Catastrophic oil leak

[Seattleswimboy]

So I left my house and get about 3 miles down the road and my m3 starts running rough kinda like if youse loose a spark plug, then the oil light starts flashing and oil starts splattering my windshield, I immediately pull over into a gass station that happened to be right there. The whole front the the engine is covered in oil nothing on the back or sides of the motor other then what splattered. Called my wife to let her know ans she says the driveway has a ton of oil where the car was parked. So must of happened last time I drove the car. Dip stick is bone dry. I'm thinking the oil cooler got a hole in it or one of the hoses to the oil cooler ruptured. I'm sitting here waiting for a tow truck wondering how fucked my engine might be now. I do used oil analyses at oil changes and my nubers have been outstanding so the motor WAS in good shape. I run redline 10w60 and have 2,700 miles on the oil that is now sitting on the road and the outside of my motor. I always check my oil level during gas fill ups and last one was 2 days ago.
So how bad do you guys think the damage is to the engine?

[Mspir3d]

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Maybe the engine sputtering was just the vanos losing pressure and causing timing problems. If you shut it down immediately, it’s possible the damage won’t be terrible. Once you lose oil pressure though, the bearings don’t last long.

[bigjae46]

If you saw the red oil light...not good. If you were at low RPM there’s still hope.


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[ClevoCapri]

Was the oil leak from the vanos oil line breaking?

[Seattleswimboy]

Could be vanos oil line, hard to tell right now but it seems like most of the oil is originating from the oil cooler in the front.
yep red oil light came on and was on for maybe 15-20 seconds before I shut it down. In the 3 miles I drove i never went past 3200 rpm

[Seattleswimboy]

Would rod bearings be the only thing I need to be concerned about? If so should i just replace them before even trying to turn the car back on after the leak is fixed?

[bigjae46]

That’s a long time. The red oil light comes on when there is no pressure. If you see it, should be shut down immediately.

Oil pump and any rotating part - cams, rings, bearings would be a concern.

Fix the leak, put oil in it and see how it runs.


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[sapote]

then the oil light starts flashing and oil starts splattering my windshield,........
So how bad do you guys think the damage is to the engine?

Flash yellow or red? If it was shut down within minute of red light then maybe still OK.

Never see flashing Yellow?

[sapote]

That’s a long time. The red oil light comes on when there is no pressure. If you see it, should be shut down immediately.

Oil pump and any rotating part - cams, rings, bearings would be a concern.

Fix the leak, put oil in it and see how it runs.


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15 - 20 sec from red to shut down: I think it's still OK, as synthetic oil residual should protect the parts in this short time.

[Seattleswimboy]

Red was flashing never saw yellow and the red light never stayed lit it was more like flickering on amd off.

[Arith2]

The red oil light comes on at 5 or 7 psi I believe. Flashing may mean you had a small bit of oil pressure and something was getting through your engine. Generally that red light comes on too late though. Even if bearings didn't die, your cylinder walls are, most likely, going to be tore up. Not to be the bearer of bad news but I would HIGHLY suggest yanking the engine and doing a full teardown. Running on a liter of oil for 15-20 seconds is enough to kill everything. A shop just did this to my dad's Porsche. We didn't discover this until we looked at everything and got the full story from the engine. It'll tell you what's wrong. The big thing is making sure the cylinder walls aren't gouged and can be rehoned. Bearings can be replaced much easier than blocks.

[bigjae46]

The red oil light comes on at 5 or 7 psi I believe. Flashing may mean you had a small bit of oil pressure and something was getting through your engine. Generally that red light comes on too late though. Even if bearings didn't die, your cylinder walls are, most likely, going to be tore up. Not to be the bearer of bad news but I would HIGHLY suggest yanking the engine and doing a full teardown. Running on a liter of oil for 15-20 seconds is enough to kill everything. A shop just did this to my dad's Porsche. We didn't discover this until we looked at everything and got the full story from the engine. It'll tell you what's wrong. The big thing is making sure the cylinder walls aren't gouged and can be rehoned. Bearings can be replaced much easier than blocks.

You can run a boroscope through the spark plug holes to check the cylinder walls.

If the light was flickering it probably means the pump was sucking air. The chances of internal damage is pretty good.

I know from experience...you have 3-5 seconds to shut it down before damage occurs.


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[Arith2]

You can run a boroscope through the spark plug holes to check the cylinder walls.

If the light was flickering it probably means the pump was sucking air. The chances of internal damage is pretty good.

I know from experience...you have 3-5 seconds to shut it down before damage occurs.


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Yeah that's definitely an option. Really, the head doesn't need to come off for this particular situation if the walls are fine.

[Seattleswimboy]

Ugh, what a nightmare! I'll do a boroscope inspection and see how they are looking. Also if I can get enough oil out of the pan ill check for metal flakes and send it off to Blackstone for analysis.

[Cubieman]

Sorry to hear this, hopefully all is well as it can be under the circumstances.