BWags

My wife was pulling into a parking lot when the engine oil light flickered on and off and then stayed on. The car was running normally at the time and she parked it and shut it down and called AAA. My wife called me and said that she had heard a noise from under the car right before she got off the highway and drove the last couple of miles to her destination. I had her look under the car and she said that there was a lot of oil on the ground. When the flat bed driver arrived he looked underneath and said that the drain plug was missing.

While driving without oil is never a good thing, does the fact that the car was operating properly and was promptly shut down when the oil light came on indicate that the engine did not suffer major damage? Is it safe to simply replace the plug and do an oil change and see if it continues to run normally and then carefully monitor oil levels?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its hard to say. if the motor isnt shot, its prolly very close to failing now. running without oil even for a short time is dangerous. im baffled as to how a drain plug just falls out. unless you took it to jiffy lube or something.

Too Tall

I'd call whoever didn't properly torque the drain plug last time and see what he says.

Running a few seconds at low rpm after the light came on will probably be OK. Running a few minutes after the light came on will probably cause damage.

You can remove and cut open the oil filter. If it is filled with metal particles, damage was done before the light came on. If there are not metal particles, change oil and filter.

Listen to the sounds the engine makes when first starting cold. If you hear unusual knocking or squealing sounds at start up that goes away as soon as oil pressure builds up, you will need a rebuild real soon.

If you don't hear strange sounds, run about 100 -500 miles and do a used oil analysis. If it is full of metal particles, take your best guess about what to do next. Do a few more oil changes at low miles to see if you can flush out all the metal particles, rebuild it before any more damage is done, or drive it until it blows.