Affects of running on low oil?

[Trail182]

Can anyone point out some of the potential problems / damage caused by running your car when the oil is low (i.e. only a few mm's showing on the dip stick).

Last night I was out caining it, only to find that today my oil is all but gone :S - I may have a problem with my 182 losing oil as it wasn't that long ago that I checked it.

I appreciate its a basic question but any help would be appreciated...

Cheers.

 

[Fletcher]

Did your oil light come on when you started her?

 

[Russ_16v]

is it below the minimum mark mate?

basically an engine needs oil for lubriation (to stop the egine running metal to metal) and also to keep the heat out of it too,running low on oil will mean a few things:
you possibly wont have enough oil curculating round the engine which means there is not a sufficiant level of protection between the components (i.e. crank bearings,pistons to bores etc)
also the harder to reach parts of the engine like top part of cylinder head wont have enough oil to fully lubricate it
(thats why u hear rattly cars somtimes lol)
hope that helps a bit

 

[Fletcher]

How many miles has she done?

My MK2 172's now done 51k and she uses hardly any oil

 

[DaveJwxm]

ive got a 1.2 clio and never put oil in and i do 300 miles a week, its always at the top line

 

[Justin182]

Ive had my car around 17 months, is on 24k and regually check the oil and it always seems to be in the top 3/4.

Why do some cars use more oil then others when their the same type of car? Didnt even use any when running in.

 

[rory182]

during the run in period mine used up most of its oil, nowadays its fine. Was losing oil slowly, more recently, via the usual leak paths but got them sorted.

mines same age and mileage as yours Justin, I got it June 04 and am on 24,800 miles.

 

[Trail182]

Thanks for the comments guys

Yeah, the oil was below the minimum marker on the dip stick :S - I could kick myself as I used to religously check the oil on my old 182. The strange thing is that with my first I and never needed to top the oil up once before the 12k service, but this 182 only has 8.5k on the clock and already the oil is really low?

I guess all cars are different and I have no idea how the newer 182 was run for the first 5k miles as I got it 2nd hand... I just hope there is no permanent damage!