How long will the average automobile engine run with no oil?

[emsvitil]

At least 3 miles, with no damage that I know of.... (just figured out mileage with waze)

Several years ago. 86 toyota truck with 22RE engine, going 70 on fwy, look at gauge.........not registering.

Brain not registering either. First thought is the gauge malfunctioned..... Go a little further, still no oil pressure.

Takes awhile, then I figured out that maybe I should get off fwy. Find a place to park on side of road, and check dipstick, nothing.


Call friend, tell him where I'm at and ask what direction do I start walking to get some oil....

I find out that my remote oil filter adapter on the engine broke off at the threads. Lucky for me, with the 22RE engine I could just move the remote filter back to the engine (same threads)


Engine never made any strange noises, and when I got oil back in it, the gauge read the same as before the oil loss...

[GRTfast]

Buddy had a early 80's V6 S10. Smoked like crazy and leaked badly as well. The engine had over 200k miles on it, and barely made enough power to hit highway speeds.

One weekend he tells me "Hey, my truck stopped smoking last week, and my oil pressure gauge is broken."

We head to his place and pull the drain plug, and a few teaspoons of oil run out. We refill it and the oil pressure comes back to where it always was, truck starts smoking again. I'm guessing he put 30-50 miles on it with no oil.

[MadBill]

I had a '65 Chevelle 6 cylinder that burned a quart every hundred miles if I tried to keep it at full on the stick. Oil mileage got better and better as I let the level drop, up to 600 if I waited for the light to come on to stay then threw in a quart (still off the stick). Only problem was it wouldn't prime the pump unless I backed up at a good clip, hit the brakes to slosh the oil to the rear and revved the engine. Presto: good for another 600 miles!

(Had another Chevy 6 that fogged the road behind pretty good until I realized it was all coming from one cylinder and the smoke stopped when the plug fouled. Replacing the plug made almost no difference to power, so I just grounded the wire.)

[stealth]

Anything with hydraulic lifters is going to have a VERY hard time running without oil....

[engineguyBill]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Very true ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Without oil under the plunger, the valves will not open much - if at all. Engine just will not run at all if the valves aren't opening . . . . .

[piston guy]

If you use PROLONG you can take off the oil pan altogether! (another late night TV ad)

[Schurkey]

Thousands of years ago, my trade-school had an end-of-school-year party.

A slant-six Mopar was dragged out of a junk yard. Oil drained. Started and idled at the beginning of the festivities. Bets were taken as to how long it would run.

By the end of the night, folks (the ones who weren't passed-out already) were wanting to go home. The Mopar still hadn't died.

They had to put a brick on the gas pedal or it would have idled long enough to empty the gas tank.

[RCJ]

Several years back I built a 71 Camaro as a daily driver.I had drove it for about a year.My wife would help work on it ,while changing the oil she installed the filter.After about 2 weeks the oil light comes on driving down the road.She had not tightend the filter enough.I drove it for anther 100,000 miles after that but it used oil from that day on.The lack of oil had to have burnt up the oil rings.

[Powertrip]

Knew a guy that would change his oil by going to the local K-mart to buy their cheapest oil filter. Dump the oil and change the filter right in the parking lot. Then drive 5 miles down the road with no oil to the gas station he worked at and fill the crankcase with free oil. Not sure how many times he got away with that cheap oil change.

Doesn't make any sense at all. Why didn't he just steal the filter from the gas station, to complete the oil change with the stolen oil??

The gas station he worked at didn't do oil changes, so no oil filters, and nowhere to dump the oil. They sold quarts of oil for people could top-off if needed.
I agree, though, doesn't make any sense at all.

[peejay]

Anything with hydraulic lifters is going to have a VERY hard time running without oil....

That Mopar 400 above? It sounded like some old woman wearing about 30 rings on her hand was drumming her fingers on a table.

But it didn't smoke at stoplights because it had no oil to leak onto the crossover...

[Bob Hollinshead]

Back in college during the 80's I picked up a second gen camaro with a knocking 305 in it,this was while I was home on break. I put two cans of STP oil treatment in it and drove it 7hours back to college. I had a freshly built 327 to put in the car so a few friends and I decided to see just how long the 305 would last with a brick on the gas and no oil. We cracked a beet and sat on the porch waiting for the destruction. That engine did go for at least 5 minutes before parts started coming apart and when it did finally blow up it took right rear corner of the block off along with the transmission bellhousing. The bad part is I needed that transmission!

[DCal]

If you use PROLONG you can take off the oil pan altogether! (another late night TV ad)

Randy were you working at JE when Prolong shot the info-mercial there? I'll have to hook up the VCR again. I poured about a pint of Prolong into my 305 sbc and it ran rough, pinged and after about 20 seconds it smoothed back out. But I put some in my lawn mower and it clearly picked up RPM and ran with less vibration. So I had conflicting results and played it safe by not using it again.

[Krooser]

Back in '81 my buddy ran my 351-c for 25 laps (1/4mile dirt) without oil after knocking the oil pump pick-up off in the heat race. We didn't have an operating oil pressure gauge after blowing out two of 'em with 100 lb.s of pressure when cold. We ran Amsoil and the bearing still looked good... just a little scuffing on the piston skirts. still have those parts to show folks...

Two years ago my 275,000 mile Dodge 5.2 ran 90 miles without oil when my buddy changed the oil for me... he did the first part (drain it) but forgot the last part (refill it). Again no idiot lite was working and the op gauge never did move... I was hauling a project race car trailer that I had purchased. I heard the engine making some funny noises so I checked the oil at a roadside stop... put in the two quarts I had with me... nothing on the stick. Drove to the next gas station and put in four more... then it was full. The truck still runs today... uses a little bit of oil but not a whole lot all things considered.

[piston guy]

No Dave that was about a year before I got there.

[n2xlr8n]

I drove my 69 Nova from Carlsbad back to Corona with the pump pickup lying in the bottom of the pan.

Pulled pan, reattached / filled it, took it back to Carlsbad the next weekend.

Two years later, the gypsies bought the entire car.