Where does oil go inside the engine?

phenomic · Dec 3, 2004

I have never seen the inside of a car engine so i was wondering if theres any pipes that the oil goes through or does it stay in a sump like in this animation?

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine3.htm

Is there just a little bit that is on the bottom or does the entire engine fill with oil?

I am pretty sure it goes to the lifters, is this true and if so, how does it get up there.

I was wondering what all gets lubricated and how everything goes about getting filtered, also, does fuel or anything get in the oil?

Kestas · Dec 3, 2004

Simplistically, oil first gets sucked from the bottom sump by the oil pump, then goes through the filter, then through a bunch of passages drilled into various areas of the engine block. From the passages, the pressurized oil lubricates the crank journals, cam journals, and pumps up the lifters. Everything else is lubricated by splash and mist, including the cylinder walls. The oil returns by gravity down to the sump.

If you need more information, your local library should have books that show more detail than your link provides.

oilguy3 · Dec 3, 2004

This question sounds so metaphysical...."If a tree falls in the woods...." "Where does all the oil go?"

moribundman · Dec 3, 2004

Also:

If a piston slaps in an engine and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

What is the sound of one piston slapping?

Answer: "The echo of the completely empty valley bears tidings heard from the soundless sound."

ekpolk · Dec 3, 2004

. . .and how many devils can dance on the head of a piston???

phenomic · Dec 3, 2004

Thanks Kestas, that was a good explaination thats all i needed to know.

All the rest of you guys need to grow up.

Gary Allan · Dec 3, 2004

Why?

(visions of Tom Hanks in "BIG" as Josh)
"I don't get it."

"What's fun about that?"

KW · Dec 3, 2004

That's odd. That motor has oil passages through the rods? Normally wrist pins are oiled by splash.

Drew99GT · Dec 3, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by KW:
That's odd. That motor has oil passages through the rods? Normally wrist pins are oiled by splash.

A lot of high performance motors have drilled rods for pressurized wrist pin oiling.

TallPaul · Dec 3, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by Drew99GT:
A lot of high performance motors have drilled rods for pressurized wrist pin oiling.

And the diagram also shows the oil from the wrist pin area going to the ring area. Is that for extra cylinder wall oiling?

I suppose wrist pins can get away with splash oiling since they don't move a great distance within the small end of the rod.

moribundman · Dec 3, 2004

quote:

All the rest of you guys need to grow up.

I thought your question had been answered? If you missed the philosophical implications of the topic, then I can only pity you.

RTexasF · Dec 3, 2004

Hey, come on folks! The question was legit. One tried to help and others made light of it. phenomic asked a good basic oil question and got ***** slapped. How about a little more thought into answering a sincere question?

moribundman · Dec 3, 2004

Kestas had answered the question. Beyond what Kestas told phenolic, the information would have been vehicle specific.

turbochem · Dec 3, 2004

quote:

One tried to help and others made light of it.

Made light of it?? What's wrong with that.

Well, it wasn't a matter of life or death....he wasn't asking about cancer.....

Although lack of a sense of humor is indeed a very serious thing......

RTexasF · Dec 3, 2004

Excuse my misspelling of phenolic previously, but what I said stands true. Let's not get so puffed in the chest by our engine and oil knowledge that we can't help someone new and trying to understand. You can see by my member # that I have been here a while. I seldom post unless I have something to offer or feel someone has been treated disrespectfully, this is one of those occassions.

Fun is fun but let's not discourage a new member that has decided to post in an effort to understand how things work.

RTexasF · Dec 3, 2004

OK, perhaps I took it too seriously. By the way a sense of humor is something I DON'T lack.

Always fighting for the newbie who wants to learn.

Senor Quack · Dec 3, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by RTexasF:
OK, perhaps I took it too seriously. By the way a sense of humor is something I DON'T lack.

Always fighting for the newbie who wants to learn.

After reading this thread, I still have questions as to how the oil completely gets distributed.

I hope some more posts get made, because the first one was the only reply to actually provide much of an answer, and I've been reading this forum for a year or so regularly and still don't know much about oil distribution in an engine. Noone's answered his question yet, about how much oil is left in the sump when an engine is running, much less when it is idling vs. when it is under load.

From this board, I know all sorts of arcane knowledge regarding car lubrication: about UOA's and VOA's of synth vs. dino, I know about oil filter efficiency vs. flow, I know about groups I-V and even about higher groups, about hydrocracking, oxidization, and shear, about how dino oil's wear evens out around 1-2,000 miles, about magical elves, but I still don't know a **** about just how the oil usually gets to rod bearings, much less the cylinder walls. I've read howstuffworks.com explanations, and it's just not enough as far as details.

If any experts would like to "lay it down" here, especially regarding common engine configurations, and especially constrasted against not-so-common configurations, I'd be ever-so-gracious and buy them a virtual beer.

[ December 04, 2004, 03:07 AM: Message edited by: Senor Quack ]

JAYCEE · Dec 3, 2004

Based of these illustrations, I don't see how over-filling a car engine with oil causes damage. It seeems like an extra quart or so would just provide extra cooling instead of foaming up.

But I really don't understand the whole oiling process either.

How does overfilling cause damage?

moribundman · Dec 3, 2004

The most likely issue caused by overfilling would be that oil gets drawn into the crankcase breather. Burning oil can easily ruin the cat and possibly the O2 sensors.

One quart over the full mark may well be fine, depending on the size of the sump. I see no issue overfilling by 15-20% of the nominal capacity. In a car with a small sump, 1 quart over may be excessive.

As for how much oil is in the (wet) sump with the engine running: enough oil to keep the oil pick-up tube of the oil pump assembly submerged -- at least under normal driving conditions.

dickwells · Dec 3, 2004

When the oil gets high enough that the rods beat it into a froth it does not lubricate the bearings properly and they fail.

Where does oil go inside the engine?

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