I was personally changing the engine oil for the first time. (It has been changed by mechanics in the past.)
I installed an oil filter that I thought was the right one, put in the correct amount of oil, and started the car to check that everything is okay before I put the underbody plastic shield back on.
Very soon, I heard a splash and the low oil pressure warnings turned on. I quickly turned off the car, but I'm guessing the car ran for 10 seconds before I realized the situation and shut it down.
I was greeted with a pool of engine oil under the car. Upon inspection, it turns out the oil filter was not the correct one, and even though it is threaded on tight, there is still a 2mm gap between the gasket and the mounting surface. So the engine probably had 10 seconds of having no oil on idle.
After purchasing another jug of oil and a correct oil filter (driving a different car), and finishing the oil change, the car seems to operate normally...
So, since technically, everything causes "damage" in an engine even when everything is operating nominally (just very small damage over time), my question is "how severe is it? Is this something I should be worried about if I never let this happen again? Is it equivalent to like 10 normal startups during freezing weather or something, or way worse?"
Thanks
10 seconds is nothing. Don't worry about it
Yup, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The good thing is you stopped the engine before any clanging noises or smoke.
When you say you added a jug, you mean a quart leaked out? Or all the oil in the engine leaked out & the engine was running dry for 10 seconds?
InThrustWeTrust,
I filled the engine with 5 quarts. Started the car, heard a splash and saw the warning message, shut off the car. Didn't time it but I'm guessing 10 seconds between startup and shutdown.
I opened the drain plug and barely any oil came out. So the entire 5 quart jug ended up on the floor.
I'm guessing the oil pump sends the oil through the filter before the oil goes to the engine, and since the filter wasn't sealing against the mount, I'm guessing no oil made it past the filter. So the engine only had whatever remained inside it from before the oil change.
Yeah if it’s running normally since, consider yourself lucky. At most, it may have shortened the life span of the internal components by a tiny amount.