Mechanic gave me car with no oil in engine!

[Bret Goodfellow]

OK, I'm a little freaked out. Just moved to a new town, and had a new mechanic replace the oil filter housing gasket. Please, no jokes about what I should have done. Anyway, my wife (her car) picked up the 2001 BMW z3 M roadster, and drove it about .1 miles, and saw that the oil light was on. She drove it back to the shop another .1 miles. Long story short, the mechanic said that since the engine had synthetic oil, there should be no issue with the engine. He did agree to doing a free compression test on the //M. The Roadster has 30,000 miles and has had no issues with performance, or using oil. Question: what are the specs on the cylinder compression for this vehicle? Should I be concerned about more than the compression test?

 

[Antm72]

Hi Brett and welcome I can not answer the compression figures question but running the engine for any length if time without oil is bad I'm sure the compression test may be fine but I would be more concerned with the crankshaft bearings and other internal bits with out oil they are metal on metal.
I would be looking for the mistake to be documented in writing or even having some one strip the sump pan and check them.
It's expensive car and a failure to have go for someone else's negligence.
I'm sure others will advise @t-tony @Lee

Tagged a few members they should be along soon to advise hope all goes well

 

[mrscalex]

I’m a bit confused what the issues are:

• Is the engine still running well or are there specific concerns?
• What is the significance of the compression test compared with reporting the oil light and having a wider check done on the engine?
• What explanation and comments did the mechanic give? Again the synthetic oil sounds like a red herring
• Have the error codes been checked?

If the sump oil sensor was knocked during the oil change it may know be giving false alarms. I have a car that gives false alarms.

 

[Cooper]

as per above but I think it will be OK, she didn't drive far. I saw a guy once run the engine with no oil to see how long it would take to shut down, took 3 hours! I hope nothing is damaged though

 

[Ianmc]

Which oil light was on? On the S54 there is an amber telling oil needs topping up, and a red saying stop engine immediately. If its the former, no concern. If the latter, something is very wrong.

 

[Pingu]

It's an American M, so it is probably an S52 or an S50B30. @Bret Goodfellow - please confirm your engine type.

Re the post - running any engine without oil WILL damage it. The extent of the damage is down to how the engine was run while it had no oil.

You will only know the answer from a full engine stripdown, but oil analysis should give you a guide. A compression check will show nothing of significance that relates to running the engine without oil for two miles.

The main areas that I would be concerned would be oil pump, crank shells, big-end shells, camshaft bearings. I would not expect journal damage in two miles, but I would expect excessive bearing wear.

A sample of the oil that is in the engine should be sent for analysis as soon as possible.

In the unlikely event that you have some used oil from before the "oil change", you should send that as well.

 

[Cooper]

It's an American M, so it is probably an S52 or an S50B30. @Bret Goodfellow - please confirm your engine type.

Re the post - running any engine without oil WILL damage it. The extent of the damage is down to how the engine was run while it had no oil.

You will only know the answer from a full engine stripdown, but oil analysis should give you a guide. A compression check will show nothing of significance that relates to running the engine without oil for two miles.

The main areas that I would be concerned would be oil pump, crank shells, big-end shells, camshaft bearings. I would not expect journal damage in two miles, but I would expect excessive bearing wear.

A sample of the oil that is in the engine should be sent for analysis as soon as possible.

In the unlikely event that you have some used oil from before the "oil change", you should send that as well.

I think it only ran 0.2 miles right?

 

[Pingu]

Sorry - I didn't see the .

Either way, get an oil sample. Quick Google search = https://www.blackstone-labs.com/free-test-kits.php

$28 for piece of mind or $28 to use as evidence that you need a stripdown.

Most people know that most engine wear is caused in the first 10 seconds, so starting an engine without oil is a big no-no.

 

[Ianmc]

It's an American M, so it is probably an S52 or an S50B30. @Bret Goodfellow - please confirm your engine type.

Re the post - running any engine without oil WILL damage it. The extent of the damage is down to how the engine was run while it had no oil.

You will only know the answer from a full engine stripdown, but oil analysis should give you a guide. A compression check will show nothing of significance that relates to running the engine without oil for two miles.

The main areas that I would be concerned would be oil pump, crank shells, big-end shells, camshaft bearings. I would not expect journal damage in two miles, but I would expect excessive bearing wear.

A sample of the oil that is in the engine should be sent for analysis as soon as possible.

In the unlikely event that you have some used oil from before the "oil change", you should send that as well.

As a 2001 M, it's likely to be an S54 in USA as well as Europe.

 

[mrscalex]

Where has the OP said that the car was run with no oil in it? It remains unclear to me what did happen.

All he's said is that the oil warning light came on? There are other reasons for that than the car having no oil.

 

[Redline]

Where has the OP said that the car was run with no oil in it? It remains unclear to me what did happen.

All he's said is that the oil warning light came on? There are other reasons for that than the car having no oil.

The thread title implies the car was handed back with no oil.
I guess the commonly held view is that oil is there only to lubricate the pistons hence the focus is on the compression in the original thread.
To put no oil in after a filter change is remarkably incompetent. Too little oil still not good but better than none.
If it was run without oil and then filled - will any test be conclusive? Any debris is likely to have been substantially diluted.
Not sure how long you would expect it to take to light the low oil pressure warning. Having just had a filter change it’s reasonable to assume a problem not an impending catastrophic failure.
Did the mechanic move the car after completing the work?

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

I think it only ran 0.2 miles right?

You are correct. .2 miles (point 2 miles). The engine was bone dry (NO OIL). This happened 2 weeks ago, and the BMW shop has agreed to do a pressure check. The car seems to run fine, with no weird sounds from engine. Doesn't a mechanic shop have liability insurance for this type of thing?

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

The motor had no oil. Bone dry.

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

I guess I'm looking for guidance. I asked for a 2 year warranty on motor, and shop said they couldn't do that, but they will do a compression check.

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

He said they didn't drive it. it was moved from shop to parking lot.

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

Uhm, there was no oil. When my wife drove it back (.2 miles total), the BMW shop filled it with oil.

 

[FRANKIE]

Uhm, there was no oil. When my wife drove it back (.2 miles total), the BMW shop filled it with oil.

I don't believe anyone can give you the answer you want to hear. Most information indicates that the greatest amount of engine wear occurs during the first moments of a cold engine startup before the oil has a chance to circulate through the engine to lubricate it. It would be logical to assume that perhaps you had 5 to 10 minutes of engine running time without proper oil lubrication. I think there are 2 small things in your favor. One is that if the car was moved from its parking place to where it was worked on, the car wasn't stone cold without any lubrication for hours meaning that there might have beem a MINOR amount of oil that had just recently coated moving parts. The second thing is that as you have mentioned, synthetic oil was used. As this has significantly greater coating and surface protection capabilities, it might have given a slightly better chance of reducing any damage to moving parts. I feel that the unfortuate problem here is that any damage that was done might have been so slight that it might not be detectable at the moment but sever enough to possibly shorten the life of your engine and might not show up for months or even years................................Frankie
PS. Welcome to the forum from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Are you anywhere near me?

 

[mrscalex]

It wasn't entirely clear from the post itself. I was hoping we had all misunderstood. Sometimes people post messages on here thinking x happened when it didn't.

I don't think there's any easy resolution here. I'd start big and ask for compensation to pay for a new engine. And if they refuse I'd get an independent assessment that would hold up if it went to court.

In the meantime if your car still drives normally you may well have been very, very lucky. But it still doesn't mean to say the engine hasn't suffered premature wear.

But a compression test alone would fall well short of proving damage to eg crankshaft bearings and the camshafts. I think they are trying to avoid homing in on potential damage with a test they hope the car will pass so they can fob you off.

 

[Lee]

I’m with @Pingu here. You now need to do an oil analysis to determine if there’s any damage to the shells or other components. Of course the garage needs to fit all the bills, they also need to offer a garentee that the engine is then in a healthy condition. That effectively will double up as a warranty if any further faults come up.

 

[Bret Goodfellow]

The thread title implies the car was handed back with no oil.
I guess the commonly held view is that oil is there only to lubricate the pistons hence the focus is on the compression in the original thread.
To put no oil in after a filter change is remarkably incompetent. Too little oil still not good but better than none.
If it was run without oil and then filled - will any test be conclusive? Any debris is likely to have been substantially diluted.
Not sure how long you would expect it to take to light the low oil pressure warning. Having just had a filter change it’s reasonable to assume a problem not an impending catastrophic failure.
Did the mechanic move the car after completing the work?

The work done on the //M was for an oil filter housing gasket. Oil needs to be drained to perform this work. The mechanic just did not put oil back in after the job was done.