How To Have Your Night Ruined

Like this Rewind... Install LN deep sump kit yesterday, goes pretty swell. Let everything cure up overnight while I wait for my XP9 to show up today...Perfect timing, yay me. So far so good. Time to pull the filter and swap the new one on, easy peesy. Tighten, double check drain plug is tight, put on the skid plate and drop her back on her wheels. Gulp, 10 QTS of XP9 down the hatch. Register 3/4 full on the dip stick and digital, good for a start and circulate before letting her sleep overnight and rechecking, final top off tomorrow. Fire her up, oil pressure takes 5-10 seconds to register after change, 1 bar.....1 bar... something not right, kill it. Probably 20-30 seconds of run. Get out, look under the car and the exxon ****ing valdeez of race oil now resides on my floor. Based on what I drained out of the engine, I'd estimate 5QTS evacuated. No metal on magnetic plug and oil did not reveal and damage... So, hope no damage done, good race oil lost to the garage Gods and a never will it happen again lesson - make sure the old oil filter gasket comes out with the filter. I know its a rookie mistake, and I have no excuse for not knowing at the time I needed to know it what I already knew.

Oh my....real bummer....we all do bonehead things....if you ran it only 20secs you should be alright....just need to buy some more oil.

I lost an engine on a race car (drag car) back in 1979 on that "rookie" mistake. It lasted all the way to the final round, then let go as I was leaving the starting line (10k rpm) and engine locked-up when I hit second gear. I think you fared much better, that "rookie" mistake cost me a race and an engine !!

I’ve done the same on one of my old cars. Of course it happened when I was about to go camping and had the entire car loaded up. About 10 minutes onto the highway I see smoke coming out of the hood. Had to pay to tow it back. At least you we’re still in the garage!

If all it did was idle, you'll be fine.

My son did the same thing(double o-Ring) the first time he changed oil in his new Mustang. I saw the extra o-ring sticking out before he started his engine. Dad to the rescue!

Doh!

Well, it does dull the pain to see I am in some esteemed company as far as having this issue. I have more XP9 coming Thursday (man was I pissed to have to spend that money) and am debating 1. fill it with the DT40 I have on hand and run my next track day (the 14th) on it, then I can ease my worries potential motor problems. by getting it running now 2. wait until the XP9 shows up Thursday to get it back up and running and stew until then, but run next track days on the oilI was originally planning on. The DT40 on hand was supposed to be for after the track season.

Theres nothing to stew about, you are fine. Put the xp9 in and thats it

About 25 years ago when I first pulled a 911 aircooled engine off a 1984 Carrera to do a geabox fix. I put the car back, buttoned everything up and fired the engine up. It fired, ran, and I noticed that it had no oil pressure (for about 20-30 seconds). To my horror, I never put any oil in the car. Shut it down, put oil in it, fired it up and ran for years without any problems. Never did that again!

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So I had a similar scare years ago on an Evo 8 I was putting back together. I don�t know what triggered me but as I was about to turn the key I remembered and caught myself. Since then Everytime, including this one I have a car down for more than the time it will take me to complete I tape over ignition whatever item will kill the motor or me if I try to start without addressing. works great, just not for oil filter gaskets.

This is not one that happens often with the LN SPOFA. Not sure I have ever seen or heard of it happening. Same things happen on fuel filters that use the same design. A few weeks ago I bought a tank that wouldn't run.. Guy had it at 4-5 different shops. Diesel engine would spin over fine, and try to run sometimes. When it did all it would emit was white smoke. I knew what that indicated. Sucking air into the fuel system somewhere. Found the fuel filter, and removed it.. Noticed it was new, and saw that it had an irregular crush pattern on the gasket at the top of the filter. Then it hit me. I reached down under the turret where the filter was located, and felt a gasket stuck onto the filter flange. Gave it a tug, and removed it. Replaced the filter, bled the injector pump to remove the air.. It fired right up, and purrs like a kitten. I bought it for 1/5 of what its worth. I like rookie mistakes :-) They are better after 4-5 shops didn't have a single person with enough first hand experience to figure it out.

I'm not even going to tell my bone head story about a brand new VWT1 I had built in 85...One mile and it had to be rebuilt again, a real punch to the gut!

When I have an empty engine that's going to sit, or if there is a chance a family member might try to drive it, I put the keys with the new oil containers. There have been a couple of occasions where I look around for the keys thinking " where the heck are they?" And then remember; oh yeah, no oil in the engine yet. Life hack - I do the same with food stored in the fridge that I want to take to work or back home. I stash the keys in the fridge with the food. Won't forget that way. ​​​​​​Similar story from last year. My nephew got the oil changed on his Jetta at the local VW dealer about 40 miles away. The VW has a similar plastic filter housing to the stock 996. He said his oil light came in just as he was pulling in the driveway. I went over and investigated. Turns out the dealership installed the filter housing without the o-ring! It was sealing with just the plastic housing against the engine flange. Amazingly, he was able to drive it 40 miles like that. I did another oil change and determined he had less than 2 quarts of oil left in the engine. Apparently no permanent damage since he has put another 10k on the car. We let the dealership know they needed to step up their attention to detail in the shop. They were adamant they wouldn't make a mistake like that.

A doh moment - replaced my AOS and of course removed the left side intake. I stuffed shop towels in the intakes in case I dropped something. Then I began trial fitting the intake back on. Got it seated right and took a step back and sat on my shop stool. Damn if I didn't have a revelation..stupid me! I left all the shop towels in the intakes! Off comes the intake and removed the shop towels. Wooo hooo......

I bought a Fiat x/19 back in the early 90s for $100. (Actually I traded a Toyota Corona that needed a clutch that I’d just bought for $100) I got it from work on a mechanics lien. It had been diagnosed with a “blown head gasket” and the owners abandoned it. I towed it home on Friday and when I pulled the timing belt cover I found a toothless timing belt. $8 later I had a running Fiat x/19. The tech that diagnosed it over a year before I’d started working there sure was embarrassed when I drove it to work the next Monday. It was a fun little car. My wife drove it for a few months and then I sold it for $1600.

When an engine I’m working on has no oil in it and is going to set for a while, I put a note on the steering wheel(and windshield) that says, “NO OIL.” I also collect all the keys for the car and lock them away so no one else will ignore the sign and try to start the car. I do this when I change my 996 oil since I let it drain for an extended time.

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I do this independent of oil level in my Porsches. ;-)

Just finished cleaning up, lot of brake clean.... and emptying the catch bin I drained the oil into that did not evacuate the car at high pressure, 5QTS was what was left in the motor.

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So u lost about 3qts? No worries I'd think. I do a double, triple check under car after I change oil/fluids. I'm getting old....

Changed for first time (for me) oil and filter in 1976 BMW R75 Cafe. Inside I found 2 o-rings left over, so my new one made 3! Evidently caused no problem, but scary, nonetheless.

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5. Just installed LN 2QT deep sump and filled with 10 to start.

This wasnt an oil change but was almost a disaster this week: I just had my wife's minivan up for an axle boot change - decided not to do it at this time (couldnt find a 36mm socket) , slid the wheel back on, lowered it and then put all my stuff away and left the garage. Luckily remember just as she was getting ready to leave... the lugnuts probably should be torqued down

Red tag wired tied to the steering wheel has been a practice of mine since 1985, when I had an "incident"

I started a car without the filter once, big mess. Didnt feel super cool. (A nissan not my 996)

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You cant make a post like this without showing us pictures of the tank

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I never install a wheel without torqueing it, once I drain oil I don't leave the area until the new oil is in.

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I use torque sticks with my impact gun when I install my wheels. The 19mm torques to about 90 ft/lbs. Then when the car is on the ground, I use a torque wrench to torque to 96 ft/lbs. If I were to forget, it would be close enough. I have torque sticks for most sized car/truck lug nuts. (The most common ones are hanging on the wall near the poster) The poster on the wall has the torque stick color to use and the correct final torque value.

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Given the face that I ran the engine for 30 seconds or so with only 1 bar of oil pressure registered on the dash gauge before cutting power and realizing the scope of my mistake I want to proceed prudently when I get the new XP9 installed and fire it up on Wednesday. I read a post of yours where you reference your process of starting the engine without a pre filled oil filter and shutting the engine down immediately upon ignition for multiple starts until oil pressure is built. I was looking to understand if you think that process would be good to implement in my situation and furthermore, if it’s just good practice in general. I understand I may be overthinking to some extent and am just trying to be as smart as possible after being dumb. Thanks.

Since you had pressure, the oil pump should be primed. I'm fairly certain all you need to do is properly fill the crankcase and start like normal.

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Lock Out. Tag Out. OSHA uses that requirement for a reason.

Got the car refilled with XP9 and it fired right up and built solid pressure (in the motor only) quickly. I'm paranoid but sounded pretty good for cold engine has not run in a while, Hopefully I'll get a chance to drive it tomorrow after final level check/fill and the only memory that will remain from this incident is to check the filter housing EVERY time going forward.

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This thread sort of saved my day. I did a routine oil change in mine yesterday and I did the exact same thing. Start engine, wait a few seconds and "hey, why is the oil pressure only 2??" I shut the engine down after 20 seconds or so and look under it. Valdez worthy oil spill. At least it was new oil. Had to make the sophie's choice decision about what towels and sheets I was going to sacrifice to mop it all up. You know how spills look bigger than they actually are? Well even though it looked huge I figured it was 2, MAYBE 3 quarts. I mop up, get under the car, find my oil filter looking exactly like the picture above and fix the issue. I put a quart back in. Dipstick bone dry. Two, then 2.5 quarts. Still nothing on the dipstick. Now I'm getting worried. Is there a blockage somewhere? Did I blow the engine? I decide to eat some lunch and search Rennlist. Found this thread. Exact same situation. Same amount of time running the engine, spin on adapter and 2 quart deep sump with 10 quarts of oil in it. Only my pressure went up to 2. I felt much more assured that nothing was wrong. Anyway, according to my math this thing dumped SIX QUARTS of oil in 20 or 30 seconds. I had to go buy another 5 quart jug of oil to make up the difference. The store doesn't have the Motul I use but I was able to get Mobil One A40 spec with the same weight. Put the extra oil in and finally showed love on the dipstick. An oil change that I thought would take an hour took half the day. File this under "You're not gonna do THAT again are ya'?"