How long will the average automobile engine run with no oil?

[Brian P]

I bought a new-to-me motorcycle a few weeks ago. Learned while looking through the manual that there's no oil pressure gauge or light. There is an oil-level warning light.Crazy.

Let me guess - Yamaha?

Every Yamaha that I've owned or worked on has been like that - it appears to be their standard practice. There are pluses and minuses to it. On the one hand, the usual failure mode of the owner failing to ever check the oil level gets caught before it goes catastrophic. On the other hand, other failure modes of someone forgetting to tighten the oil filter, breakage of the oil pump drive chain (some of them use a scary thin chain to drive the oil pump), or worn bearings doesn't give any indication before disaster.

My little Honda 125 has no oil warning whatsoever. No level, no pressure. It uses a rolling-element bottom end. There is an oil pump, but it is only a circulating pump, it doesn't develop appreciable pressure.

[utmost]

it treats the metal, put pro blend in it, it treats the metal, you can't get rid of it no matter how much you try cause its in the metal. like I said it treats the metal

[MadBill]

Whaa ???

[Truckedup]

I bought a new-to-me motorcycle a few weeks ago. Learned while looking through the manual that there's no oil pressure gauge or light. There is an oil-level warning light.Crazy.

Let me guess - Yamaha?

Every Yamaha that I've owned or worked on has been like that - it appears to be their standard practice. There are pluses and minuses to it. On the one hand, the usual failure mode of the owner failing to ever check the oil level gets caught before it goes catastrophic. On the other hand, other failure modes of someone forgetting to tighten the oil filter, breakage of the oil pump drive chain (some of them use a scary thin chain to drive the oil pump), or worn bearings doesn't give any indication before disaster.

My little Honda 125 has no oil warning whatsoever. No level, no pressure. It uses a rolling-element bottom end. There is an oil pump, but it is only a circulating pump, it doesn't develop appreciable pressure.

Many Japanese big bore twins and inline 4's had rolling element lower ends... Harley V twins have full rolling element lower ends and they do have maybe 10 psi oil pressure when warm....
All the vintage British bikes have unreliable or no oil pressure gauges.The mains are usualy roller or ball but the rods are plain bearings.I do know a Triumph that looses oil pressure at high rpms has seconds of live left...But loss of pressure is very rare..
35 years ago I worked at a fleet maintenance garage for 5 years, mostly medium trucks and vans on repair contracts...The normally durable Mopar Slant 6 were known to throw a rod when down on oil...An engine with high power loading is a lot different than idling...

[hoffman900]

3/4 lap at watkins glen without a dry sump pump belt.

Wow! We only made it from T10 to start/finish before it seized up.

[Schurkey]

I bought a new-to-me motorcycle a few weeks ago. Learned while looking through the manual that there's no oil pressure gauge or light. There is an oil-level warning light.

Crazy.

Let me guess - Yamaha?

^^^ Winner.

Yamaha FJ1200S from '86. Plain-bearing mains and rods.

There is an aftermarket plug for one of the oil passages that is drilled for 1/8 NPT, I could mount a gauge directly to it (I guess) or install a hose or other plumbing for a remote gauge. At this point, I don't know which oil passage the plug goes into, so I don't know how inconvenient it would be to see a gauge mounted there.






It has been many years, but I had a '79 Yammie XS400F which I believe had an oil pressure warning light. They must have deleted the lights sometime between '79 and '86.

[MELWAY]

I think clearances play a big part in how long an engine will last without oil, seen quite a few late model engines start knocking after being run low on oil but older engines (with presumably more clearance) can tolerate it (low oil) a lot better.

A long time ago at a party we ran an old inline 6 at WOT with no oil or water waiting for something to break, it lasted about 5 minutes before it started slowing down and eventually stopping, the disappointing thing was no bang and no signs of any damage. It just got so hot it seized and after cooling down it fired right back up and ran like nothing happened. So for test 2 we ran a garden hose through the cooling system and again at WOT and it was still going after about 10 minutes until an impatient buddy decided he couldn't wait any longer and attacked the running engine with a sledge hammer. It stopped running pretty quickly after he smashed the intake off the side of it.

.

We used to do engine blow ups every Christmas party. We always put water and good oil in them. So they rev hard and don't seize and they always spun a big end and kicked the rods out. Even seeing Conrod beams glowing red beside the engine

[MELWAY]

Even with oil and water they would always spin a rod bearing cook rod then break bolts
The ones that lasted longer where rpm limited by constant valve float

[Brian W]

Several years ago a buddy of mine had a Nissan pickup with a bunch of miles on it. He was changing the oil one evening, pulled drain plug, while draining he replaced filter. Then phone rang and went inside to answer.... Next day he went to work about 10 miles one way, worked all day and returned home. When he entered his driveway he wondered what that black thing was in his driveway in front of shop...? Yep,... drain pan with the drain plug still setting beside it! LOL He filled it with oil and as far as I know its still running today.

So Nissan has no oil pressure warning light or gauge? So the forget to put oil in the engine stories all have no warning light or gauges ? Or no one looks at them?
Did anyone ever own a vehicle that knocks a for a few seconds when started before the oil pressure builds up? I have heard many do that ....And what happens if there is no oil pressure, ignore the knock? Due to my experiences I have a hard time believing these types of stories...

No sir, none of the the gauges worked in that truck, rode in it several times. He had a cheap Autometer tach fastened directly to the dash with deck screws to use as a speedometer..... Zero, and I mean ZERO F#(%$ given.