I made a mistake...

[Cwright26]

Twenty years working on small and large engines alike and I finally made a fatal error tonight. It’s been a rough few weeks, so I’m not surprised. I changed the oil on my 5th gen and did my usual walk around to check for leaks after I was done. You can probably see where this is going. I f***ed up. Hard. Ran it for a solid minute and pulled it out of the shop without oil. The oil light came on as I was parking and I knew immediately what I had done. I’m angry, disappointed, and embarrassed. I didn’t hear any additional noise before/after I remembered to add the oil. Engine has 100k on it today. What should we set the over/under at before it goes boom? I plan to change the oil again first thing in the morning for a status check on how bad the shrapnel is...

Boys and girls always make sure you are in the right frame of mind while working on something.

 

[thennen]

You heard no additional noise? Any possibility you escaped without major damage? Does it sound ok now with oil in it?

 

[Cwright26]

Correct. No additional noise during that period and the engine sounds the same as it did before the oil change. I’m not naive enough to believe I escaped any damage, but my fingers are crossed that it won’t go boom anytime soon. 10/10 don’t recommend.

 

[ads2539]

If the engine was just idling for the one minute, you might be ok. It sounds like you caught the problem pretty quickly. My fingers are crossed for you.

A long, long time ago, I was a passenger in a car that must have run out of oil. I think we went a mile or more at high altitude (5,000 ft) on the highway at 2,000+ rpms before the engine had a catastrophic failure. As the engine was losing power, the driver would accelerate to get back up to speed. Not smart. I was too young to know what was happening.

 

[Cwright26]

If the engine was just idling for the one minute, you might be ok. It sounds like you caught the problem pretty quickly. My fingers are crossed for you.

A long, long time ago, I was a passenger in a car that must have run out of oil. I think we went a mile or more at high altitude (5,000 ft) on the highway at 2,000+ rpms before the engine had a catastrophic failure. As the engine was losing power, the driver would accelerate to get back up to speed. Not smart. I was too young to know what was happening.

I appreciate it. I have a lot of trust in Amsoil and Mobil 1 (what I’ve been running as of late) even if it’s past intended shelf life. Those two brands carried my engine program when I came through the motocross scene on both ATVs and dirt bikes. A few seconds of run time wouldn’t bother me too much, I’d still feel like an idiot but wouldn’t be hypothesizing when the engine’s going to let go like I am now. I’ll keep you guys posted. I’m surprised it’s made it this far.

 

[thennen]

Correct. No additional noise during that period and the engine sounds the same as it did before the oil change. I’m not naive enough to believe I escaped any damage, but my fingers are crossed that it won’t go boom anytime soon. 10/10 don’t recommend.

Although I've never been down that road, my recommendation would be to keep fresh oil in it and monitor. Maybe disassemble the next two or three filters and run a magnet all over the insides and see what metal shows up. Heck, even do that to the filter you just removed to get a reference for 'normal'. Best wishes - maybe you'll have a great story to tell 100,000 miles from now

 

[<<<<]

60 seconds run with just residual oil is fine (don't forget that you have about 0.5 quart of oil after full drain left in the engine). Put 6.6 quarts in and don't worry about a thing.

 

[rdruss]

You may have started to wipe a main bearing or two. I would change oil again soon and cut the filter open and check for signs of bearing debris (non magnetic), depending on what you find will give you some direction. Check your drained oil too and see if any shavings. A minute w/o oil shouldn't be catastrophic I don't think.

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

I remember seeing my brother drain the oil in the back yard, then, drive to the front yard to fill with oil. We were both very young, but, he was driving age. The Chrysler Gold Duster was making a horrible noise from the engine. He filled it with oil, then, it sounded fine. He said "I told you so" and the car drove another 100K miles. YMMV but good luck.