I hate cars

Just a simple oil change. I drained the oil out, left the plug out. Hood up and fill cap off to remind me that there's no oil in the car. Recieved a phone call that my parents had just gotten in a wreck so I hurried to finish so I could go see them. I realized I had not cut the wheels to the right to get to the oil filter so I start the engine with no oil so I could turn the wheel. I was thinking to myself the engine needed a valve adjustment due to the extra ticking. Then I got a chill and realized what I had done. Luckily it was only 5 seconds of run time.

I finished the oil change and fired it up. The oil light only stayed on for a second before going off, pretty much normal after an oil change. I'm sure it didn't do any damage but I'm glad I'm using a highly polar ester oil with tons of ZDDP and moly in this situation.

I've been changing my oil since I was 17 and I've never done this. Maybe I'm getting old but I hope it's because I was distracted about the parents' getting in a wreck. Maybe it's the vicotin from my dental work yesterday.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Drugs are bad, mmmmkay?
Hope all is well.

h4qq

iTrader: (1)

mistakes happen when you're under stress =/

I hope your parents are okay, any updates?

08A-SPEC

iTrader: (3)

Poor motor
more importantly, how are the parents?

TheChamp531

iTrader: (3)

Typical of IHC.

94eg!

Whoa that sucks...

Makes me glad I always jack up the front end when doing oil changes. I like the drain the oil directly into old laundry detergent containers via a funnel...

Good luck...

kevinoseguera99

did the exact same thing with mine, changing the oil and i forget to turn the wheels, so i turn on the car and turn the wheels, then i realized what i just did, turned it off immediately and felt so stupid lol, but all is well, no oil light and the engine runs fine.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Thank goodness you only had the engine on for 5 seconds. I hope your folks are OK.

05TLdcc

Oh geez. Hope your parents are alright!

04WDPSeDaN

iTrader: (1)

I hope your parents are alright that's the most important thing. We both know even having an engine run for a few seconds without oil in it isn't going to cause any long term damage. There is still lubrication on all moving parts. Oil isn't that easy to get off of things, if they are already on the bearings and rings you would be ok. If you drove the car not that's a different story..

Inaccurate

Don't feel bad. Most of us would had done the same after receiving such upsetting news.

I am sure your engine is fine. Firing up a freshly built motor probably endures longer period of running with no oil than this. Well, at least with the backyard mechanic method without a pre-oiler.

I can easily see how this could happen to a person. In fact, every time I change oil, I have a check list (paper) with me. I check off each step before proceeding to the next. Things such as tightening the oil filter, torquing the drain plugs, and refilling the fluids must be checked off. I do this because I can see how easily I could overlook an important step.

Thank you for sharing this humbling experience with us. I will say a prayer to God to help your parents.

I hate cars

Thanks guys. I should have mentioned the parents are fine. They got rear ended on the freeway in their new Camry by a kid that only had his license for 3 months. They're fine and the kid turned out to be my mother's friend's grandson. I told my father to use this as a chance to upgrade to some Lexus rims.

The scariest part is they were having it towed to the same bodyshop that screwed me every which way. They're getting it out of there Monday and I'm going down there just so the owner can see that they lost the business because of what they did to my car.

My engine is fine. I figure it's no worse than the people that don't prefill the oil filter every time they change the oil. Still can't believe I did that, I guess I'm getting old. I need one of Inaccurate's check lists.

I hate cars

I feel a lot better knowing I'm not the only one that has done it.

Phambam12

dang i bet your heart was pounding

Costco

Hope your parents are okay. Stuff happens when you're in a hurry... I know, its happened to me. When I end up working slower than I should and all of a sudden I need to hurry up, it ends up taking longer cause I have to do more things to correct my mistakes.

CG2PROJECT

s'ok matt. I've done some stupid shiet before too. Don't beat yourself up too much over it.

WRXtranceformed

Ahh man glad your parents are ok! That's the most important part.

The dumbest thing that I ever did on an oil change was slice the shit out of my wrist when I was changing the oil on my old Tundra. It was my first oil change on that vehicle and whatever mechanic did it before me must have used a freaking impact gun on the drain pan bolt because I couldn't get it off. I had all of my weight and strength on the wrench when the bolt popped loose and my wrist slit on the plastic underguard on the bottom of the truck.

That's the last time I changed my own oil in any of my cars. I figure for the hassle it's worth spending $20.

Costco

^heh, reminds me of my first oil change on my Camaro. There was some yellow shit on and around the drain plug, and with a two-handed grip pulling with all my might, I could not get the damn thing off... only thing that I accomplished was killing my forearms and chafing my palms. Luckily my car was close enough to a wall, so I stretched my arms out, put my foot on the ratchet then pushed with my whole body.... came right off, easily

I think my next oil change will not be done by me, even though I've self-serviced my car for almost everything. Despite not being trustworthy of strangers touching my car, its just not worth getting dirty sliding under the car, asking someone for a favor to hold the funnel and empty gallon jug while I pour the oil in, and having to go through the hassle of getting it disposed. I'll just buy all the parts myself and sit there and watch while they change it.

Sandals

iTrader: (2)

The thing is that when shops do oil changes they use impact wrenches which make it fucking impossible to get off. But, after you tighten it, it will be alot easier. AND did you take off the cap on the top of the engine, it will relieve some of the pressure that has built up.

IHC glad everything seems to have worked out. Time to go into retirement eh?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I had a whole week of phail.
I'll post up my troubles with an Impala.

Glad you realized it in time!

07tl-s6spd

iTrader: (1)

i never done that but if it was only a few seconds you should be fine...no worries

Tehvine

We drove our old S10 blazer around for a few days without oil before it finally started running like crap - mechanic we had brought it to forgot to put oil back in after pulling the heads. No idiot lights came on so my mother didn't think anything of it.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Many, many years ago I built a SB Chevy (383) for a fellow, Mondello heads, roller cam, the entire works. He picked it up and installed the intake, dual quads, along with the distributor and oil pump drive shaft, etc. after he primed the oil system, he got it started and no oil pressure, but decided to let it run thinking that it was a gauge problem. Gave me a call and I went to the garage, no oil pressure. Started looking and he installed the incorrect oil pump drive shaft, too short. I pulled it apart and he had wiped out the bottom end. Another rebuild.

OntheJob

Very lucky my friend... that could have been a costly mistake.

BradE

I'm betting the nice layer of moly from the Redline saved your a$$, and the surface of the parts from being scored.

We've all done some dump crap. My all time stupidest moment, I snapped off a caliper bracket mounting bolt on my Explorer, freakin grade 8 giant bolt, because I was turning it the wrong way with a breaker bar. Still no idea how the hell I did that.

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

as others have said, shit happens to all of us (i ran a motor for like 30 seconds (somebody else had drained the oil ) then i relised that it had none, so i kinda rushed to turn it off and filled it, and it seemed to be just fine

DMZ

I Hate Cars,

Glad your folks are OK, but do you think your GN would have survived with no oil in there?

CubanLynx84

iTrader: (2)

Glad to hear your parents are ok and that no harm was done to the tl. I think though that's why I take the wheel off just to remind me to make sure everything is done before driving off. Yeah it sounds like extra work but in that sort of incident I would sped off like a bat outta hell just to get to whatever it was that would've pulled me away in the first place.

TLDude876

iTrader: (7)

Almost had a similar experience last week when I was doing a 3x3. After the second drain, the engine bay was still hot so I decided to hold off a little before the fill. Somehow I forgot and started the car to drive around and mix the fluid. Suddenly it snapped to me that I didn't refill. Luckily I only started engine and didnt try to put the car in gear.

Comptechtl2367

Well the good news is if you would have blown your motor your insurance would have covered it! All you would have to have done is say the drain plug fell out... Glad to hear your rents are okay!

I hate cars

Idle, yes. In the old days when it was first starting to cut some serious 60' times in the 1.4 range the turbo would make a strange screeching sound. It was aeration in the oil from sucking air during the launch. Engine survived but oil pressure was permanently lowered. Upon teardown the bearings had a very weird look, almost like termites had bored through them.

PhilB81

You should let the profesionals at the dealership change your oil.

Glad ur parents are ok.

Let me know if that running with no oil fixes the pinging, I'll run mine with no oil a bit too he he.

redzuan

We wouldn't expected that from IHC . We pray that your parents are OK

quakerroatmeal

Glad your parents are ok. I can't imagine cleaning up 5qts of oil..that would really piss me off..I've knocked over a 1qt bottle before once or twice on accident because I take the top off to put oil on the new filter, forget to close it and knock it over on accident..can't imagine cleaning up 5qts

Toddy

iTrader: (5)

Don't feel bad, When doing a rebuild on my old crawlers ZZ4 I forgot to put lock tite and torque my pick up tube bolts... Put it all together and took it for a drive. Pickup fell off into the pan. Drove about 15 miles before realizing I had not Oil pressure...Thank fully no damage

riplee

Wow glad everything is ok in both categories. I hate being rushed when in the middle of something, seems like something always goes wrong. but luck was on your side

Ok stupid question... I've just started doing my own oil changes and I haven't heard of turning the wheels and pre-filling the oil filter? what does turning the wheels do and what direction? And im just assuming you fill the oil filter with oil

blkaspec

^^ the "turning the wheels" is to get to the filter, and in his post he said to turn it to the right. and yes, fill with oil

Souljah

U Dumb! U really dumb!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzNhaLUT520

Toddy

iTrader: (5)

lolz

bmccord

First off, hope the folks are OK! Second, 5 seconds is not going to hurt anything especially since the vehicle was most likely recently driven so there was at least some oil on all the moving parts. Back in high school I had an oil pressure gauge fitting break while we were down in a badddd part of town and I drove the car home on ZERO oil pressure for a good 20 miles. At the time I was more worried about pulling over and waiting in the hood for a tow truck or leaving it over night for it to get stolen. Long story short, that motor ran like a gem for another 4 years until I swapped it out for a bigger one.

Back to the OP, I have done a couple of similar things. Fired the car up without putting the new filter on...no idea how I did that. Must have gotten side tracked. And the other caused me to check it every single time now to this day. The old filter o-ring stuck on the motor and when I put the new one on, I didn't notice it and ended up with overlapping o-rings. Well, I sure noticed when I drove it around the block and noticed it was pumping royal purple all over the street, my folks driveway and who knows where else.

From that point on I will never do something like that again.

And yes, I felt like a total tard screwing up an oil change.

edit, in regards to filling the filter with oil, I have never done it mainly because some oil usually spills out. I typically add 90% of the spec'd oil amount to an empty motor and fresh filter. Then start the car and let if idle for about 10 seconds and then fill as needed to reach full. Everyone has their own process.