Last week I changed the oil in our van at Jen's parent's house. Of course, I changed the oil filter at the same time. When I put the new oil filter on I always "prime" the seal with a little oil and just turn it on there as tight as I can get it with my hands. Immediately after changing it, I ran it up and down the road a few times and everything sounded fine. Later that afternoon, I went back out to check the oil level and it was right up to the full mark. I did not look underneath the van for leaks. (maybe I should have)
Nearly at the end of our 100 mile trip home, I noticed an oil smell as we stopped at a light. I did not have anything odd on the instrument cluster or lights so I thought it might be another vehicle around me. Well, I noticed it again yesterday. We probably drove three or four hundred miles since the oil change. This morning, before I left for work, I checked the oil level again for the first time since the oil change. It was a little hard to see in the dark, but I know that it was not within the range that it should have been. I looked underneath and could see that the filter had been leaking. There was quite a large puddle underneath the van.
That said...do you think there is any danger of engine damage if the oil got low enough, but the dummy light never came on? I did not notice the oil spot before so maybe it got worse yesterday. I know the oil light is good because it comes on during startup. The engine does not sound bad, but just seemed a little sluggish last night on the way home from church. I think that may have been from the extreme cold, however.
I topped it off with oil this morning and Jenni took it in to have the oil changed again and to have the mechanic look at the filter connection. I guess everything looked ok, but he agreed that it was good we brought it in because of what "might" have happened.
6 comments:
I think most oil lights come on when pressure is low so unless the oil got down to such a low level where the pickup screen could not suck it up the light wouldn't come on. This is more likely to happen on a cold startup since the oil can't drain back to the pan as fast as the pump can send it up top. I think some cars also have oil level sensors. If yours does then if you lost enough oil it seems it should have come on. Your owners manual should tell you what it has.
As for the filter, I have had the same problem. Mine leaked quite noticably. It tuned out that a small piece of the old oil filter gasket had remained on the block causeing the new one to not set evenly. Since then I have always paid close attention to the old filter and physically "run": my fingertip around the filter stud on the block. Several times I have had the entire gasket left behind.
The tech who examined it this morning made mention of that very thing. I guess he found remains of the old filter gasket left behind. I have in the past cleaned the mount with a rag, but for some reason did not this time or else I would have noticed it. Funny that I have never seen that happen before. Just thankful that we seem to have caught it in time and appears to not have had any major effect.
I guess more specifically my question was whether the oil level in the pan is critical to the point of locking an engine even if the oil pickup never gets to the point of sucking air. Do the lower compnents of the engine depend heavily on the "bath" of oil or is everything usually serviced sufficiently by the pump? I know this can't probably be answered for every engine across the board, but I guess just in general.
All the lower parts( crank, rods, bearings) sit above the oil in the pan. Other than maybe some splashing, the pump is responsible for all the oil distribution. It does seem likely that less oil circulating means less time spent in the pan to cool, leading to faster breakdown, hotter engine.........
All the lower parts( crank, rods, bearings) sit above the oil in the pan. Other than maybe some splashing, the pump is responsible for all the oil distribution. It does seem likely that less oil circulating means less time spent in the pan to cool, leading to faster breakdown, hotter engine.........
Is there an echo in here? Just kidding! I doubt Justin if you did any serious harm to your engine. I wouldn't worry too much about it. One thing I've always done when putting a new oil filter on is, after tightening it by hand I put the oil filter wrench on and put just a little more turn on it. Just an inch or so, for good measure. Its not as strenuous on the hand that way.
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