil pan for extra insurance, and then the engine self-destructed a few miles after that.

One check you can do is to remove the vtec solenoid and check for metal particles on the screen, if you see metal particles then you definitely have issues below. But on the flip side, a clean screen does not mean things will be problem free in the future, it is an easy check though.

Car Analogy

So, either you damaged the rod bearings due to oil starvation, or you didn't. These oil sample tests everyone is discussing is one way to know.

If damage did occur, if you can find someone that knows how to do this, and most mechanics don't, you can polish the crank and replace the bearings, with the engine in the car. Not too expensive.

Vs waiting and seeing, which would be waiting to see if you get rod knock (a loud, knocking sound from deep inside the motor, most pronounced at idle). If you hear this, and stop motor immediately, it still may be possible to fix, but this means more damage has been done.

windhund116

What's the thought about running heavier weight oil (like 10W-40, 20W-50, or straight 30W) in cars that have this issue? Help dampen the noise and perhaps, reduce oil consumption.



Thanks!