Soooo....how long can an engine run at 0 oil pressure..., ...without damage Options

[tornik550]

I was driving along today (about 40mph) and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw smoke. I immediately looked at the oil pressure gauge and right when I looked down, I saw the oil pressure gauge go to 0. It was not safe for me to turn off the engine and stop, I drove it at low rpm for about 1 minute until I could get in safe area. Everything was running fine when I shut down the engine. The head temps were normal. I have not started the engine since.

It turns out that one of the lines for my external oil cooler tore. I was able to get the car home on a friends trailer. I had fresh oil in the engine when the line tore.

What are the chances that I majorly screwed up my engine? How can I find out if I did?

[DBCooper]

True, but sometimes they also blow in ten minutes, with the rods glowing red hot. I've done pretty much the same thing and lost an engine. My son autocrosses a Subaru bug and when stock, no windage tray, those motors have problems with oil starvation on long sweepers. He also lost an engine, and that was only a few seconds, just a blip of the oil pressure light, though at high RPM's. There's an in-car U-Tube video if you're curious about how an engine sounds when it's coughing up its guts.

You do have some slack. Every time you start it the engine runs without oil pressure, until it comes up, but a minute is still a long long time. I'd say you've probably scuffed the bearings some. Scuffing is just wear, exactly what happens over years of use, so it's like aging your engine. But no way to know how much without taking things apart. I'd suggest just putting in oil, starting it and watching the oil pressure gauge. You may have lost some pressure from before, from wear, or if you're lucky maybe not.

Let us know, I'm curious to hear how it turns out.