(hypothetical) sudden oil loss?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi--

Just wondering how to act in the event that I'm driving and this suddenly happens.
Either a seized oil pump, or a fram filter blows off, or one of the press fit galley plugs pops out, etc.

Presumably the idiot light will come on right away. Do you have time to just pull over at earliest convenience? Should you throw it into neutral and shut the engine off, then coast over to the shoulder? And the engine can be salvaged?
Or is your engine dead the minute it looses oil at 3000 rpm?

[sly]

pull off post haste and shut it down... the sooner the better for being fixable. The residual oil in the system will lube things for a few minutes tops. I doubt more than one minute myself.

[1990LTD]

shut it off immediately. in situations where you lose all oil, you can hopefully shut it off in time before it seizes. if you try to keep going with no oil, be assured it will seize. the thin layer of oil is barely enough to lube the engine when it starts, it won't last very long at all before locking up.

[BerniniCaCO3]

when an engine locks up (I've never experienced it):

a) soft babbitt bearings of course will be shot, will your crank and camshafts themselves necessarily be goners too?

b) since the engine connects to the wheels via torque converter, will the car suddenly lurch and skid at highway speed as the rotating wheels are trying to turn over the now-seized engine?

[johnunit]

I'd think you'd have at least 10-20 seconds before serious damage was done. if the idiot light works (and you recognize that that's the issue...) you'd have time to shut it down and coast to the side of the road.

Of course if you shut it down and then use up the residual vacuum in the power brakes while manouvering to be able to pull over, that final stop is going to be dicey.

[1980c10]

I had a chevy c10 305 lock up on me. It just kept losing more and more power I pulled of the road into a parking lot and it stalled halfway across the lot and locked up. The starter would no longer turn it over nor could I turn it by hand with a large breaker. Lots and lots of bearing material in the oil pan and big peices not small and one piston was stuck in the hole with a bent rod attached.

The cause of all this a really leaky rear main seal, then I flipped the axle in the back of the truck lowering the rear about 4-5 inches and didn't have time to lower the front. So appearently sitting as down with a leaky rear main caused it to puke all the oil out in about 2 miles. It was just a temporary motor set up so I didn't have any gauges on it, I was also running open long tube headers so I couldn't really hear anything either lol.

[cld783]

if you catch it right away you should be good. i'm pretty certain i've ran my car so low on oil that it probably only circulated going uphill and in turns. I still drive it everyday and it runs like a swiss watch.

once that coating of oil drys up though, its a goner for sure.