Engine Ran With No Oil

[mikeneal]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I bet it is fine, like everyone else has said the film of oil left on the parts saved the day. I have never timed it but I would estimate even with pre filling filter it takes ~5 seconds to build OP. So you just did 10 or so oil changes at once. . I know not really linear deal, but trying to make you feel better. If you are really worried run it till it gets hot with your fresh oil and send an oil sample to a lab, if you damaged the bearing surfaces that should show up in analysis. Might be worth the 25 bucks for piece of mind.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I'd put oil in it, then run it for 5 minutes, then pull the engine oil filter and open it with a proper filter cutter. Open the pleats and look for bearing material on the outside of the pleats (the filter filters from outside to inside).

Taking this extra 30 minute step may save you wiping out a crankshaft if there is a bearing compromised. Also might save you paddling.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I bet it is fine, like everyone else has said the film of oil left on the parts saved the day.

I never said that the oil film saved the day. what I said was that the oil would offer some protection as long as the engine was cold and under no load. Heat kills engines very quickly without proper lubrication. I personally would procede in one of 2 ways.

Conservative approach:
Take the motor apart and make sure there is no damage. If you find there is a problem then the time and $$ spent tearing into the engine will be nothing compared to method #2.
Worst case scenario here: there is nothing wrong with the motor.

Riskier method:
Just take the boat out. Have someone with another boat with you to tow you home if there is a problem. If there is even a funny noise stop this approach IMMEDIATELY and resort to the first approach.
Worst case scenario here: You completely destroy the motor in ways that could have been prevented with method #1.

With it being the end of the boating season for most of us method #1 might not be that bad of an option.

I personally think that method #2 will work out for you but know that there is risk here and the decision is yours to make.

 

[abj87]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I dont think you have a problem its probiblly going to be fine if the motor was in healty shape to begin with. You had oil in the bearings so its not like they were running dry. One min with out oil under load you might hurt somting but at idle its unlikey.

PLEASE dont go tearing your engine appart just run the thing, one or two things will happen. Most likily your it will be fine, or you might loose oil pressure and get some rod knocking. No way to know unless you run it.

That being said i ran my 35yr old AMC six cyl for 5 min with out oil (left the plug out during an oil change) and a have run it hard for 20K miles since then.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

How did you drain the oil? By the dipstick tube or by dropping the plug? If it was by the dipstick tube, my guess is you did not get it all out and had enough left to fill the lifters which is why there weren't clacking. If so you should be OK. If all the oil was drained, then the lifters would definitely be clacking.

Have a great day,

Rob.

Motor has built in oil extractor. Connects at the drain plug.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I went down to boat today and started up this morning. I left the engine hatch open to listen to hear for anything out of the ordinary. Sounded like it always did. O/P jumped up quickly to where is always and remained there for 20 minutes. I ran it at around 1400 RPM at times O/P never moved much in the downward direction, even at a slow RPM idle. I checked oil it was clear and gold. Its not been a very pleasant 24 hours but there's nothing I can do about it now. Except wait for spring. Oil analysis sounds interesting. Might try that.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I never said that the oil film saved the day. what I said was that the oil would offer some protection as long as the engine was cold and under no load. Heat kills engines very quickly without proper lubrication. I personally would procede in one of 2 ways.

Conservative approach:
Take the motor apart and make sure there is no damage. If you find there is a problem then the time and $$ spent tearing into the engine will be nothing compared to method #2. Worst case scenario here: there is nothing wrong with the motor.

Riskier method:
Just take the boat out. Have someone with another boat with you to tow you home if there is a problem. If there is even a funny noise stop this approach IMMEDIATELY and resort to the first approach.
Worst case scenario here: You completely destroy the motor in ways that could have been prevented with method #1.

With it being the end of the boating season for most of us method #1 might not be that bad of an option.

I personally think that method #2 will work out for you but know that there is risk here and the decision is yours to make.

That would be an interesting scenario.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I bet it is fine, like everyone else has said the film of oil left on the parts saved the day. I have never timed it but I would estimate even with pre filling filter it takes ~5 seconds to build OP. So you just did 10 or so oil changes at once. . I know not really linear deal, but trying to make you feel better. If you are really worried run it till it gets hot with your fresh oil and send an oil sample to a lab, if you damaged the bearing surfaces that should show up in analysis. Might be worth the 25 bucks for piece of mind.

This sounds like good plan. I am done with boat for the season so sea trial is not on option at this point. Where is a good place to send the oil?

 

[msd58]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

I think Amsoil offers a service for $27.85

 

[bolo78910]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

i bet my money nothing wrong with that engine, winterize the boat and go have a beer.

 

[littlebookworm]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Years ago, when my father owned an auto repair business in new York City, we had a customer who had bought a new Buick Riviera at a dealership in Brooklyn, at the other end of the Manhattan Bridge from where our shop was located, in lower Manhattan. After the first 1000 miles, he brought the car back to the dealership for a free oil change. While recrossing the bridge to return to Manhattean, the car suddenly stalled and steam came pouring out from under the hood. You guessed it. They forgot to put fresh oil into the engine. He had driven about 10 miles before the engine seized. I doubt that has happened to your engine. As has been stated, repeatedly, turning your engine over while fogging it probably did no real damage to your engine because it was not under load and the residual oil on the various surfaces would protect it for the short period of time it was running. Don't beat yourself over it; we all make mistakes. Just don't do it again or we won't be so kind next time! Enjoy the winter break while you count the days till launching. Hy

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Thanks to everyone who responded and will later resond I looked up that site about the oil analysis and for about 25 bucks I'll give it try and see what it reveals instead of dwelling on it. Thanks again for the great input. Keep it coming.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

After coming out of the service, i saved money for like 10 years.

I bought a 83' red trans am. Brand new. Ws6 package the real deal.

At 3000 miles i took it to the dealer where i bought my car. For a oil change.

They brought the car out to me with oil dripping out the bottom.

I quick pulled the jerk out the door, or window. And shut it down the motor.

Big puddle of oil on the floor.

The oil filter was the wrong one.

This dealer was right next door to my uncle who owned Ace glass on Kings Hiway in Bklyn.

My uncle persuaded the dealer to give me another, same car, right off the

transporter the next day as it came from the factory.

Never went in the dealer shop.

Me and my uncle went over the car in his shop.

My uncle did alot of work for the dealer, he had all the dealerships located around my uncles shop.

That was the last time i ever let anyone touch my stuff.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Oil sample probably wouldn't tell you anything useful. Unless you have a historical set of samples for that motor, you don't know what's normal.
Plus, the labs filter the used oil to approx. 20 microns before analysis. Bearing material from a 5 minute run wouldn't be making particles that small yet. You could ask for a particle count (centrifuge analysis counts larger chunks) for additional charge, but still, with no trend, you don't know what's normal for your motor.
Cutting the filter the only proactive step. The filter traps 50 micron and larger bits that can be seen with the naked eye.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

For what it is worth, I agree with Howard. All a lab analysis is going to do is cost you some money and give you a detailed analysis that will be more than likely meaningless to the "average Joe." It will also likely fail to give you what you are looking for - peace of mind. There is a saying - "Ignorance is bliss." Most of the time, that's a bad thing... but in this case. Since we are all "ignorant" - meaning there is no way to know what damage, if any was done... My suggestion lines up with what most are saying. Forget about it for the time being. Enjoy your winter. Chances are better than good that your engine is fine.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Not a boat. Not a Trans Am. But a motor anyway. I know a guy that had his Harley Davidson motorcycle serviced at a dealer. He left, rode the bike about 1/4 mile up the road to another business. They HD service department called him all frantic and told him not to start the bike. They had forgot to put the oil in. They offered him a new engine or a lifetime warranty on that engine. He took the warranty. That was about 8 years ago. The bike is still running just fine.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Knew a guy who put a new shortblock in a Saturn (car) about 4 years ago. Oil pump on a Saturn is in the timing cover, connects to the block with a couple of short tubes. He didn't put the tubes in. No oil pressure when it was cranked. Idled the car in the driveway (about 10 minutes) till it seized and quit while he tried to figure out why no oil pressure and no oil to oil filter. Let it cool down, it started back up and then did the same thing again after about another 10 minutes. Pulled the timing cover and put the tubes in, cranked right up again when it cooled off, has been running fine for 4 years and about 50,000 miles now.

Moral of the story is, I doubt if you did anything at all to your motor. Keep an eye on temp and oil pressure when you take it out and don't worry about it.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Oil sample probably wouldn't tell you anything useful. Unless you have a historical set of samples for that motor, you don't know what's normal.
Plus, the labs filter the used oil to approx. 20 microns before analysis. Bearing material from a 5 minute run wouldn't be making particles that small yet. You could ask for a particle count (centrifuge analysis counts larger chunks) for additional charge, but still, with no trend, you don't know what's normal for your motor.
Cutting the filter the only proactive step. The filter traps 50 micron and larger bits that can be seen with the naked eye.

Thanks for the input. Most likely I will not be pulling of filter and cutting open, we at least not till spring maybe. I don't have one of those fancy can openers you put in picture either. I wished I didn't dispose of the old oil to give baseline to work with.

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Knew a guy who put a new shortblock in a Saturn (car) about 4 years ago. Oil pump on a Saturn is in the timing cover, connects to the block with a couple of short tubes. He didn't put the tubes in. No oil pressure when it was cranked. Idled the car in the driveway (about 10 minutes) till it seized and quit while he tried to figure out why no oil pressure and no oil to oil filter. Let it cool down, it started back up and then did the same thing again after about another 10 minutes. Pulled the timing cover and put the tubes in, cranked right up again when it cooled off, has been running fine for 4 years and about 50,000 miles now.

Moral of the story is, I doubt if you did anything at all to your motor. Keep an eye on temp and oil pressure when you take it out and don't worry about it.

WOW thats encouraging!

 

[humbled1]

Re: Engine Ran With No Oil

Not a boat. Not a Trans Am. But a motor anyway. I know a guy that had his Harley Davidson motorcycle serviced at a dealer. He left, rode the bike about 1/4 mile up the road to another business. They HD service department called him all frantic and told him not to start the bike. They had forgot to put the oil in. They offered him a new engine or a lifetime warranty on that engine. He took the warranty. That was about 8 years ago. The bike is still running just fine.

Great Story! Thanks.