How bad is riding with no oil?

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Shirou

Shirou

京平
This morning my sportbike started fine then stalled, you know, the usual when it's cold.
Then it won't start again no matter what. Puzzled I went to check the fluids and surprise, there is absolutely no oil visible in the sight glass with the bike standing straight.
I was riding yesterday afternoon and nothing seemed off or sounded weird. I was riding hard on some parts going back home. I'm sure the engine isn't seized or anything like that because the starter motor cranks but it won't start.
Last time I checked the oil level it was midway between the higher and the lower lines.
How fucked am I?
 
It's seized you say?

I'm not a mechanic but I could imagine its the same as fixing a car - Strip strip and rebuild the engine
 
Not really fucked. Filler er up and rider her easy - check out if any new noises developed.
If it starts and runs normally, you problably didnt have much damage. Not really sure how it is on your bike, but if it had no oil while riding home, you'd have felt it in the clutch, aye? You problably have just a tiny bit - the bare minimum.
Manufacturers always have the minimum recomended oil level set VERY conservatively - to help prevent engine seizures from less carefull owners.
 
Maybe this had something to do? Do bikes stop working on trips? I'm not even trolling.
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Quints get.

Now I need to go buy some oil. Motul 7100 is good enough? It's full synth. And expensive. I think I owe this bike some good oil.
 
Id be getting your oil light switch checked at same time.
If it cranked over then u fine, do as Cager said. Take it easy for a bit, if you see smoke, whatch for when its coming out (accell/Idle/on take-off).

I think u should be fine tho, what your mtr did, with the engine hot, all partsd are expanded, oil helps cool. Well you can guess the rest.

Good luck with it, spose youll be doin your 'Pre-ride' checks more often now huh?
> : )
 
Crank it BY HAND and check you've got 360 degrees there, before you start it.

Running it without oil is all kinds of bad. You might get lucky, or it might be a new engine...

If you don't know what you're doing, then get someone who does.
 
It's most likely just very low. It only takes a few minutes of running, especially if you're running hard, to completely fuck the motor if there's literally no oil in it. There's a small chance that you've managed to burn the rings out, or burn a hole in the pistons, but frankly if you did that much damage you would have noticed the stench and the ridiculous amount of smoke coming from the exhaust. The chances of running a motor dry and causing a catastrophic failure, so that it will not run at all, WITHOUT seizing the motor are incredibly slim. I'd definitely fill the oil back up and put a compression tester on the cylinders to see what they're putting out. That's the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to figure out whether or not the pistons are hosed. Besides, as was said before, if it really did go dry the clutch would have felt a whole lot different.
 
If something bad had happened, you would have heard a huge metallic bang/clunk as the pistons smashed into the overhead cam (exactly what I did to my XL100 back in 1985)

The engine should still start, but you will hear the bent pistons smashing against the other metal parts in the engine instead of being smooth.

I hope you been lucky bro.
 
Would be a good idea to drain the oil and see how much is actually in there and compare it to how much is supposed to be in there, also check to see if the oil looks "sparkly". Then fill it up with some cheap oil and ride on that for a couple days. Again drain and check the oil for particulates (sparkly), check to see if the filter has caught a lot of particulates, and if you have a magnetic oil drain plug check it for excessive particulate material. If all looks good then change the oil and filter with some quality stuff and ride!
 
I think I should post an update on this.
The bike is sitting in my backyard, haven't touched it lately.
I thought on changing the oil and filter but I don't have the needed tools (torque wrench being a mandatory tool to do the job and it's impossible to get one where I live). I do have the replacement filter and need to buy the oil.
I also checked the service schedule and seems like the bike will be out of order for a while. EVERYTHING there is supposed to be done at 6000 miles. I did nothing.
You guys may say, "just take it to a mechanic". Problem is I don't know any and I don't trust them. Had SO MANY problems with the family cars thanks to the local mechanics.

So, I noticed the bike has been leaking oil from the oil filter cover. It's not the first time that happens. Back in January, 3 weeks after I got the bike I was so pissed to come back home after a week long vacation and find a patch of oil under the bike. I cleaned everything and tightened the cover. Seems like it got leaky again.

For the time being I'm just going to clean it and wait until I have everything I need on hand to complete the service procedures on the service chart.
This will take some time now that we're in holidays and anything ordered online will get delayed.

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Shirou said:
I thought on changing the oil and filter but I don't have the needed tools (torque wrench being a mandatory tool to do the job and it's impossible to get one where I live). I do have the replacement filter and need to buy the oil.
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Torque wrenches are rarely actually mandatory. Service manuals will tell you to apply a specified amount of torque just to cover their asses in most cases. I've seen the most inane things tell you to use a torque wrench. Like the lug nuts. You don't need a torque wrench for that crap. 90% of the time getting a bolt tight is good enough. In some cases there has to be a specific amount of pressure, but usually speaking the torque values are there to keep you from stripping the threads while making sure it's tight enough to not back out. Only time I've ever felt justified in actually using one is on the axle bolts on the front wheel. Don't want to crush/pinch the bearings in there. Never used, or needed, one for an oil change.
 
Trinith said:
Torque wrenches are rarely actually mandatory. Service manuals will tell you to apply a specified amount of torque just to cover their asses in most cases. I've seen the most inane things tell you to use a torque wrench. Like the lug nuts. You don't need a torque wrench for that crap. 90% of the time getting a bolt tight is good enough. In some cases there has to be a specific amount of pressure, but usually speaking the torque values are there to keep you from stripping the threads while making sure it's tight enough to not back out. Only time I've ever felt justified in actually using one is on the axle bolts on the front wheel. Don't want to crush/pinch the bearings in there. Never used, or needed, one for an oil change.
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I agree, for an oil change a torque wrench isn't mandatory.

However, I don't agree that a torque wrench isn't necessary for lug nuts

Shirou said:
I think I should post an update on this.

You guys may say, "just take it to a mechanic". Problem is I don't know any and I don't trust them. Had SO MANY problems with the family cars thanks to the local mechanics.
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Completely agree, for routine maintenance and simple to moderate jobs it is best to do it yourself if you have the know how, that way you know it was done right. I used to work at a FORD dealership and (at least for smaller jobs like oil changes, brake jobs, tire mounting/balancing etc.) the techs are more worried about getting stuff done quickly rather than correctly. For big jobs that require special tools and intimate knowledge of the vehicle I prefer to have it done at a reputable shop.
 
Wisconsinite762 said:
However, I don't agree that a torque wrench isn't necessary for lug nuts
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Why? You can't get them too tight. The worst thing that will happen is you either strip the lug or yank it through the brake disk. Both are ridiculously hard to do. I managed to pull a lug through the brake disk of a jeep once, was a little too eager and was using a 3ft breaker bar. Never actually stripped one though. Those things are tough as hell.
 
Trinith said:
Why? You can't get them too tight. The worst thing that will happen is you either strip the lug or yank it through the brake disk. Both are ridiculously hard to do. I managed to pull a lug through the brake disk of a jeep once, was a little too eager and was using a 3ft breaker bar. Never actually stripped one though. Those things are tough as hell.
Click to expand...

Lug nut torque doesn't have to be supper accurate, but they do have to be close to the suggested torque. Too loose and 2 things can happen 1) The wheel won't seat properly causing it to be off kilter or 2) You run the risk if the lug nuts backing off.
Now if they are too tight (which is far more common) you can damage the wheel (you most likely won't damage steel wheels but alloy wheels you can) or you can warp the brake rotor. Now if your working on a super fancy high performance automobile with ceramic brake rotors you have to be even more careful, because ceramic doesn't bend it cracks, heck you can crack them if you don't put the wheel on carefully enough.

With all that said, in a pinch putting a wheel on with a breaker bar is fine I just make sure to check them when I get a chance.

A quality torque wrench is a good investment if you do your own maintenance and stuff.
 
Five sixes hey? Yep, you're in trouble Shirou!
There might be a low oil sensor stopping it from firing up? Like a tip over sensor?
 
A torque wrench is only mandatory when you need a very precise amount of torque (head bolts, etc). Torque "specifications" on wheels, oil plugs, oil filters, all of that is just CYA (Cover Your A$$) measurements. They want you to get it tight enough that it doesn't back out but not so tight that you strip the threads.

The oil light is usually for low oil pressure. If it got low enough that it couldn't maintain enough oil pressure, that light would kick on. Since it didn't, it's reasonable to believe your bike still had enough oil in it to maintain oil pressure and is fine. Just add oil,as long as you know what type was in there, or do an oil change.

Unless the engine is seized, not starting is very unlikely related to low oil. In that case, the starter wouldn't be able to turn it over. HTH.
 
LOL... My Buell literally "RAN out" of oil... Got home from a 300+ mile trip, with a weird ticking noise, checked the dipstick - no oil. ran up to o'riley's fast to get a few quarts
 
Update:
The bike runs!
Got bored of stumbling on the bike and doing nothing so I added some random oil I had around from my other bike. It isn't even the recommended oil (Castrol ActEvo 20W50 mineral instead of the recommended 10W40, I don't know what oil the bike has inside). It wasn't seized or anything as far as I know. It ran for a while then I noticed the level was low, then I overfilled it (how much of an idiot can I be...) so I had to suck some oil out. It came out black, super dirty.
After going out for a ride everything seemed to run smooth but it's still running on old oil so I stored it back in my backyard.
So, about the service schedule, I decided to do everything by myself. Only IF I fark up, I'll take it to a mechanic.
Today I bought oil to replace the dark mix it has inside (bought Full synth 10w60) but found out two problems, it is not the recommended viscosity (10w40) and I cannot find a replacement crush washer for the drain plug. I checked the washer and it has been pressed twice. It can be used again?
Also, it'll be bad for the bike to leave it draining overnight with no filter, filter cover and drain plug? I wanted to complete the job today but spent the whole stupid afternoon looking for the plug gasket and couldn't find it anywhere.

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