How To Tell If An Engine Is Damaged From No Oil?

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In this article, you will learn how to tell if an engine is damaged from no oil. The engine of a vehicle can get damaged due to several possible reasons, including lack of oil, or not using the specified engine oil.

Oil is the “blood” of any engine; for an engine to do its job efficiently, it needs oil. In contrast, when there’s no oil in an engine, it is bound to damage. So, what are the signs that depict engine damage was caused due to lack of oil?

There are quite many ways to tell this; when you look at a damaged engine caused due to no oil, you’d notice that some components are cracked or broken. Also, the engine’s look can clearly tell if it’s been running with oil or not.

Signs Your Engine Is Running With Low Oil

Before an engine would get damaged due to no oil, it must have exhibited various signs, which the driver ignored. These signs are explained below.

1. Check Engine Light

The most common sign that indicates something is wrong with a crucial part of your car is when the “Check Engine” light/symbol illuminates on your dashboard.

This sign tells you to check your car’s engine for possible errors – the troubleshooting should include checking the oil level.

2. Oil Pressure Warning Light

This feature is not available in most older vehicles; however, if your car has the oil pressure icon on its dashboard, its illumination indicated that something is not right with the oil in your engine.

You don’t need to worry if your car doesn’t feature an oil pressure icon on the dashboard – your check engine icon would illuminate, instead.

3. Loud Grinding Noise

The engine comprises many moving parts, which all need to be constantly lubricated.

When there’s not enough oil in the engine to keep the parts lubricated, you’d most likely hear them grind against each other as the engine tries to perform its regular activities.

4. Engine Overheating

Apparently, one of the things to happen when your car is running low on oil is “overheating.” This happens because there is increased friction in the engine as the moving parts find it difficult to grind smoothly due to low/no oil.

Engine overheating is a serious issue that can total an engine if not fixed as early as supposed. Merely refilling new oil can solve this, but in some cases, you need to get a mechanic to do his job.

Now, let’s quickly look at how to tell if an engine is damaged from no oil!

How To Tell If An Engine Is Damaged From No Oil

From what is said above, if you used to hear loud grinding noise before the engine got damaged, chances are that the damage was due to lack of oil.

Similarly, if your car was overheating before the engine got totaled, that’s another clear indication that the damage was due to low or no oil.

More so, if you see an engine that has not been functioning with sufficient oil, you’d easily detect that because the interior parts would be very dry and somewhat rusty.

To prevent this, when your car is low on oil, do not attempt to start it; try to refill the oil reservoir before starting the car. It is cheaper to maintain a healthy oil change interval than replacing a totaled engine – caused due to poor oil check/change routine.

Can a Damaged Engine Be Remedied?

Truth be told, a totaled engine cannot be remedied. You cannot fix an engine that is already damaged.

However, if you are proactive, you would have detected when the engine started showing signs of failure – at the earlier stage, whatever could be the issue, can be remedied. But, once the engine is knocked or damaged, no further repairs can be done.