did we hurt the engine?

[BerniniCaCO3]

We now have 3 cars in the stable: 2 box wagons, one mine, one my sister's; and a little 89 tracer for fuel economy.
Well, now that my sister is commuting much further with the tracer, she loaned out her wagon.
We got it back last month, after Lee had borrowed it for a couple of months or so, and noticed the check engine light flickering.
On an '89 colony park, there aren't many possible causes and none of them good. The 89 computer and prior is pretty crudely simple that way iirc.

Well, after a 2 mile drive to the store, I check the dipstick and find it dry. It was sucking up air depending on which way the decreasing reservoir of oil was sloshing, and flickering on and off as it pulled air and then oil.

It's been a month and it's still running (don't worry, I had her top off the oil from the adjacent gas station right then and there), we're pretty pissed at Lee for never even mentioning it "well, I was looking at the road when I was using it... I didn't see any lights on..." NO, the light had to have started to come on before that first trip that we had it back.

What's the likelihood of lasting damage to bearings, crank, etc. having already been done?
At least, it had SOME oil and wasn't totally dry, but it surely couldn't have been far away.

Won't change a damned thing one way or another, but if peace of mind that our engine's OK is to be had, we'll welcome it.

[t65neon5]

ok....first thing ....don't let "others" borrow your car (it invariably always ends up bad) ...that being said,check for metal shavings in the oil,better yet do an oil change (it probably needs one after being run that low anyways)......when you first start it after the oil change,listen for any noise....if it is worse than before(worse that it sounded the last oil change)then I would say yes........also, replace the rear drain plug with a magnetic one,and put a magnet in your drain pan and check it after awhile and see what you get....on a high mileage motor expect to see a very small amount of metal shavings,but if you get a furball, well, you got a problem........and check for leaks and oil burning...it has to be going somewhere

[johnunit]

that pretty much covers all the bases.


And yeah, don't give a car, especially an old car, to anyone to borrow, ever. It virtually always ends in tears. You basically are giving them a rental car for free.

[sly]

+1 screw your friends if they want your car. Give them rides if you must, but don't let them have the car for any longer than a grocery run. If you must, go over ALL the ongoing issues (topping off oil every few tanks of gas, etc)... and possibly write up a short loaner contract for them to sign saying any neglect related repairs are theirs to cover.

+1 definitely change the oil. Yourself if you can so you can check it for shiny metal bits. If it sounds normal running down the road, I wouldn't worry too much. Lopos are pretty tough.

[Mainemantom]

I agree with all the above. If someone wants to borrow my car, I say that in an emergency I will drive them where they need to go. They will NOT use my car. It is amazing that when you loan your car, something gets messed up. The best you will get is "I am sorry" What you normally get is nothing. It is bad enough when someone is a passenger in your car, and they break something, and say nothing.
If the person gets mad at you for saying no, too bad, so sad for them.

[Lincolnmania]

it might be ok, as long as it had some oil in it.......def change the oil and filter

i lend cars out but only to a select few, and they know if it breaks they fix it, got one out on loan now, he knows if he messes it up beyond repair he owes me 2 grand lol

[miamibob]

"Neither a lender nor borrower be!" Translation? You get one of my cars over my dead body!!!

[jaywish]

Yea, when i loan out a car I usually expect problems. Especially to the wife. But i do not know what to do about that.

[miamibob]

Yea, when i loan out a car I usually expect problems. Especially to the wife. But i do not know what to do about that.

Now THAT is a tough one! Not maried but the girlfriend keeps Body Shops in business so she wouldn't even ask!

[turbo2256b]

Couple things..how much oil did it need to fill it to the mark....3 qts or less usally no issues. 4 4 1/2 not good.
How hard was it driven high RPM hard driving with 2 qts or less in an engine could be dammaging.

[tjc78]

Change the oil and drive it. If it's quiet its probably fine.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Especially chinese friends (of which my sister has many). Err, not to be racist, but it seems every chinese friend of hers has created car troubles for themselves and doesn't know how to buy, drive, or care for a car.

Unfortunately my sister took it for its oil change, soon after the event, and while I asked her to ask the shop to check the oil that came out of it, either she or they forgot to do so. I'll never know now (unless it continues to develop fresh shavings).

It took one quart to get to the end of the dipstick, 2 to get close to the mark. I made her buy oil as soon as we got to the restaurant, and not drive it back home to "just add some later," hah.

[gadget73]

If its not knocking, its fine. If there was any real damage done, you'd know about it already. Change the oil and filter, carry on.

Also, fix the "check oil" light if the vehicle is so equipped. It helps stave off this sort of crap since it comes on a quart low instead of 3-4 quarts low when its sucking air. Honestly that is a feature I think more vehicles should have had. Its one of the few truly useful idiot lights.

[sick88tbird]

On a "toughness" related issue...these old 5.0's really can take some abuse...the 5.0 in my old '88 T-bird(I bought it with 178K mi on the original engine) had a little knock and the oil pressure was a little on the low side at a warm idle...I babied it for a year, then put a T-5 in it...then I had a 351W on the engine stand for it and proceeded to abuse the hell out of it...burned tires all over town, barking the tires shifting to 2nd...about a year of that abuse and it was still a strong runner when I pulled it. I've heard a LOT of neglected 5.0's start knocking around 100k miles and if maintained properly, they'll go another 100k if not drag raced regularly.

Good luck
-Don