So I recently rebuilt my 2006 Evo engine and everyone was going good until a couple days ago my oil return line came off my oil cooler. I noticed the oil light come on so I pulled over immediately and shut the car down. I'm always watching my revs so it can't have been very long until I turned the car off. I'm guess it ran without oil for 15 seconds maximum.
I got the car towed home and drained all the oil, there was maybe a quart in there still. I looked for any metal specs and I didn't really see any. I reattached the hose and filled it with oil and started it up and it started fine. No odd noises when I originally saw the light go on and none now, not even a lifter tick.
However what has me worried is that I had to take off the oil line again and the oil cooler drained since it filled up and I put a drain pan underneath and did notice what I'm pretty sure are gold metal specs.
I'm not sure if that is bearing material or if it's just typical metal specs you would see in a motor being broken in - it doesn't even have 100 miles yet.
Could damage have been done to the bearings after 15 seconds max without new oil? Or are the metal specs I see likely normal from breaking it in. I'm wondering why I see metal specs from the oil cooler (the oil feed line was still connected to the oil cooler, just not the return line) now when I didn't see any when I first drained the remaining oil. Also noteworthy is that before I was using a standard 30w oil (AMSOil break in oil) and when I refilled it I used Mobile 1 5w-30 (will be switching to Amsoil soon).
Any thoughts on if 15 seconds is enough to cause a rod knock (why I rebuilt the engine in the first place) or bearing damage? Anything in terms of checking the oil/filters I could do? I know I could take off the oil pan and check the bearings but I no longer have access to a garage and it's a decently big job so it's not really an option.
Thanks, sorry for the long post but I wanted to include all the details.
I got the car towed home and drained all the oil, there was maybe a quart in there still. I looked for any metal specs and I didn't really see any. I reattached the hose and filled it with oil and started it up and it started fine. No odd noises when I originally saw the light go on and none now, not even a lifter tick.
However what has me worried is that I had to take off the oil line again and the oil cooler drained since it filled up and I put a drain pan underneath and did notice what I'm pretty sure are gold metal specs.
I'm not sure if that is bearing material or if it's just typical metal specs you would see in a motor being broken in - it doesn't even have 100 miles yet.
Could damage have been done to the bearings after 15 seconds max without new oil? Or are the metal specs I see likely normal from breaking it in. I'm wondering why I see metal specs from the oil cooler (the oil feed line was still connected to the oil cooler, just not the return line) now when I didn't see any when I first drained the remaining oil. Also noteworthy is that before I was using a standard 30w oil (AMSOil break in oil) and when I refilled it I used Mobile 1 5w-30 (will be switching to Amsoil soon).
Any thoughts on if 15 seconds is enough to cause a rod knock (why I rebuilt the engine in the first place) or bearing damage? Anything in terms of checking the oil/filters I could do? I know I could take off the oil pan and check the bearings but I no longer have access to a garage and it's a decently big job so it's not really an option.
Thanks, sorry for the long post but I wanted to include all the details.
