[RAV4EVR]

I change oil at home for all my cars.
I drained my RAV's oil yesterday. I usually let it drain for about an hour.
I went out to run errands on another car.
Returned and put the new oil filter in and FORGOT TO PUT the DRAIN PLUG !!!

.... So I poured new oil in and closed the cap and started the car to let the oil circulate through the oil filter and bring car down from the ramps to check the oil level.

The oil light usually goes away in about 2 to 3 seconds... For 9 to 10 seconds it didn't and I immediately sensed that there was something wrong and shut off my engine within 10 seconds. I ran it all dry for 10 seconds !! :crying:crying

The oil apparently flowed straight down to my pan.

Luckily I had enough oil to fill it again after plugging it.

I have never had this happen before so I am in a bit of a shock.

COMMENTS? :crying

 

[Roadjunkie]

Whew! If you let it idle and did not rev it (like some people are want to do...) you probably didn't do much. Modern oils are pretty sticky and you likely had enough oil everywhere to keep things slick. If you heard a noise like someone beating on the hood with a hammer, harm was done. Ten seconds of dry running is ok. I remember reading somewhere about racers who would start a newly-overhauled engine and run it DRY until it stopped to "set the bearings"!! Just hearing that makes my stomach churn!! I think you are fine. Question: why do you let it drain for an hour? Hot oil should mostly be out fairly quickly after the plug is pulled. The 1/8 cup of old oil left is probably not worth having the drain plug out (entrance for dirt/crap) for that long. Oil change places don't do that and they change oil for a living! I usually pull mine, change the filter, clean things up, then with a SLIGHT trickle/drip still going, put the plug in and torque it. I also look under the car/truck after the first quart to see if I DID leave something loose. I HATE leaving something that I was doing undone, especially if the final steps are critical to the functioning of whatever I was working on. Comes from working on airplanes, I guess. Bottom line: relax......it's fine. Second question: didn't 4 quarts of oil coming out from under the car attract your attention.....?:? Oh, wait: your drain pan was still under there.....right. I move that out of the way when I'm done as well to look at things and to have a place for the oil to run if I DID leave the plug out....:wink:

 

[RAV4EVR]

Whew! If you let it idle and did not rev it (like some people are want to do...) you probably didn't do much. Modern oils are pretty sticky and you likely had enough oil everywhere to keep things slick. If you heard a noise like someone beating on the hood with a hammer, harm was done. Ten seconds of dry running is ok. I remember reading somewhere about racers who would start a newly-overhauled engine and run it DRY until it stopped to "set the bearings"!! Just hearing that makes my stomach churn!! I think you are fine. Question: why do you let it drain for an hour? Hot oil should mostly be out fairly quickly after the plug is pulled. The 1/8 cup of old oil left is probably not worth having the drain plug out (entrance for dirt/crap) for that long. Oil change places don't do that and they change oil for a living! I usually pull mine, change the filter, clean things up, then with a SLIGHT trickle/drip still going, put the plug in and torque it. I also look under the car/truck after the first quart to see if I DID leave something loose. I HATE leaving something that I was doing undone, especially if the final steps are critical to the functioning of whatever I was working on. Comes from working on airplanes, I guess. Bottom line: relax......it's fine. Second question: didn't 4 quarts of oil coming out from under the car attract your attention.....?:? Oh, wait: your drain pan was still under there.....right. I move that out of the way when I'm done as well to look at things and to have a place for the oil to run if I DID leave the plug out....:wink:

Didn't rev it of course. Phew !
Letting it drain for that long is just part of my OCD about cars. I want to make sure all dirty oil comes out cuz it keeps on dripping forever.

Surprisingly I didn't hear the oil fall into the oil pain as I was pouring it from the top.

I have been changing my own oil for almost 20 years now and this is the first time it happened. I will still take steps to assure that this mistake doesn't happen again.

Noise was just the noise you hear right after oil and filter change for 2-3 seconds until oil circulates but it continued for almost 9 to 10 seconds when I shut off the engine cuz the oil light staying on.

 

[Roadjunkie]

I'll just BET you never to THAT again! Learn by doing, eh? Just when you think you've done it all.....:doh:

I think your dear car will survive this one.....

 

[Aussie50]

Ouch!, poor rav!. I do not think Bluey would appreciate it if I did that to him, but it would not cause permanent harm, just like you (and I hope all of us) I run good quality oil and change often enough that if it were run for 10 seconds without pressure, the bearings will still have a film of oil on them long after that 10 seconds.
You also flooded the top end with oil when you poured the new stuff in, so the cam lobes would be just fine.


My new Hyundai ix35 goes straight to 1500rpm as soon as the engine fires, as part of the cold start system, I hate it, but I also know that the engine has good lubrication even off cold start and the bearings can tolerate that kind of abuse too, I would love to have it programmed out of the ECU, but I doubt that's something I could just get the dealer to do

 

[Voyager]

Op -


I drain my oil for an hour also.


I would venture a guess that if you did an oil analysis comparing a drop of oil that came out within the first 5 minutes and a drop of oil that came out after an hour, the later would contain the most contaminants.

 

[RAV4EVR]

Op -


I drain my oil for an hour also.


I would venture a guess that if you did an oil analysis comparing a drop of oil that came out within the first 5 minutes and a drop of oil that came out after an hour, the later would contain the most contaminants.

Absolutely.
You and I get it.
The 10 minute oil change world doesn't...

 

[Voyager]

Absolutely.
You and I get it.
The 10 minute oil change world doesn't...

The 10 min oil change works if your business model is to make as much money as you can.