how to tell if i've done any damage to engine

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 17:30
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

Last night while driving my low oil level light came on, i parked up and sat for 10 minutes to try and allow the engine to cool a bit before checking the levels.

I tried checking but was getting uncertain readings... dark/rain lashing down and engine most likely still too hot as i had been driving a few hours.

Got back in the car and started it up and the light had gone off.. so decided it may have been a sensor issue or something that set it off temporarily so drove home ( 12 miles) and parked it up overnight.

the next morning i checked the oil level again and it was indeed low, it's very hard to tell with this dipstick but to me it wasnt touching the minimum/maximum strip so ran upstairs and put a litre into it and it brought it up to the halfway point, i then drove to my dealership but they were fully booked and couldnt get me in for 2 days so drove home parked it up and left it for another 40 mins went back down to check the levels and it was close if not above the maximum area, the engine was still a little hot not sure from driving or from sitting in the sun.

i had the car in a fortnight before for a brake pad change so i took it they would have done all the checks so hadnt looked at the oil level in a fortnight... but i had done a few thousand miles since then..

anyways while driving it home that night after the light had gone off i kept an eye on the engine temperture gauge to make sure it wasnt over heating and it never went above 93 and i felt no engine stutter or limp mode etc...

Do you think there will be any lasting damage ? if the oil level was as low as i thought it was would it have not gone into limp mode or stuttered ? maybe the fact it was cold outside and raining helped keep the temperture down.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 17:41
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - skidpan

Last night while driving my low oil level light came on,

Very few cars have oil level lights. The warning light is for low oil pressure and when that comes on (at 4psi generally) its probably too late for the engine.

The only ways to tell if damage has been done is a strip down and inspection of parts or get the oil analysed by a specialist company who will check for metal particles.

i had the car in a fortnight before for a brake pad change so i took it they would have done all the checks

Why would they check the oil level, they were doing the brakes. Why would you expect them to carry out a full inspection of the car (oil level is only one check to make) when it has nothing to dod with the work they are carrying out.

If you are looking for a "get out of jail free card forget it. Your fault, you pay.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 17:46
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

no i meant they do a free health check whenever the car is in for any work...

yeah the light came on check oil levels... and i parked up and checked but with the rain and the engine still hot was getting poor readings on the dipstick.. the car is 32000 miles on the clock.

i checked google maps i did 10 miles to the nearest garage to top it up and about 6 of the miles was on the motorway.

IS the engine temperature levels any indicator of how much damage may have been done ?

Edited by fendertele on 11/09/2018 at 17:48

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 17:53
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - skidpan

IS the engine temperature levels any indicator of how much damage may have been done ?

The temperature gauge on all modern cars is little more than a warning light. It goes up to normal quickly and only goes above normal if the engine is outside the limit set by the manufacturer. Evidence for this is the electric cooling fan. Say normal temp is 90 degrees it comes on in 2 stages on many cars the first at probably 100 and the 2nd at 110. Even whe the 2nd stage switches on the gausge will still be reading normal, 20 degrees above normal.

But in truth the water temp will not cause the type of damage associated with low oil pressure, high water temps cause head gasket failure.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 18:00
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

no sorry i was meaning could the engine temperture be an indicator of how much damage was done while driving with low oil ?

if the engine oil was very low would the engine temperture give off a higher reading as it's not being lubricated properly... if the tempereture is sitting at it's usual level would that mean that maybe there was more oil left than i thought and possibly not have caused much damage ?

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 18:18
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - skidpan

no sorry i was meaning could the engine temperture be an indicator of how much damage was done while driving with low oil ?

if the engine oil was very low would the engine temperture give off a higher reading as it's not being lubricated properly... if the tempereture is sitting at it's usual level would that mean that maybe there was more oil left than i thought and possibly not have caused much damage ?

The temperature gauge tells you the temperature of the water but as I said above it only indicates low, normal and PANIC

This has nothing whatsoever to do with oil level. I accept that low oil will cause the bottom end to run hotter than normal but it will take considerable damage before this affects the water temp.

If the pressure light did not come on you have probably got away with it.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 18:23
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

thank god iwas watching it like a hawk going from 89/90/92/93/90 etc.. , yeah no oil pressure light came on just the check oil level light and when i restarted the engine after checking the oil level it remained off till i got home... i normally always have some engine oil in the boot but i had cleaned it out and left it in the garage few weeks back.

i've read that even when the dipstick is low that there is actually a good litre still left in the tank in most cases if thats so then it's possible i dodged it due to this...

cheers for the help set my mind at rest a little.

Edited by fendertele on 11/09/2018 at 18:24

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 18:32
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - elekie&a/c doctor

You have not specified what car you have,but if you take a look in the owners manual you should be able to identify which warning light came on and what it means. If it is a diesel engine car,built within the last 8 years or so,it will definitely have a low oil level warning light. Also,many newer petrol cars have a low level warning as well as a low pressure. Sometimes the level light is orange that changes to red for low pressure. As you were very cautious,probably done no damage at all.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 18:31
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - sammy1

Start from scratch, when was the last oil and filter change. From this you can calculate how many miles the car has done since the level was full and therefore if the car is using excess oil. If you only had to top up a litre or so the engine would have still had plenty of oil if not driven under stress. If your car is driving OK with no engine noise you have probably been lucky and if you did not see the warning light you might never had known you had a prob but gone on to destriy the engine. The engine temp is really no indication as engine oil does get really hot and the cooling system deals with it. Drive it steady for a while and see how it goes, I cannot see how spending money looking for a prob that may not be there makes sense.

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 19:01
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

the car is a seat toledo 2017 it has some driving data, coolant temp, engine temp etc...

the warning that came one was the orange/yellow check oil level warning.

it was serviced at 18000 miles and is at 32000 now.

The car has been in for some different work over the past month or so and with the work carried out they provide a a free health check..tyre wear oil coolant etc..

It's my first new car and i had been checking regularly to begin with, but then a friend told me with brand new cars it's not something that needs to be checked as much i'm gonna boot his gonads.

that was the first time i had seen that light come on and was just hoping when the warning comes up it is similar to the low fuel warning where you have sometime to to up before going completly empty

As for driving under any stress i drove home mostly via motorway and it was low rpm

anything else you need to know just ask and ill try and help with it.

Edited by fendertele on 11/09/2018 at 19:04

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Tue 11 Sep 2018 20:02
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - fendertele

got the all clear.. had the seat assist guy come out n have a look and bunged him a tenner for his time.

he said there is a very slight leak coming from the sump area and due to the last oil top up being at the last service its gradually lost a little bit more than usual overtime.

however as it holds 4 litres and it's 1 litre from minimum to maximum i would have been driving home with around 3 litres still in there and wouldnt have caused any damage.

cheers for all the input though kept me right till he inspected it.

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Wed 12 Sep 2018 06:02
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - liammcl

Glad it's all ok !
That reminded of my first car , an Austin Princess, at age 18..
A light suddenly appeared on the dashboard , and I had no clue what it was,
so I stuck some chewing gum over it, as it was getting irksome !

Turns out it was the oil light..
..but the car happily drove another few months, (work was only a mile away)
until I smashed into the back of a stationary lorry at a roundabaout !

Cheers
Liam

Edited by liammcl on 12/09/2018 at 06:12

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Wed 12 Sep 2018 08:41
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - Ian D
Glad it is all ok...
Your car is like my CRV
Orange low oil level light = top up as soon as reasonably possible (as you did)
Red oil pressure light = stop/switch off immediately, within a few seconds if you can safely do so to minimise engine damaged and get recovered
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Wed 12 Sep 2018 09:20
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - elekie&a/c doctor

I am a little concerned that the recovery guy said there was a slight leak from the sump.There should be no leak on a year old car with low miles. Suggest you get it checked.

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Wed 12 Sep 2018 16:13
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - mhenderson

When I was a postman, I often talked to people in the street, and a man was looking at his Sierra one day, and looked a bit glum. He said it started making a knocking noise, so turned the stereo up to hide it, but after a while it broke down. Who'd have thought it ?

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Wed 12 Sep 2018 09:25
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - hardway

The only real way to tell is an engine strip down and inspection.

any damage is done now so leave it for the dealer to check.

And you don't get levels checked when you get brake done,

apart from the brake fluid level of course.

So if I were you I'd not suggest that the dealer should have checked something he wan't asked to do.

Low oil levels are your fault.

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Wed 12 Sep 2018 22:22
how to tell if i've done any damage to engine - Brit_in_Germany

If the car has a low oil level warning light and it has done its job and warned you there is no issue other than that of determining if there is an oil leak somewhere.

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