jlm728

I have a 2000 Civic EX that I forgot to check the oil level on for a while...When I remembered to check it, it was almost 2 quarts low That was around 300-400 miles ago and it seems fine so far. I don't notice any unusual noises or anything, but I am ----ing a brick thinking my engine is gonna start knocking any day now.

Is there any chance at all that I will get out of this unscathed? I'm sure at the very least I took many miles off the life of the engine, but I kinda need it to last me at least another year :\


Thanks everyone....about the oil pressure light, it did not come on at the time I realized I was low on oil. I just checked it cause it occurred to me that I hadn't in a while. BUT a couple days later, the oil light came on when I started up the car (the engine was cold). I turned the car off, then back on and the light was gone and I havent seen it again since. I got an oil change a few days later, and again this was all a few hundred miles ago.

marcs1337

it should be ok...if you dont hear any knocking or the oil pressure light didnt come on, you should be ok

Mr.Chow

yea my gf's car runs low on oil all the time...burns about a quart every 200 miles...rings are shot, but car runs good. It's not uncommon that I'll check the oil and there will be barely anything on the dipstick...were talking below the second line.
Sounds like you're motor is either leaking, burning, or both, so just make sure you keep a diligent eye on the oil level to get a grasp on what kind of rate your motor is losing oil until you can address the real problem. As far as your question goes, as long as you're not hearing any prolonged knocking and the oil light didn't go on you'll be fine. Honda makes some of the best motors ever put together...to be honest after my experiences with my gf's car I would bet her 92 lx could run on a single quart of oil for 1000's of miles.

kp

I have found that if the oil light comes on at all, it's almost already too late. Keep some oil in your trunk in case this happens again.

jlm728

...

Marauder

Yeah, should be fine. I have done that on occasion with my turbo setup....but I always showed good oil pressure. I have a oil pressure gauge on my dash. Sometimes I guess my turbo sucks up more oil than normal.

thumper64

My car burns oil and I just keep a case behind my driver's seat. Being a quart or so low isn't too big of a deal. Your pickup is at the bottom of the pan, so all you're doing is wearing out the oil that's left. Check the oil more often! We need an emoticon of a guy being smacked upside the head.

ceezo70

Yea ur car should be fine....i've known girls that do this and car runs strong...yea i chew them out but for some reason they have the best of luck...if i would try that im sure my car will give out....haha

thumper64

Engines are pretty hearty. A friend and I took an old Briggs&Stratton lawnmower engine a few years back and drained all the oil out, filled it with sand and started revving the hell out of it. Surprisingly, it ran for like half an hour before losing so much compression it wouldn't run.

Mr.Chow

sand seriously??? wtf? I wouldn't think that would run at all.

bitek

as long as there's oil in it and oil indicator din't flash your car is good to go.. just don't drive on high rpm and make sure you put oil in it asap

94EG8

If the oil light didn't come on your probably ok.

While I somehow doubt that it ran for anywhere near half an hour with sand in it, I will say that all things considered 3 and 3.5HP briggs and stratton vertical shaft lawnmower engines are about the toughest thing you can buy regardless of what you're comparing them too. They're an aluminum block, with an aluminum bore (no sleeve) aluminum rod that runs directly on the crank journal (no rod bearing), cast iron cam run directly in the aluminum block, as does the crank. Splash lubricated, and yet you can override the govener and rev the **** out of them and they still wont blow up. Which when you consider how simple they are, combined with the fact that they're an absolutely ancient flat head design, air cooled and no pressurized lubrication, makes me pretty impressed.

hondadriver

When I got my 98 civic years ago (ricer days), I used to beat the hell out of it and one day the oil light flickered on, So i added oil and no problem and this was on the d16y7. BUT, on my JDM 2nd gen b16a, the valve seals were bad and it burned oil. i checked it all the time and added oil when neccessary, but I went a while without checking it and on a truway on ramp the oil light flickered again. So i got home, and added oil. Well a day later, I was driving to work and hard the nasty knocking sound. So I was fine once but the second time was expensive.

thumper64

There are some with cast iron sleeves. Not many, but I'd say around 1/3 of all I've had. I'm a lot more familiar with Tecumseh engines. Those were fun as the only problem I ever had was either rust on the flywheel, keeping them from getting spark, or varnish in the bowl of the carb.
It ran off and on, but still went for the better part of half an hour I'd say. I didn't get all of the oil out, but it was a sandy mess inside when I pulled it apart.
Their simplicity is probably why they are so tough. No bearings to spin, no timing chain/belt to snap, magneto ignition. For a few years I got mowers out of the trash and usually just had to clean the carb out with carb cleaner, tune it up and I sold them as fast as I could clean them up. I've taken engines with seized rings and with a little penetrating oil and a wrench, I had them loosened up and running again.

D16SiHatch

ha good story ^. who thinks to dump the oil out and run sand. thats good stuff right there lol.

To the op: i think you should be fine. when i was getting ready to do my b-swap i would drive my d16a6 till the oil light came on and then i'd fill her back up again. i didnt care if it blew up cause i was so close to swapping, and my rings were toast anyways. It never did blow up and i ended up sellin the block to a friend for $30 as is.

My only concern is with the D16Y# engines it's much more common ro spin rod bearings, then the older d-series engines. i imagine you should still be fine though.

Dann6968

Don't worry, these engines are tough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyAwFw0eXwE

g33ky97

if you have a car that burns/leaks, you should make it a habit to add a 1/2 quart or so every 2 weeks... obviously depending on how bad your problem is.

of course, you'll still have oil all over your driveway.

leoaa777

yes, its gonna die..bwahaha..idiot.

Dann6968

...only if it leaks.

B16Power

Ran my 2000 Si about 2-3 times until the oil light came on because the oil control rings had seized up and was consuming oil, but nothing ever came bad or different of it, so I guess your either lucky or your not just depends how hard you run it on those low oil levels.

BlackDeuceCoupe

LoL!

A friend of mine (in high school) got pissed at his brother, because he went away for the summer, and didn't leave him the keys to his car so he could run around.

He poured a 5 lb. bag of sugar down his gas tank, and it sat in there for 3 months. When his brother returned home, the car started up and ran just fine!

I dunno...

There are 2 sure ways to wreck a motor - run it without oil and/or run it without water. However, that's a whole different situation from running it low on water and oil.

I'd just change your oil & filter ASAP, and pay more attention in the future...