total coolant loss engine damage ?

[Ian Hulley]

oil light came on at low revs but drove as normal.

These vans aren't some modern run-around that have warning lights you can ignore. You do NOT drive round with the oil light on You need to do daily checks on the fluids until you know your van really well and get to know it's ways and then maybe change that to weekly checks depending on consumption.

You need to put the vehicle details in your signature so we know how old the van is (OK, so from reading your previous posts you have a 1987 van) ... on a late cooling system the level indicator should have flashed when the coolant dropped below the end of the prongs.

Ian

[CovKid]

Had a boil-out myself 3-4 years ago. Runs fine albeit lumpy at idle, but the almost certain damage is to head seals. The rubber gets over-cooked. Mine tends to seep now as engine cools down but I keep everything topped up and it runs ok - until I do a conversion. In other words, you MAY get away with it.

[bigherb]

So is my temp gauge faulty,

No, it measures water temperature, no water nothing to measure accurately.

[T25Convert]

The oil light only came on in this trip obviously oil had thinned so low pressure

You might of got lucky, you might not, only time is likely to tell. Engine life expectancy will definitely be reduced though, as once the low oil pressure light is on, bad things are happening internally. When the oil light is on, oil pressure is dropping past the point at which full hydrodynamic lubrication occurs - i.e. the rotating parts are no longer sliding separated by a nice oily film, but are potentially just starting to contact with each other. Bearing wear ensues, along with more heat and more wear and more oil thinning etc etc etc.

A lot will depend on why the oil light came on - was it the oil overheating and loosing viscosity, or was it the bearings suffering overheating which has cause some premature wear and hence lower idle oil pressure? Unfortunately no way of knowing.

All the doom and gloom aside, the oil in the engine is cooked, so needs changing before you drive it again.

[T25Convert]

Many thanks George,
Good information, need to get home about an hour away, going to chance it with cooked oil and water, we have rac cover , and will change oil , and coolant when we get back.

Many thanks for your time and information

Chris

Ps the oil light was only flickering at low revs and only happened in the last couple of mins so hopefully just oil thinning

But great information

Your current oil is almost certainly not providing the level of lubrication you would want or need it to. The oil light might go out, and the engine may run, but I think you run the risk of doing more damage than you might have already if you now drive it for an hour. If the oil light has come on through oil degradation, then the oil won't have fixed itself when its cooled, its now had it as it will have permanently rearranged itself in a less helpful layout on a molecular level.

Depending where you are I'd go very gently pulling low revs and low engine load to the nearest place selling oil and a washing up bowl (and suitable socket if you don't have one, but if you are quite handy I'd assume you have at least a travel tool kit with you), and for the sake of 10 minutes and less than £25 I'd drain out the old and refill with fresh. 1 litre drinks bottle cut open makes excellent funnel. Supermarkets, B&Q, Homebase, Wilko, Halfrauds, motor factors, some petrol stations, GSF and Eurocarparts are all scattered across the UK (in order of common-ness). Any 15x40 or 20w50 oil will do (without wishing to open an oil debate, its an emergency, any oil of around the right rating will do more than whats in there now!)

In a perfect world you'd do filter as well, but its not as critical as just getting some better lubrication back in the engine. I'd hate the next post to be that the oil light came back on more permanently coz then its not just new oil and a coolant flush, its new main bearings and big ends time and no one wants that....

[RogerT]

Flashing temp light is meant to mean that the coolant is low (beyond the prongs of the sensor) in the main coolant tank with the dalek cap on (not the one behind the number plate). I’d advise you check the function of your coolant level sender - start the engine, then remove the connection from the top of the coolant level sender. After about 15 seconds the temp light should start flashing. The coolant in this tank should be absolutely brim full and as the coolant contracts it draws coolant from the tank behind the number plate (or pushes it in when it expands). So properly working dalek cap and leak free connections to tank behind new numberplate are needed. Then if you get a coolant level drop triggering the temp light, you know you have another problem...

(Sorry if you already knew all this)

[nevill3]

After doing some cleaning in my engine bay recently, my coolant level light began flashing intermittently. This was due to a slightly insecure/improper connection at the level sensor, so pulling the connector off and reseating it has cured the problem.