From: shazzbat on

"Grimly Curmudgeon" <grimly4REMOVE(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote in message
news:bdsp3619nhe0ei81u8nt863u1v0u5kb7ul(a)4ax.com...
> We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)"
> <dave(a)davenoise.co.uk> saying something like:
>
>>In article <cmro365nou8lpqhb5e6a61htpjmh0icg11(a)4ax.com>, Grimly Curmudgeon
>><grimly4REMOVE(a)REMOVEgmail.com> wrote:
>>> Briefly, no. It depends on how much stress was on the bearings at the
>>> time. Otoh, I had a mate who tended to only top up his bike engine when
>>> the light flashed - he thought it was a level warning, but his bike
>>> didn't have one. Amazingly, it kept running fine.
>>
>>Don't bikes generally have roller bearings so a bit more tolerant of a
>>short time without oil?
>
> Many of them did (still do) at that time, but his didn't.
>
> Roller bearing big ends and mains commonly run with 5psi oil pressure,
> and I believe a RB would have got away with it, for longer. Still a daft
> thing to do, of course.

I had an old air-cooled VW in the 70s, and I never checked the oil, just put
some in when the oil light started to flash going round corners. I did that
for 3 years, no probs.

The OP won't have hurt his engine, no oil pressure doesn't mean no oil in
the bearings. Although prolonged use like that would not be a good idea.

Steve

From: Dave Plowman (News) on
In article <i1jqoi$3ij$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> I had an old air-cooled VW in the 70s, and I never checked the oil, just
> put some in when the oil light started to flash going round corners. I
> did that for 3 years, no probs.

> The OP won't have hurt his engine, no oil pressure doesn't mean no oil
> in the bearings. Although prolonged use like that would not be a good
> idea.

There are other issues with running oil so low that it gets below the
pickup level causing the pressure to drop and the light to flash.
Most cars don't have an oil cooler, so the quantity of oil helps prevent
overheating. A small amount of oil in circulation will also break down
more quickly than the correct amount. May not be as much of a problem on
an ancient design using modern oils - but may well be on a more recent one.

--
*OK, so what's the speed of dark? *

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
From: shazzbat on

"Dave Plowman (News)" <dave(a)davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
news:51369f8497dave(a)davenoise.co.uk...
> In article <i1jqoi$3ij$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
> shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>> I had an old air-cooled VW in the 70s, and I never checked the oil, just
>> put some in when the oil light started to flash going round corners. I
>> did that for 3 years, no probs.
>
>> The OP won't have hurt his engine, no oil pressure doesn't mean no oil
>> in the bearings. Although prolonged use like that would not be a good
>> idea.
>
> There are other issues with running oil so low that it gets below the
> pickup level causing the pressure to drop and the light to flash.
> Most cars don't have an oil cooler, so the quantity of oil helps prevent
> overheating. A small amount of oil in circulation will also break down
> more quickly than the correct amount. May not be as much of a problem on
> an ancient design using modern oils - but may well be on a more recent
> one.

I know. But doing this once isn't likely to have caused lasting damage,
which was the OP's question.

Steve

From: Dave Plowman (News) on
In article <i1k0g4$c0i$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

> "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave(a)davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:51369f8497dave(a)davenoise.co.uk...
> > In article <i1jqoi$3ij$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
> > shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> >> I had an old air-cooled VW in the 70s, and I never checked the oil,
> >> just put some in when the oil light started to flash going round
> >> corners. I did that for 3 years, no probs.
> >
> >> The OP won't have hurt his engine, no oil pressure doesn't mean no
> >> oil in the bearings. Although prolonged use like that would not be a
> >> good idea.
> >
> > There are other issues with running oil so low that it gets below the
> > pickup level causing the pressure to drop and the light to flash. Most
> > cars don't have an oil cooler, so the quantity of oil helps prevent
> > overheating. A small amount of oil in circulation will also break down
> > more quickly than the correct amount. May not be as much of a problem
> > on an ancient design using modern oils - but may well be on a more
> > recent one.

> I know. But doing this once isn't likely to have caused lasting damage,
> which was the OP's question.

I got the impression it wasn't just once. ;-)

--
*Time is fun when you're having flies... Kermit

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
From: shazzbat on

"Dave Plowman (News)" <dave(a)davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5136a39866dave(a)davenoise.co.uk...
> In article <i1k0g4$c0i$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
> shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave(a)davenoise.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:51369f8497dave(a)davenoise.co.uk...
>> > In article <i1jqoi$3ij$1(a)news.albasani.net>,
>> > shazzbat <shazzbat(a)spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>> >> I had an old air-cooled VW in the 70s, and I never checked the oil,
>> >> just put some in when the oil light started to flash going round
>> >> corners. I did that for 3 years, no probs.
>> >
>> >> The OP won't have hurt his engine, no oil pressure doesn't mean no
>> >> oil in the bearings. Although prolonged use like that would not be a
>> >> good idea.
>> >
>> > There are other issues with running oil so low that it gets below the
>> > pickup level causing the pressure to drop and the light to flash. Most
>> > cars don't have an oil cooler, so the quantity of oil helps prevent
>> > overheating. A small amount of oil in circulation will also break down
>> > more quickly than the correct amount. May not be as much of a problem
>> > on an ancient design using modern oils - but may well be on a more
>> > recent one.
>
>> I know. But doing this once isn't likely to have caused lasting damage,
>> which was the OP's question.
>
> I got the impression it wasn't just once. ;-)
>


From the OP -

Does it do any lasting damage, running with a low oil level?
Our Mazda 6 ran low enough on oil recently for the oil light to flash on
once.

Steve