This could have been bad

[ruf_round_edges]

Hey everyone,

I was driving around today and noticed a noise that sounded like a rock hit the undercarriage of my car. I didn't think anything of it but I noticed my oil pressure dropping like a January thermometer. I was only 3 blocks from home so I limped the car home. As I pulled into my lot, the car died so I pushed it into my spot. Turns out the drain plug came out of the pan. Have any of you EVER heard of this??? Did I do a lot of damage? Thanks for the advice

Will

 

[RBurroughs]

Chances are with the plug gone you lost all your oil very quickly, and if you kept driving without oil then yea, i think you did some damage, especially if the car died..
Hope it isnt too bad,
Ryan

 

[ruf_round_edges]

Anyone know of any ways to survey the damages?

 

[Goro21]

fill it back up with oil and see if it starts up.. thats the first thing i'd do

 

[dogpoop]

For starters, do an oil change. Start up the engine. Listen for unusual noises or unusual smoke (white, blue) from the exhaust. Be sure to keep an eye on the temp gauge as well.

 

[My96AWD]

i would drop the pan and check the bearings. they are prob toast. possibly the crank. cams, and head. if you don;t want to drop the pan you could pull the valve cover off and pop a cam cap and check it. pistons and rings shoud survive for a lil while without oil before they go. either way start saving for a rebuild, because it prob won't last long. or you could just pour oil into it and fire it up and listen for a drum solo. the lifters will tick for a whilebut once they stop you will be able to hear the motor.

 

[IMMORTALSPYDER]

For starters, do an oil change.

:laugh: :laugh:

 

[Thomas91169]

i think it is bad. i hope you didnt do what i think you did.l its possible you fried youre engine. no oil to lubricate parts and within a few minutes they become welded together from the heat of 2 metal parts hitting together at 4000rpm. if this happens its new motor time.

but hopefully it was just coincidence it died. fill er up with oil and turn her over and see whats up. if it doesnt turn over you got problems.

though 3 blocks of driving with no oil sounds very unlucky. my cousin has a gs also and he was driving and hit a speedbump and cracked his oil pan. he didnt know and we parked in a parking garage and came back from a movie 2 hours later to see oil all over the garage coming from his car. he still had the huevos to drive it 20 minutes on the freeway back home and no problems. got home, jb welded the pan and fine since. hopefully you are this lucky but i dont think so.

 

[ruf_round_edges]

First, I didn't let the RPM's go past 2grand once I noticed I had no oil pressure. Also, I made sure the turbo didn't boost at all. I refilled with oil and plugged the drain hole and started the motor. It ran fine, a little lifter tick but it went away after a minute of idling. Once I find a drain plug, I'll do a full test. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Will

 

[Gigaah]

i think it is bad. i hope you didnt do what i think you did.l its possible you fried youre engine. no oil to lubricate parts and within a few minutes they become welded together from the heat of 2 metal parts hitting together at 4000rpm. if this happens its new motor time.

but hopefully it was just coincidence it died. fill er up with oil and turn her over and see whats up. if it doesnt turn over you got problems.

though 3 blocks of driving with no oil sounds very unlucky. my cousin has a gs also and he was driving and hit a speedbump and cracked his oil pan. he didnt know and we parked in a parking garage and came back from a movie 2 hours later to see oil all over the garage coming from his car. he still had the huevos to drive it 20 minutes on the freeway back home and no problems. got home, jb welded the pan and fine since. hopefully you are this lucky but i dont think so.

It wasn't larger balls..but rather smaller brains that had him driving 20minutes on the freeway like that. I'm suprised as hell he made it that far.

 

[dogpoop]

Heat kills engines. Did you notice what happened to the temp gauge during your drive home? If the engine didn't overheat, there is a good possibility that your engine survived the unfortunate event.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

[IMMORTALSPYDER]

Heat does some of it, but it's the metal to metal contact with no lubrication is what will kill it. Especially at the camshafts and the bearings.

 

[mitsuclipsegsx]

i dont know if this is true but i heard w/ mobil 1 u can drive a car like a certain about of miles empty , casue i guess mobil one coats somen,idk

 

[pinknuggit]

an engine can last longer than one would normally think without oil.

 

[dogpoop]

Heat does some of it, but it's the metal to metal contact with no lubrication is what will kill it. Especially at the camshafts and the bearings.

Abrasives can contribute to the destruction of an engine but in general heat does far more catastrophic damage to automobile engines.

Yes, metal to metal contact causes damage. Why? Because friction causes excessive HEAT which in turn causes engine damage.

 

[spitfiresk0690]

an engine can last longer than one would normally think without oil.

Maybe so, but would"t you want to check the main bearings, journals, camshafts, and other major bearinngs and lubricated surfaces before you cause any more damage?

 

[ruf_round_edges]

Well, I finally got around to replacing the drain plug today. I changed the filter and put some Mobil1 Synthetic in and started it up. It started up right away with no problems. No lifter tick, no smoke, no wierd noises at all. After letting it warm up fully I drove it around a bit and ran fine. <Phew> Thanks everyone for the advice.

Will

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Alright for one the next time your car looses oil pressure STOP. If you are in the fast lane of a six lane highway you figure out how to safely get that motor off ASAP.
Second, who changed your oil last? If it was a home job well you live you learn but if a shop did it they should be responsible. If you have trouble it would almost be unfortunate you already filled it back up because you loose some of your proof but if you have any trouble and it was a shop that did the oil change I would try to get some reimbursement.

 

[pinknuggit]

Maybe so, but would"t you want to check the main bearings, journals, camshafts, and other major bearinngs and lubricated surfaces before you cause any more damage?

As long as you're not knocking, you should be able to run the motor. It won't be in good shape, but it will run. It's 100% situational, though.

 

[v8killerr1]

very lucky

 

[ruf_round_edges]

I was the one who changed my oil last. I don't think that I left the bolt loose, but it is definitely possible. I know one thing: it won't happen again as long as I am changing my own oil.

 

[hewhoisknot]

u r soooooooo lucky... my buddy unknowingly drove his rx7 without oil... needless to say the rotary is now just a nice paper weight

 

[Detail]

man you were so lucky. I had a simliar thing happen on my way to school one morning. I was all in it at the top of third when i see smoke out the back, i pull into a parking lot and the pressure starts to plummet. I thought I had toasted a motor, turns out the filter assembly(not the filter itself, but underneath the filter) had somehow gotten loose. Long story short: i got lucky too.

 

[leakyfaucet]

I was showing a buddy of mine how to change oil, but I let him do the work while I told him what to do. He did everything right, or so I thought. We drove his car about a mile before we noticed smoke pouring out the back. It looked like dust though. His oil light came on so we pulled over, popped the hood, and noticed tons of burning oil all over the exhaust manifold.

We figured out later that he had put an oil filter on it that had a nice little slit in it, causing oil to leak everwhere. It was under enough pressure to get on the manifold.

There's still a mile long trail of oil from where we changed it on the street to where we stopped.

 

[Mooley]

WOW... LUCKY MAN!

I hope all is good... Sorry to hi-jack the thread but where in the chicago land are you? I live up near Gurnee area but attend college at SIU in Carbondale.