That shop "tech" would be much better off working at a fast-food restaurant than a garage.
"Now, was any damage done to the engine during the 7 seconds it ran with no oil or filter?"
When you add up all the dry-start cycles of an engine over a typical 5 year car ownership, we're talkin' many minutes of cumulative no-lube operation. I once knew a guy who intentionally tried to seize a Datsun engine (long story) -- I don't remember the details, but it required at least 15 minutes of running with a drained sump before it died. When I was a dumb 16 yr old, changing the oil on my mom's Mercury, I once managed to inadverdently back it off the ramps before refilling it with oil, maybe about 10-15 seconds of operation. No harm as far as I could tell, and it still didn't burn much oil when we sold it years later.
"Now, was any damage done to the engine during the 7 seconds it ran with no oil or filter?"
When you add up all the dry-start cycles of an engine over a typical 5 year car ownership, we're talkin' many minutes of cumulative no-lube operation. I once knew a guy who intentionally tried to seize a Datsun engine (long story) -- I don't remember the details, but it required at least 15 minutes of running with a drained sump before it died. When I was a dumb 16 yr old, changing the oil on my mom's Mercury, I once managed to inadverdently back it off the ramps before refilling it with oil, maybe about 10-15 seconds of operation. No harm as far as I could tell, and it still didn't burn much oil when we sold it years later.
