Coworker ran car dry of oil....

[SteveSRT8]

All our GM fleet vehicles have a very low psi cutout that will pull the spark when the engine has no oil pressure. I am sure many other brands have similar protections.

However, even a quart or two is enough to drive around on. Still not a good idea...

 

[Lubener]

I would be trading it in.

 

[mk378]

Shutdown features to protect the engine are generally not implemented on cars. The paradigm of car design is that if the driver wants to or needs to burn up the engine, let them and have them buy a new car. If it were to shut down early or even falsely in the middle of a freeway leading to a crash, the car company would get sued.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Wonder if it died purely from no oil or if there is some sort of fail safe that shuts the engine down to protect it.


I had a 1991 Ford Ranger 3.0 that had a low oil level sensor that produced a warning light. Generators have the low oil shut off, but do any automotive engine have that feature. Safety problem?

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: gregk24
One of my coworkers recently had her 2011 Sonata die on the way to work. She explained what happened and the first thing I though was that the engine seized up (huge recall related to this). Turns out she ran it out of oil!


Obligatory woman driver comment.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Wonder if it died purely from no oil or if there is some sort of fail safe that shuts the engine down to protect it.


There is no fail safe.

That motor is pooched.

Imagine if a vehicle engine had something like this and it failed, causing the driver to crash or get hit?

 

[GMFan]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Let Chad and his 40 weight deal with this thing.


Agreed. I wouldn't touch this car with a 10 foot pole. Pretty unfortunate to hear of a 2011 car already in such bad shape.

 

[mk378]

A Hyundai reaches "metal tonnage" resale value around year 4. Any miles you can get after that are bonus.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: mk378
Shutdown features to protect the engine are generally not implemented on cars. The paradigm of car design is that if the driver wants to or needs to burn up the engine, let them and have them buy a new car. If it were to shut down early or even falsely in the middle of a freeway leading to a crash, the car company would get sued.


Virtually any GM vehicle with an oil life monitor has an oil level sensor in the sump. That's a lot of cars.

All our GM fleet trucks have the low oil pressure shutdown feature. That's a lot of trucks, too.

 

[meep]

Not necessarily pooched. My FIL ran a chrysler 3.5 dry on I-40. It seized. dipstick was dry. He walked back with a few quarts of oil and it started up. They drove that car for another 10 years, adding another 100k on it. Now... it carried a lope at idle, which actually felt pretty sexy since it was an LHS with the engine pointed longitudinally, so the car rocked as it should at idle. But anyway, it damaged the motor as visible at idle but did not kill it.

-m

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Let Chad and his 40 weight deal with this thing.


Exactly! When you get involved in things like this it usually doesn't end well. At best you don't get the blame for any future issues because of your advice or worse a knuckle sandwich from Chad.

 

[PeterPolyol]

Originally Posted By: mk378
A Hyundai reaches "metal tonnage" resale value around year 4. Any miles you can get after that are bonus.

B-b-b-but JD Powers highest initial quality

 

[gregk24]

Surprise surprise, her engine seized up! Sounds like it is covered under the extended warranty.

 

[irv]

Originally Posted By: gregk24
Surprise surprise, her engine seized up! Sounds like it is covered under the extended warranty.


Great news for her!