minimum oil volumn needed to maintain oil pressure
 

A scary tale. I drove my 2010 4Runner, 4.0 V6 about 150 miles before realizing that there was a serious oil leak. Turned out the oil filter cap o-ring blew out and it was spewing oil under and out the back. The oil light never came on. When I figured it out enough to refill, it took about 5 quarts. That would suggest that 1 1/2 quarts is enough to maintain oil pressure at highway speeds. Any thoughts on long term consequences to the motor, or whatever?

Thanks

With good oil pressure - I'd guess no damage as long as you didn't overheat or something along those lines.

Eeek
 

That is scary. Hard to say for certain. You might be well served to have an oil analysis done by Blackstone labs (about $30) or the like to see if you have any bearing material or other metals floating around. That would tell you if incurred some damage.

If you didn't go over-temp and didn't get an oil light, you might be ok. Most engines require around 10 psi/1000 RPM, and will live their life just fine. Oil light comes on below 10 psi, and something is already really wrong and heading for catastrophic failure ASAP.

1.5 quarts is worrisome, but if the suction tube was kept covered up and it didn't suck air, and you don't have any loud ticking noises you didn't notice before, you might be in the clear.

Thanks
 

Thanks. That was the sort of reply I was hoping for. I'll certainly be tuned in to odd engine noises.

The above is why I prefer to do all my own oil and filter changes. The spin on filters seemed much easier IMO. Hope your motor is ok.

If there was truly only 1.5 quarts in the motor that would be a little worrisome to me. Think about how much oil is suppended in the motor while running. That would leave very little in the pan to cover the pickup tube. How high did you fill the oil up to on the dipstick? Mine with the proper amount of oil is between the 2 marks. If you went all the way to the top mark you may have had more oil in the motor then you thought. Really though as long a the pressure stayed up you should be fine.


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A lot of factors here...that can exacerbate the issue through windage and aeration of the oil.

rpm range the engine experienced. Lower being better.
How much hard cornering and incline and declines the engine experienced.
How much was stuck in the engine when you checked it.

how far into the little sump does the oil pick up screen sit. Most OEMs really cram them close to the pan.


If the pressure switch never triggered a light then you probably didn't have a total loss of pressure. However I would expect a bit of aeration of the oil at that loss of oil.

My recommendation is to do an oil change and inspect the filter canister for any bearing chunks.

Maybe even slice open the filter for a look.


Please report back.

Assuming we are speaking of the canister style oil filter housing.

The large o-ring that come with a new filter...

If that o-ring is not seated properly in the oil filter housing grove, oil will poor out at a surprising rate.

Whenever I do an oil change on my wife's '14 4R, I always fire up the motor and crawl underneath immediately and check for leaks. After that checks out, I reinstall skid plate/etc.

TO OP: I agree with above statements: sounds like maybe are the lucky one and no engine damage have occurred… change the oil, check the filter media and keep an eye\ear on it.

Question: did you change your own oil or it was a dealer \oil changing place? I would venture to say O-ring was not installed correctly (was not in the oil filter housing grove) causing it to blew out.

any updates here?