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Running On Low Oil

SamCappo

SamCappo

Messages
23
I've never owned a performance petrol car before, thought I would check the oil after hearing some wierd noises for the first time in 7 weeks and I was near enough empty !

Absolute cock up on my behalf, I didnt know a car could burn so much oil, I've done about 1800 miles since I picked it up from the dealer having just had a service. I checked the oil when I picked it up and it was full and beautifully clean.

Have I done any damage to my engine? What precautions should I take now? Ive obviously put some oil in but is there anything else i should do? Feel like such a noob :(

Really appreciate your responses!!
 
Empty as in at the bottom marker or off the bottom of the dipstick?

The manual states that a litre every 800 miles is acceptable, so yeah worth checking. If you are burning that much though it might be worth trying a 5w-40 on your next service as I guess what you have in now is pretty thin.

Hard to say really if you've done any damage. Does it run OK now? Any rattles or knocks? You could have jumped some teeth on the chain, as the tensioner works on oil pressure. You could have damaged the bottom end bearings with them being starved of oil. Could come up with random issues like sticking lifters, etc.

Hard to say whether it is worth getting it stripped down to check, as you may have been lucky and it might be fine.
 
Bottom of the dipstick pal.

It runs okay, I had a moment of rattling with increased revs and loss of power but was very difficult to tell what it was because it was torrential rain and couldn't hear anything, this was shortly after I filled it back up with oil .Had no severe bangs or knocks. I've put in a good 2L of oil had a 40mile run in it this morning and no issues except the one explained above, just checked oil and seems to be on the money between the 2 markers.

I'll sit with it but if I hear anything again I'll take her in. Could have been running it with low oil for a few hundred miles that's why I'm worried!

Thanks again mate
 
I've always had nearly new cars on service plans etc and none of them have been high performance. Never knew a car could burn so much oil haha!!!
 
I wouldn't worry about it mate to be fair. I mean what's done is done now anyway. But ive done it before on an old CRX, so much so the car dipped out of vtec under hard cornering due to oil surge and then fired back into vtec as the car straightened up. Providing you have filled it with oil again it will more than likely be ok. Mine was, fortunately.

Good luck though.


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As said above you may have been lucky and got away with it.

I check mine every 2 weeks or so, you eventually get an understanding of how much oil your engine uses. I know that I can drive mine without having to top it up for around 3000 miles. Some however do tend to drink a bit.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys I really appreciate it!

As I said it's all new to me owning a car like this, it's a bit of a learning curve!

This car makes me so happy (ha gayyy) and i want to make sure i look after it, someone offered me 6,500 in cash for it the other day and I wouldn't part! Should hold its value, so rare in Cornwall especially the premiers.

Im really paranoid and check the oil every day now haha!!! It's running perfectly and you've both made me feel much better about it.

Thanks again :)
 
I would have snapped their arm off haha. Unfortunately they will drop in price with the new Honda models coming out and being able to pick up a pre-facelift EP3 now for around £1500 is daunting.
 
I paid 6k for it 2 months ago so the 500 quid profit wasn't worth it considering how much fun I'm having!
 
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