How long can you run a car with no oil?

[CassTyson]

If this has been asked and answered, forgive me and link to the answer, please.

But after having an oil change yesterday on my 2014 Town & Country (40k mikes), we hit the road for a 2-1/2 hour drive. Halfway there, going 70 or so on the freeway, the car went into limp mode and the oil light and check engine light went on. We limped to a gas station and checked the oil. The dipstick was dry.

I added 4 qts and that put it just at the safe zone on the dipstick. We then limped to a garage, and the mechanic said it was leaking around the oil filter cap. He replaced the filter and the o-ring under the cap, then topped it off with not quite another quart.

A friend tells me if you drive a car with no oil pressure more than a couple of miles, the crankshaft bearings are most likely shot and we're looking at major engine work.

True? Not true? How to know? Recommendations?

TIA

 

[dlundblad]

I'm assuming you had it "professionally" done?

 

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I'm assuming you had it "professionally" done?


+1

who did the change?

 

[Neely97]

Some years back a gent at work drove his F250 with the 351 gas engine to work through small town traffic with zero oil pressure ,oil pump had stopped working . maybe 2 miles one way.
It was an old truck and he did not want to do the repair.
Drove it for months then sold it.
So he had oil in the sump just no pressure.
I was amazed to say the least .

 

[rslifkin]

If it truly ran dry and had no oil pressure at all, you toasted the bearings after a matter of seconds, even if it still ran afterwards.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: CassTyson
the car went into limp mode and the oil light and check engine light went on. We limped to a gas station and checked the oil. The dipstick was dry.


it's a common sense/common knowledge that you DON'T drive at all with the zero oil pressure light.

it takes usually short minutes and sometimes seconds to destroy the engine under heavy load with no oil. not sure how "limping" helped here though.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

After saving a Jeep from the junkyard this spring, it's 2nd run the oil pump pickup plugged up with sludge. It ran 10 minutes with no oil pressure - lifters and bottom end knocking.

After cleaning all the sludge out of it, it was fine. It took a few minutes for the lifters to pump back up and quiet down but it was fine.

 

[jmaster]

quite a while according to this video. next time the oil is changed inspect the drained oil for debris, or better yet drop the pan and inspect the bearings.

car run with no oil

 

[aquariuscsm]

There's a guy on one of the Nissan forums that does this technique everytime he changes the oil in his Z32. He drains all the oil,starts his engine with NO oil in it and idles it for a few minutes to (get all the old oil out),fills it back up,then goes on his way. Good God!

 

[Quattro Pete]

The question is: what oil was in there? Was it Castrol Magnatec with clinging molecules?

 

[901Memphis]

How far was the "limp to the gas station"? That's an awfully new vehicle to have to worry about the engine not lasting, but it's possible to run a little while with low oil pressure.

 

[DemoFly]

Our 1NZFE in a Toyota Echo drove about 15 miles.

Someone put the wrong oil filter on it and it shot it off almost instantly and my sister drove around with the oil light on. She didn't call about it until she had got to work. The situation wasn't worth pulling over for in her eyes.

Filled it up with 4 quarts and put a filter on it and the motor is still in use with about 220k on it now.

 

[cptbarkey]

If you are still driving it today and it doesnt sound like a rock tumbler, you are probably fine. good luck.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly
Our 1NZFE in a Toyota Echo drove about 15 miles.

Someone put the wrong oil filter on it and it shot it off almost instantly and my sister drove around with the oil light on. She didn't call about it until she had got to work. The situation wasn't worth pulling over for in her eyes.

Filled it up with 4 quarts and put a filter on it and the motor is still in use with about 220k on it now.

Wow, that is impressive. I had maybe 5 second of low oil pressure in my old Neon at WO throttle. I was fooling around with a G-tech pro and I had just changed the oil and probably over filled it nearly a quart, so I think it was foaming up the oil with the crank at high rpms. Anyways I shut it down right away, drove home normally and drained a bit and it runs fine till this day.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: CassTyson
I added 4 qts and that put it just at the safe zone on the dipstick. We then limped to a garage, and the mechanic said it was leaking around the oil filter cap. He replaced the filter and the o-ring under the cap, then topped it off with not quite another quart.


What is the oil filter cap? Do you mean the oil filler cap? If so, it leaked nearly five quarts out the fill?? That had to make a horrendous mess under the hood, right? And he replaced the o-ring because it was missing?

If it were me I really wouldn't care how long I could or couldn't drive with no oil. If the shop neglected to notice the filler cap o-ring was missing, then they should be on the hook for a new or rebuilt engine regardless of whether it seems damaged now or not. Long-term that can't be good for the engine internals and this is a relatively new vehicle.

 

[AirgunSavant]

I'm guessing you may get lucky.
Like someone here said, if it ain't sounding like a box of rocks well.......

Back in the 80's a guy on Halloween night tried to blow a early 60's ragged out station wagon. He gave up after two weeks with no oil and put oil back in it and sold it to his buddy which was in on the experiment. It ran for a few more years.

 

[NHGUY]

Slick 50 or Duralube you could drive for many miles.....LOL

 

[Dyusik]

Guy I know was getting ready to scrap a cherokee with the 4.0, drained all the fluids and fired her up. He said it took almost 20min to seize the engine at redline.

 

[390pi]

Then again, look at all those Youtube videos when they were destroying those engines in that Cash for Clunkers mess; many of those 302/351/318/360/305/350 engines were not quick to seize up.

 

[mmavet]

Someone don't like you.
Buy a gun for self defense.