8000 Miles Without Oil

[Fred_]

Went to a national chain to get my oil changed. Right before I took the wife and kids on vacation. We traveled through everykind of terrain from 7500' elevation to the sea level and through death valley. I did notice slightly less gas milage and a brief knock at start up. I took it last week to get an oil change(at a differant place) after our adventure and was immediately taken into the office and asked to sign a waiver, because the last place I took it to drained the oil and changed the filter, but did not add the NEW OIL. I am seeking an attorney to take care of the national chain (any suggestion) but I am incredibly impressed with GM's motor. I have a 2009 sierra

 

Thanks

Fred

[Sir Dan]

Hmmmm...very doubtful that any motor could do this w/o overheating.

[Fred_]

I would have not believed it either, if it did not happen to me. Honestly my emotions our somewhere between incredible PI**** and shocked

[cerbomark]

maybe there is another explaination because that doesn t sound possible to me.

[nickvrebel]

do you not have an oil pressure gauge? That would have been the first clue, second clue would be the "low oil level" message in the instrument panel.... something doesn't sound right.

[pm26]

Another reason not to have your oil changed by some high school dropout. And if you do, checking the oil level right after is a good idea.

 

There is no way your truck could possibly run 8,000 miles - not even 8 miles without oil. I can believe that they only added 3 or so quarts of oil instead of 6 required.

 

Or, another explanation, much more realistic in my opinion, is that they installed the oil filter and/or the drain plug too loose and you had a slow oil leak while driving.

 

Or your truck developed an oil leak, such as rear main seal leak while on vacation. It is really your fault that you did not check the oil level in 8k miles. There is little excuse for that.

 

There is also possibility that one of your AFM lifters took a dump and the truck burned large quantities of oil until it ran almost dry. Again, checking the oil level every 2000 miles or so during the trip would have been a good idea.

 

Be it as it may, if it is somehow proven that it is the fault of the oil change place, I would settle for nothing else than a brand new GM crate engine installed in the truck.

[Fred_]

Oil guage read normal, The on-star reports did not show anything. No oil leaks I park on concrete. I am open for suggestions, but all indications this is what it leads to. I would not believe it either, But after some research this has happen (not the 8000 miles part) to a couple of people I know at the same franchise

[pm26]

You cannot have normal oil pressure without any oil in the engine.

[Fred_]

You cannot have normal oil pressure without any oil in the engine.

 

 

Normal meaning in at the same spot it always is. Not "normal" in the literal sense on the guage

[pm26]

Well, if you drain the oil and do not add any and then start the engine, the red oil warning light will come on and stay on. This is true of practically any vehicle, oil pressure gauge or not, including motorcycles. If that oil warning light did not come on, there was oil in your engine after they changed it. Something else happened.

[Fred_]

Well, if you drain the oil and do not add any and then start the engine, the red oil warning light will come on and stay on. This is true of practically any vehicle, oil pressure gauge or not, including motorcycles. If that oil warning light did not come on, there was oil in your engine after they changed it. Something else happened.

 

 

I would think so, but this was not the case. I am open for suggestions. I have even considered my neighbor coming over at night and draining the oil (possible but not likely)

[MaverickZ71]

You cannot have normal oil pressure without any oil in the engine.

 

 

Normal meaning in at the same spot it always is. Not "normal" in the literal sense on the guage

 

 

I would think that if your 'normal' oil pressure reading was not somewhere between 30 and 50 on your gauge (normal, average reading on all side gauges being needles pointing straight up "40" or thereabouts), that you've been having engine/oiling problems, even before this last oil change and trip.

[dlstewart01]

Having worked on engines since 1958, I do not believe the engine did not have oil. The oil light would have been on. The oil gage would be at zero. You know, there can't be pressure with out oil. shortly there after the engine would start knocking and every body knows the rest. This is a lesson to NOT take a vehicle to a quick lube place....

[MaverickZ71]

The reading on the oil pressure gauge should move slightly, averaging somewhere around 40, depending on oil used, outside temperature, engine operating temperature, and engine RPMs. If your gauge never moves, it is stuck.

[Doug_Scott]

Went to a national chain to get my oil changed. Right before I took the wife and kids on vacation. We traveled through everykind of terrain from 7500' elevation to the sea level and through death valley. I did notice slightly less gas milage and a brief knock at start up. I took it last week to get an oil change(at a differant place) after our adventure and was immediately taken into the office and asked to sign a waiver, because the last place I took it to drained the oil and changed the filter, but did not add the NEW OIL. I am seeking an attorney to take care of the national chain (any suggestion) but I am incredibly impressed with GM's motor. I have a 2009 sierra

 

Thanks

Fred

 

Maybe the place that says there was no oil in it is actually the place you need to stay away from? Have you checked the level of the oil since you got it back from them? As you have probably come to understand, there is no way in hell you could have gone 8k without oil. Since you saw no leak, are not getting the low oil level light, and the pressure never changed, you can also rule out that you somehow managed to lose all the oil just seconds before you had it changed. I would suggest you check your oil level now and make sure you are not 6 liters overfull (who knows, maybe they did not pull the correct drain plug, if that is even possible?), make sure you have the correct level of trans fluid, pwr steering fluid, brake fluid and whatever else you can think of. Even if you were down as little as 3 liters, that light would have come on.