My corolla had the wrong oil filter installed and it fell off draining all oil!! I traveled about 10 miles with no oil. Red oil light came on as did check engine light. I stopped the car and then installed a new filter, the correct one, and filled the oil. It ran and I had to drive it home. Then the dash warning lights went off. The business that changed my oil inspected the engine by removing the value cover and tell me all is fine. Can that be possible that there was no damage?
If you only ran it ten miles, I doubt it caused too much damage. Now, this is only if it was not bone dry. It could have burned the oil to the walls and then create gunk, if you let the car sit outside while paying the bill before driving that ten miles. I always say you should do a PMCS and check what services you expected to be done, to be done correctly. You can take the valve cover off and look inside yourself, see if there is gunk on the walls. Do the same for the dip stick and the oil cap.
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Some amount of baked on residual oil under your valve cover can result from a heat buildup under oil starvation... Your main concern is a lack of oil pressure to your crankshaft main bearings, connecting rod small end bearings, camshaft bearings, lobes and lifters, pistons, cylinders, oil pump, timing chain... Some damage is likely, but to what extent would be hard to determine. You may have saved your engine on time, but not without some amount of strain and accelerated wear.
Last edited by invader; 09-06-2011 at 07:57 PM.
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Some amount of baked on residual oil under your valve cover can result from a heat buildup under oil starvation... Your main concern is a lack of oil pressure to your crankshaft main bearings, connecting rod small end bearings, camshaft bearings, lobes and lifters, pistons, cylinders, oil pump, timing chain... Some damage is likely, but to what extent would be hard to determine. You may have saved your engine on time, but not without some amount of strain and accelerated wear.
I like that better than how you worded it earlier. I don't think they mentioned any knocking or whining so I believe it is safe to assume that the lack of pressure did nothing. I would take it to another shop... one that wont put on the wrong size filter, mind you... see if you can get them to come down on labor prices because you are getting a second opinion. Some shops will help you out.
I like that better than how you worded it earlier. I don't think they mentioned any knocking or whining so I believe it is safe to assume that the lack of pressure did nothing. I would take it to another shop... one that wont put on the wrong size filter, mind you... see if you can get them to come down on labor prices because you are getting a second opinion. Some shops will help you out.
Thanks for your help. Seems harder these days to get a simple oil change done correctly.
A 2nd opinion will help but I fear that if no damage is seen that the extra stress of no oil may at some point cause a part to fail given all the parts in the engine. Perhaps on some cold winter morning on startup. Not sure if keeping my Corolla is the wise thing to do. It could turn into a big expense very quickly one day.
I would be very concerned about unseen damage, to fully assess the situation; your engine would have to be disassembled and the bearing and wear surfaces would have to be inspected. I know this is a cost prohibitive option but this would be the only way to assess the damage. In my mind there is no doubt that your engine suffered accelerated wear, it probably "aged" 20,000 - 50,000 miles in one day. I would keep a close eye on the oil level for the next few thousand miles to see if your engine is consuming oil as the piston rings may have been scuffed from oil starvation. Do whatever gives you piece of mind, if your in the position to trade this one in and buy another car then I would do it, the problems from brief oil starvation may manifest themselves next week, next month, next year, who knows. It's just a shame when you can't trust anyone with the simple task of an oil change, I hate doing this task but I perform it on my cars myself as I have heard too many horror stories. Good luck!
__________________ 2005 Corolla LE - Impulse Red - Auto Trans - 1ZZFE - 86,000mi 2003 Echo - Auto Trans - 96,000mi. - slow as dog-dirt - I'd rather put my money in the bank than in the tank!!!!!
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I would be very concerned about unseen damage, to fully assess the situation; your engine would have to be disassembled and the bearing and wear surfaces would have to be inspected. I know this is a cost prohibitive option but this would be the only way to assess the damage. In my mind there is no doubt that your engine suffered accelerated wear, it probably "aged" 20,000 - 50,000 miles in one day. I would keep a close eye on the oil level for the next few thousand miles to see if your engine is consuming oil as the piston rings may have been scuffed from oil starvation. Do whatever gives you piece of mind, if your in the position to trade this one in and buy another car then I would do it, the problems from brief oil starvation may manifest themselves next week, next month, next year, who knows. It's just a shame when you can't trust anyone with the simple task of an oil change, I hate doing this task but I perform it on my cars myself as I have heard too many horror stories. Good luck!
Thanks for your response. Your analysis is my concern as the company that made this mistake won't make good since the car is at present running o.k. But what happens in the future. I assume a lot of excess wear occurred. Too bad as this was a great car and I had planned to keep it at least 2 more years. But the risk of an engine breakdown increased many fold.
I like that better than how you worded it earlier. I don't think they mentioned any knocking or whining so I believe it is safe to assume that the lack of pressure did nothing. I would take it to another shop... one that wont put on the wrong size filter, mind you... see if you can get them to come down on labor prices because you are getting a second opinion. Some shops will help you out.
I read an article on the pro's and con's of letting the dealership do the oil change. Getting proffessionals that know what parts to use and correctly changing the oil was a big pro for dealership.
Good luck with your car.
My corolla had the wrong oil filter installed and it fell off draining all oil!! I traveled about 10 miles with no oil. Red oil light came on as did check engine light. I stopped the car and then installed a new filter, the correct one, and filled the oil. It ran and I had to drive it home. Then the dash warning lights went off. The business that changed my oil inspected the engine by removing the value cover and tell me all is fine. Can that be possible that there was no damage?
My sympathy is with you my friend. But this is a valuable lesson you have learnt. You need to do these oil changes and simple maintenance yourself. And never ever use a quick oil change place again. These people recieve one day training before they are let loose on your car.
My sympathy is with you my friend. But this is a valuable lesson you have learnt. You need to do these oil changes and simple maintenance yourself. And never ever use a quick oil change place again. These people recieve one day training before they are let loose on your car.
What about owners who can't or won't change their oil or do simple maintenance themselves? Besides, many cats today have the oil filter in a hard to reach location and/or a special tool(s) is needed to access and remove the filter.
Zythr, trust me when I say this stuff is easy. Things like oil changes,transmission fluid change, hoses and intake manifold gasket change I have done myself. And I am no mechanic. I have a metric tool set cost me $40.00 bucks and a oil filter cap remover 10.99 bucks and a set of rhino ramps that I bought from K mart and I am good to go. If I ever have to go inside the motor then yes I'll take it to the dealer. But for the simple stuff No. I have too many horror stories of tools left in the engine compartment, broken fasterers, nuts and bolts missing and torn parts to ever trust anyone with my baby. Oh did I mention the new scratches I got everytime I use to let someone work on my car?
What about owners who can't or won't change their oil or do simple maintenance themselves? Besides, many cats today have the oil filter in a hard to reach location and/or a special tool(s) is needed to access and remove the filter.
I'm getting too old to crawl under my car on a cold wet driveway and then there is the problem of disposing of the old oil.
What I do now is buy packs of the car manufacturer's oil filters and crush washers online and then buy Mobil-1 synthetic oil at Costco/BJ's or WalMart (they're the only ones with 5-quart jugs of 0-weight Mobil-1, as used in Hondas). I take the car, oil, filter, and crush washer over to my local ASE car repair shop and bring something to read. I'm generally back home in less than an hour. I'm usually charged about $20 and I'd be happy to pay $20 to rent the lift and repair bay to save my back so actually getting the oil and filter changed and the old oil disposed of is well worth the $20 to me.
Take the car to a reputable shop that you or a friend knows of and have them put on a guage to check the engines oil pressure. If it is still up in specification for that engine the probability of main bearing, cam bearing and oil pump damage is reduced. Still possible for the rings, cylinder walls and valve guides to be worn though. They would manifest themselves with accelerated oil consumption, oil getting dirty more rapidly, hard starting or cylinder misfires from oil fouled plugs or noticeable blue smoke on start.
If the oil pressure is low or fluctuating a lot then bummer, its just a matter of time. Good luck.
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2005 Toyota Corolla with no engine oil
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