Running on no oil...

El Gringo

El Gringo

El Gringo

Soldato
Joined
6 May 2003
Posts
4,807
Location
Aberdeen/London
Yeah, bit of a whoopsie, this happened once before. We own a 2001 body Toyota Corolla 1.6 VVTI and took it to Switzerland over December last. Checked the oil level before leaving but after getting there and having come back halfway we checked again to see what the hell the cause of the clunking coming from the engine was and found out that the oil was pretty far below the minimum level. We refilled and it's been working fine since then.
I've had it up in Scotland for the past two months and drove down with it on Saturday. I checked the level after getting back to find... nothing. So I checked again. Nothing appeared on the dipstick but a faint stain on the last few mm. 1.5 litres later and it's full, and no apparent problems with driving so far.

My question is that is it causing a serious, irreversible problem? What performance changes might i notice? It seems a bit less powerful, but that might just be me...
Thanks
 
No oiling tends to destroy the surface of the cylinder bores very quickly. Any drop in performance is likely to be caused primarily by increased blow-by, I reckon.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
No oiling tends to destroy the surface of the cylinder bores very quickly. Any drop in performance is likely to be caused primarily by increased blow-by, I reckon.
Click to expand...
And far more serious than the bores, it has the same effect on the crank.
 
Lopéz said:
And far more serious than the bores, it has the same effect on the crank.
Click to expand...
And the cam(s), rockers, and pretty much everything else that moves. I just mentioned the bored becasue that's where he would feel the first damage. Gouged main journals will present problems further down the road.
 
ironically, the damage caused by lack of oil normally leads to increased oil consumption.
 
I tend to consider things in the order they might actually force the car to grind to a halt at the roadside :p

You can nurse knackered rings and bores for years, same with cams. Dropped valves are harder to live with, but bottom end failure ends in tears sooner rather than later even if you treat it with kid gloves because you just can't maintain oil pressure on even the gentlest of bends.

I'm such a ***** :D
 
So... Essentially I may have done huge amounts of irreversible damage to my engine... Great.
Might it continue to deteriorate if I keep the oil topped up, or should it remain at the same level?
Also, how much oil should I be looking to use? I don't really have a benchmark
 
Also running without oil would cause a lot of friction i presume leading to heat, this could lead to HGF?
 
knocking noise = damage already done.

an engine will run low on oil and damage its bearings causing knocking, the owner will top up with oil which fills that gap a bit and kills the noise. the owner thinks 'alls well now, no harm done' but the gap, rough surfaces and swarf are still there eating away.

low oil level can cause excessive heat to the pistons, weakening/warping them, but in itself wont effect the HG, by that point the engine would be siezed/broken anyway.
 
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