Low oil but no Oil light, Damage done?

[TyperItr]

Right I got a set of Apexi oil pressure and temp gauges. I fitted them Sunday night and drove to the location where I work for the week. about 330km away. The oil pressure gauge was a constant 6 the whole way there along the motorway. when I got into the town I noticed it got a bit bouncy when changing gear and stopping at lights. I thought this was ok as (I thought to myself) maybe when I change gear there would be less load on the engine so it would go down and back up.

I normally walk to work from where I stay but the last 2 days I had no choice but to drive. About 1km away. So that is a drive on 1 mile yesterday and .5 mile today (not gone home yet). I noticed the Apexi Oil pressure Gauge was going mad up to 6 and down to 3 (maybe lower) and everything. I went out there at lunch time and noticed the rear of my car covered in oil, Bumper and Boot.

I checked the Dip stick and there was nothing on it :xfurious: . I had 2.2 liters of oil in the boot so i put that in and it brought the oil level up to the minimum.

The OEM oil light had not come on yet. I must have not tightened the sandwich plate or a sensor tight enough. Anyway I would like to hear from somebody who knows what they are on about with regards this if in their opinion Damage could have been done. I have heard no tapping noise yet but that is not everything.

 

[coyote_dc5]

Hard to tell, question is did you give it death during that time or do high speeds / cornering?

If you drove sensibly and caught it early enough then you may have got away with it.

I can often tell if Oil is even getting close to middle of min/max as the head starts to get ever so slightly louder. As soon as back to max it goes lovely and quiet again. Might just be my old codger of a K20 though :xlol:

 

[TyperItr]

Didnt go into Vtec at all on the journey. Just went along the motorway doing roughly 85 the whole way, and the half a mile to work haha would hardly Vtec that!

6 years of doing all the oil changing and everything myself, all it takes is 1 mistake.

 

[PORTHOS]

Found mine was down to half yesterday, first time I have had it half way between minimum and maximum, topped it up and sounds lovely again 8) mine taps more when oil is lower than normal (like most cars), but has a slight tap to it anyway like most DC5's.

As for nothing on the dip stick... wow, that must have been low! (but bear in mind if you checked it while hot, the oil level will be lower) Normally if the light comes on it is normally too late, so you may get away with it...

Apparently you can drive quite a way with little oil providing you don't do any hard driving, some oil is way better than none.

I am sure someone more knowledgeable will be along to explain, but ideally you do need to keep it well above half way.

 

[TyperItr]

I know I have rarely had the tank less than half also. Still sickened about it though, even if the car is perfect I still lost a tank of fresh Gulf racing oil

 

[ladykb]

I was at TGM this weekend and i asked Tom about my oil light....

Basically a few months ago the car felt sluggish and on the way to the office 70 miles away the oil light came on on the M25, i call hubby and he says "carry on but go to halfords and get some oil near your office"

So i do this and the guy literrally puts in 4.5 litres.... i couldn't understand why the light never came on sooner and i was told i was very lucky not to blow my engine....

Anyway mentioned this to Tom and he said the thing is most people think cause its a Honda the oil will last forever, but he said that because of the high revs of the DC5 you need to check your oil regular, and if the light comes on this is Too Late.... i was told i was very lucky!!!!! So i thought the oil light was a warning but actually when the light comes on im told its critical or too late....

:xconfused:

 

[coyote_dc5]

OMG!! 4.5ltr means it had less than a ltr left in it :xaiweb6:

 

[PORTHOS]

OMG!! 4.5ltr means it had less than a ltr left in it :xaiweb6:

1 is better than none! thats a fact.

 

[Stoo]

OMG!! 4.5ltr means it had less than a ltr left in it

These engines take 4.5l on an oil change!!

So it had next to none!

 

[donkeykong]

I dont understand not checking your oil level for so long. Or there is a big leak somewhere

 

[sinbad]

Usually in a Honda, if you see the oil light its too late!
Be glad you didnt see it!

 

[TyperItr]

My oil was full on saturday. I change my oil every 8000 km and check it every week. There is a leak just i have no tools where i am so no way to get at it. or fix it. I am delighted i did not see that oil light, but im thinking the light not coming on means nothing cos that light just says its too late, can still do damage with no light on. Glad your car was ok Ladykb

 

[leejw87]

My oil was full on saturday. I change my oil every 8000 km and check it every week. There is a leak just i have no tools where i am so no way to get at it. or fix it. I am delighted i did not see that oil light, but im thinking the light not coming on means nothing cos that light just says its too late, can still do damage with no light on. Glad your car was ok Ladykb

It seems to me most people think the oil light is a level indicator.... It's a warning light to indicate a oil pressure problem... Hence why it stays on with the ignition and goes out once the engine is running and its seen the correct pressure.

Out of interest where is your leak coming from as most people that fit after market sandwhich plates/oil coolers etc never use PTFE tape on the threads and this is mainly the cause of the leaks.

 

[C&S Evo7]

you should never use ptfe on the threads of a sender unit, the threads are tapered and should tighten as you tighten creating a good seal, many 1 wire sender units also require a good metal to metal contact as they use the female part as the -12vdc (or return) , if you insulate the sender/guage will not work properly.

Typeritr- i would say you were very lucky (not as lucky as LadyKB tho) . if you didnt see the pressure light it is highly unlikely anything will be damaged, i expect the sandwich plate or filter has come loose, according to the owners manual you should check the oil every time you fill with fuel, it should always be checked when warm and ideally wants to be as close to the max mark as possible.

on the upside at least the bottom of your car wont go rusty ;-)

 

[leejw87]

you should never use ptfe on the threads of a sender unit, the threads are tapered and should tighten as you tighten creating a good seal, many 1 wire sender units also require a good metal to metal contact as they use the female part as the -12vdc (or return) , if you insulate the sender/guage will not work properly.

I didn't specify using teflon tape on a sender unit I was talking about sandwich plate/ oil cooler unions.. Even though the unions are tapered to give sealing when tightened this isn't always the case in the real world as proved many of times.

I would never fit any After Market part which is oil related to a car without using Teflon tape on the threads unless it really wasent necessary...

If it was a sender unit like you say I would cover the top half of the thread for sealing and leave the bottom half of the thread exposed to make a good earth contact.

it should always be checked when warm

If your going to be checking it warm then make sure you switch the engine off and wait a minimum of 10 minutes before checking as there will be oil still in the head & around the oil galleries and could give a false reading.

 

[C&S Evo7]

It is bad engineering practice to use any type of sealing tape on any oil fittings full stop.
when tape is used on a thread there is a very good chance small particles will end up in the oil system this can cause blockages which can lead to engine faliure , i have personally built 2 engines in the last 3 years due to oil pickups becoming blocked with sealent (caused by over zealous use of silicone sealent during previous assembly by a third party) .
if they are proper fittings for an oil system they should have a tapered seat, using tape can prevent the thread from engaging properly and cause a poor seal on the seat.
If the thread itself is tapered and still doesnt seal properly then the parts should be checked and if necessarily changed for ones that do. I have also seen this on cheaper sandwich plates, the threads were cut poorly and were oversized

as lee states you need to wait for a few minutes but if the oil is warm then by the time you have filled up and paid the oil will have drained sufficiently.


if it is not then there is a different problem, car manufacturers would not use it so neither should we.

 

[leejw87]

I will have to agree to disaree on this one... If applied correct there should be no risk of particles finding it's way into the oil system as the tape is designed not to tear... I've used this plenty of times without issues and will continue to do so. I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that oil will not leak through the threads when under pressure.

@ 2.20 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl4cs-EqF1Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[cpoh]

TypeITR - What is your oil pressure at idle with the engine fully warm, say 90 degrees? Mine sits at 3bar at 90 degrees. Slightly lower at 100 degrees.

Your oil pressure will shift when you go on/off throttle and change gear thats normal. Just make sure its not dropping below 2 bar.

4.5L of oil used means you had 0.5L left in thge sump including the filter, thats fornicate all :xno: