Ran engine without oil, what now?

[treynolds4961]

The oil drain plug fell out of my Kubota L48 yesterday while bushhogging. I turned it off as soon as I heard what I think was the valves knocking. I refilled it with oil today and cranked it a few times and drained the oil. There are some shiny shavings in the oil but the engine sounds fine. Can I continue to run it and see what happens or is there some service short of a rebuild that I could perform the perhaps save the engine. I understand that pulling the engine in these tractors is not so easy. I'm hoping some of the diesel mechanics out there have some encouraging ideas.

Thanks!

 

[Canada_CT230]

No way to know what damage has been done. Your in a pickle alright.

You could keep running it and take the chance. There could only be a few inexpensive parts that are damaged and that maybe and be a lesser repair bill than using the engine and those damaged parts destroying the rest of the engine when they fall apart.

Alternately, you could be fine with the slight damage and then unnecessarily take the engine apart.

I am assuming that the engine was under a good load if hogging and that you had a fairly abrupt oil loss and that it did run on no oil for awhile.

Very hard to say. Many would fill and sell it.

Best of luck.

 

[LD1]

The oil drain plug fell out of my Kubota L48 yesterday while bushhogging. I turned it off as soon as I heard what I think was the valves knocking. I refilled it with oil today and cranked it a few times and drained the oil. There are some shiny shavings in the oil but the engine sounds fine. Can I continue to run it and see what happens or is there some service short of a rebuild that I could perform the perhaps save the engine. I understand that pulling the engine in these tractors is not so easy. I'm hoping some of the diesel mechanics out there have some encouraging ideas.

Thanks!

Many questions need answered before we go any further.

How many hours on the machine?
Who did the oil change last?
Is it under warrenty?

If it is out of warrenty and you did the last oil change, I'd run it if it sounds fine. Maybe just do the next oil change sooner than normal and keep a watchful eye on the oil pressure guage.

If it is under warrenty but you did your own oil change, same as above and hope that if there are issues, it will be before warranty is up.

If it is high hours and possibly needing an overhaul soon anyway, you can either use this as an excuse to get started, or just run it anyway as mentioned above.

If you did NOT do the oilchange last, whoever did is probabally at fault. Warranty or not, I would contact whoever didnt tighten the plug enough. Get it in writing that they are responsible for future issues in a reasonable length of time that would be a result of this incodent. This may be hard to get done though. Would have the most luck if it was your selling dealer that was to blame.

Good luck.

 

[shortthrow50]

didnt your oil pressure light illuminate as soon as you lost oil pressure? Or did you not see it illuminate in the dash? You should have a few seconds after that light comes on to shut down the motor and avoid damage.

 

[treynolds4961]

The engine has 1280 hours. The tractor is long out of warranty. I did the oil change about 50 hours ago so I have nobody to blame but myself for the loose oil plug. I did not notice the oil pressure light come on, but I was looking backwards most of the time so if it did come on I may not have seen it. I can see the trail of oil and found the oil plug at the beginning of the trail. I would say that I drove about 100 feet from where the oil trail ended (where the tractor ran out of oil). There are not a lot of particles in the oil, but there are some, enough that if I were panning for gold I would be VERY excited, but when looking at what I strained out of my engine oil, I feel pretty bummed. I would say that the metal shards look like glitter and if I were to gather it all up it probably would not be enough to cover the head of a pencil eraser. It doesn't look like much, but I have never strained my oil before so I don't know if any metal filings is too much.

I was wondering about replacing the bearings on the connecting rods. Can this be does by removing the oil pan and working from underneath and how hard would it be?

 

[LD1]

I was wondering about replacing the bearings on the connecting rods. Can this be does by removing the oil pan and working from underneath and how hard would it be?

Possibly? You have to drop the pan. That "may" require splitting the tractor. Just depends. I have heard of people "rolling" in new bearings on cars and what-not, but having built motors before...I would not reccomend it. Because bearing clearence cannot be properly checked, and bearing clearence is really important.

If it isnt too difficult to drop the pan....may be worth it to tp just take a peak and see what the bearings look like.

But personally, I'd put a magnet on the oil filter and just run it. I keep a magnet on my filter all the time anyway. Bearings are designed to let the small particles inbed in them and keep on going without failure.

This is just one guys opinion though.

 

[Sutol]

Possibly? You have to drop the pan. That "may" require splitting the tractor. Just depends. I have heard of people "rolling" in new bearings on cars and what-not, but having built motors before...I would not reccomend it. Because bearing clearence cannot be properly checked, and bearing clearence is really important.

If it isnt too difficult to drop the pan....may be worth it to tp just take a peak and see what the bearings look like.

But personally, I'd put a magnet on the oil filter and just run it. I keep a magnet on my filter all the time anyway. Bearings are designed to let the small particles inbed in them and keep on going without failure.

This is just one guys opinion though.

I would go with the above

 

[RoyJackson]

I would go with the above

Same here...

I'm going to add a caveat: watch your oil pressure (might be worth adding a gage rather then the warning light) and oil consumption.
Although I don't think you did serious damage, if the main bearings are damaged, you should see lower oil pressure and increased oil consumption. The problem is, you don't have a baseline (normal oil pressure) to compare to...might ask one of your dealer's techs on that.

 

[MrWhippy]

Possibly? You have to drop the pan. That "may" require splitting the tractor. Just depends. I have heard of people "rolling" in new bearings on cars and what-not, but having built motors before...I would not reccomend it. Because bearing clearence cannot be properly checked, and bearing clearence is really important.

If it isnt too difficult to drop the pan....may be worth it to tp just take a peak and see what the bearings look like.

But personally, I'd put a magnet on the oil filter and just run it. I keep a magnet on my filter all the time anyway. Bearings are designed to let the small particles inbed in them and keep on going without failure.

This is just one guys opinion though.

I agree with this. Bearings are a wear item. They are designed to wear away before the hard chroming on the crank bearings. If it starts and runs without weird noises after you added oil (and it's holding oil pressure), I would just figure you rubbed off a 1000 or so hours of engine life and move one from there.

 

[brin]

Same here...

Me too.....you can just monitor it..I would sure do that before splitting it...just take it easy for the next 5 hrs. or so of operation...

 

[kcshawman]

Rings are first to go in a gas engine. Your fuel gave some lube to the rings. Bearings are tough. Oil pressure OK? Like they said magnet on oil filter. Magnetic oil plug. Use the engine on light loads and just listen to it. If it sounds ok then you may never have a problem.

Clint

 

[Ed Hill]

My two experiences with main bearing failure were: 1) in a Pontiac my brother had 40 years ago. It was making a loud regular thud, then stopped dead. We were towing it home when his "friend" who was steering it popped the clutch to "see what would happen" and the engine blew apart; 2) I had a 20 year old International pickup and was stopped at a light when the engine did the same thing, after years of thudding. I had it towed home and installed a used engine, swapping enough parts to make it work.
I would cautiously continue running the tractor while monitoring for unusual noises.

 

[moored4]

If you were using a good syn oil then I would just flush the system, change the filter, install magnets, and refile with a good syn oil. If you were using just reg oil then I would do the same but take it easy for a few hours and see what happens! Good luck :thumbsup: and keep us posted!

 

[Gregster613]

Hi, I mean no hijack of this thread but LD1 & Moored4 you both mentioned something that perked my interest & curiousity...keeping a magnet on your oil filter? I've never heard of that and it's an interesting thought. Meant to keep any shavings at bottom of filter? I assume. How strong of a magnet is needed...to remain on an oil filter that is bouncing around like a tractor often does? Do you believe it's effective in extending your vehicles lifespan? If I thought that I could get a magnet to stay/remain on my filter I'd sure try it. Thanks for the thought. Greg

 

[treynolds4961]

Well, bad news. It ran OK for a couple of minutes and then started squealing with a metal on metal sound. Looks like a rebuild is in my future. Thanks everyone for your input.

Now, is this a job for the dealer, or should I look for an independent?

 

[jonyyuma]

Magnet can be on the side or end of filter..Some hyd. filters have one inside..transmission pans have them inside..Drain plugs were available. Used them for years as a little more insurance? one of mine came from an old speaker?

 

[jonyyuma]

Well, bad news. It ran OK for a couple of minutes and then started squealing with a metal on metal sound. Looks like a rebuild is in my future. Thanks everyone for your input.

Now, is this a job for the dealer, or should I look for an independent?

That sound is still better than the hammering of a spun or locked bearing in a rod...

 

[LD1]

Well, bad news. It ran OK for a couple of minutes and then started squealing with a metal on metal sound. Looks like a rebuild is in my future. Thanks everyone for your input.

Now, is this a job for the dealer, or should I look for an independent?

Thats unfortunate. I'd get a price at your dealer, but would probabally go independent. Because the dealer will probabally handle the rebuild, they will have to outsource the machine work most likely. So if you find an engine shop that does their own machine work it might save you.

But ask around. Ask some local farmers or even some car buffs. Good engine shops dont usually advertize because they get all the business they want from reputation/word or mouth

Hi, I mean no hijack of this thread but LD1 & Moored4 you both mentioned something that perked my interest & curiousity...keeping a magnet on your oil filter? I've never heard of that and it's an interesting thought. Meant to keep any shavings at bottom of filter? I assume. How strong of a magnet is needed...to remain on an oil filter that is bouncing around like a tractor often does? Do you believe it's effective in extending your vehicles lifespan? If I thought that I could get a magnet to stay/remain on my filter I'd sure try it. Thanks for the thought. Greg

While I have no proven data, they certainly cant hurt.

I choose the filter for where I put them, because if I stick it on the oil pan, I cannot get the stuck stuff out without taking the pan off. The filter just gets tossed every oil change along with all the metallic particals.

For magnets, I have scrapped a lot of cars over the years. The permanent magnets in the electric fans on newer cars are pretty powerful and thats what I use. And they arent hard to get to.

I also use the ring magnet from my hydraulic filter. I save them every fluid change.

 

[manganos]

Since it is out of warranty I'd get a price from both a dealer and independent mechanic. See how they warranty their work and go from there. I'd pay more for a great mechanic that will stand behind the work.

 

[DieselMonk]

I'd screw on a new filter, put new oil and a can of seafoam into the crank case. Run it for a bit (what ever that sea foam can sez), then change oil and filter again. Mit as well get all the gunk out of there while you are at it. I think you can consider yourself lucky and quick reaction saved the engine.