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How Long Can a Car Engine Run Without Oil Before Getting Damaged?

The short answer is, your car won’t run more than 15 minutes without engine oil before some serious damage occurs to the engine components. The absence of proper lubrication may cause the metal parts in the engine to rub with each other. In a few minutes, the engine will suffer irreversible damage. Let’s find out more.

The importance of routine maintenance can’t be denied. Your car depends upon the mechanical components as well as coolants and oil to run properly. Therefore, changing the oil in a timely fashion is of paramount importance.

If there is no oil in your car, the internal combustion process will continue for a while before the engine destroys itself. Even if you don’t run your car for much longer, the engine may be seized.

Therefore, it’s not a good idea to drain your engine oil to see what happens unless you are going to get the engine replaced. If the engine is well-maintained, it may run a bit longer before you see a big cloud of smoke coming from under the bonnet. It all depends upon which part fails first.

Sings of Low Engine Oil

If you want to prevent the damage caused by the low oil, you should watch out for some common signs of low engine oil. These signs will help you make sure your car gets the attention it needs so that any damage can be prevented.

Your car has hundreds of moving components. They all rub each other as soon as you start up the engine. The role of oil is to lubricate all of these parts without too much unwanted friction. Besides, the oil may help disperse heat much faster.

The idea is to ensure that engine parts don’t heat up and continue to work. When there is not enough oil flow, you should take the right steps to prevent damage. Given below are some common symptoms that you must watch out for:

Warning lights

First of all, you should check for the warning lights. If the warning lights come on, check the oil to ensure there is enough of it in the oil chamber.

The smell of burning oil

If you smell burning oil, you should pull over and switch the engine off. In most cases, the oil is dripping on hot parts of the engine, which produces a burning oil smell. In this case, allow your car a few minutes to cool down before you check the oil level. If the oil level is low, you can top it up with fresh oil and continue to drive.

Clunking Sound

If you have low oil levels in the engine, it stops lubricate the vital engine parts. This is the point when these parts produce a grinding sound. As a result, the stick may break down producing a knocking sound under the hood.

This is one of the primary signs your engine is failing. Therefore, it’s important that you change the oil in a timely fashion and watch out for the weird sounds while driving your car.

In short, these are just some of the signs that you should watch out for if you don’t want your car engine to experience damage due to low engine oil levels.