Andyk13089

First off this is my first post.

Hi forum! I am the proud owner of a new (to me) 1990 IROC-Z. It has the L98 in it and I recently ran into some trouble. The story: I picked up the car and brought it to a mechanic (no names until the issue has been resolved) that my family has been using for quite some time to have the car checked out. I had a muffler bracket fixed, wheel bearings checked out, break work, oil change, pretty much just standard stuff since the car has almost 100,000 miles on it. The car ran fine on the way back home and for the few days after the checkup. The problem started while driving to Baton Rouge from Lafayette on the causeway. I noticed the smell of burning oil. I looked at my oil pressure gauge and it was rapidly dropping to zero. I got it off the bridge and pulled over. I pulled the dipstick and it was dry. It seems to be an issue with the oil filter (not on tight enough, defective?) and had sprayed oil all over the under-side of my car, on the exhaust etc. (sorry if i am getting long winded). I called a family member to bring me some oil (5 qts.) so i could limp it up the road to a service station (about 1 mile, the engine ran dry for about 2-3 miles on a bridge with almost no shoulder). I got it home on a flatbed. My question is, how likely is it that i have engine damage. The engine never ran funny, and i stopped as soon as i could. My dad recommended to go have a compression test done, can you guys offer any advice? I did not drive the car enough to check it out after putting the oil back in as i did not want to risk further damage, but the oil pressure jumped back up to normal after putting more in.

Pat Hall

iTrader: (31)

Heck, I'd just make sure the oil filter is tight enough, also check the drain plug on the oil pan to make sure it's tight. Then just drive it normally. Compression check really isn't necessary. The 1st thing that's usually affected when a motor runs out of oil is the connecting rod bearings. As long as you don't hear any knocking sounds after firing it up again, everything should be fine. I've ran a couple of motors out of oil over the years, and every time it was a rod that started to knock and the lifters would start tapping. I got really lucky on one of those motors. It started knocking right before an exit on the freeway. I got off at the exit and put several quarts of oil back in it, and the knocking went away, thank goodness. I only ran it long enough to pull into the gas station right there, maybe another minute after the knocking started. If it'd been ran much longer, I'm sure that would've been it for that motor. So yeah, chances are if the knocking quit after you topped the oil back off, you should be fine.

Andyk13089

Thanks for the reply Pat, hopefully there is no damage. Of course the Mechanic wants us to bring the car back to him but right now I am kind of hesitant.

burnout88

You probably did not run it totally dry. If it was totally dry you would have heard it for sure. Might have had about quart or two still in it. Not ideal but it probably saved you.