Just a quart low, It's no big deal.....

[astronut74]

I'm sure this will be very obvious to most of you, but I just recently (yesterday in fact) realized how big a deal running a quart of oil low really is.
All of my previous vehicles only had idiot lights in them, so I was really happy when I saw the astro had an oil pressure guage in it. But I always wondered if it was reading right because it was shakey when idling. I was driving the other day and just happened to check the oil guage when I was coming to a stop. The guage dropped all the way to zero PSI! Worried, I kept watching the guage and every time I would stop moderately hard, the guage would drop to zero. If I put the brakes on lightly, the guage would read fine. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. IDIOT! the oil pickup is at the rear of the engine, I must be low on oil. Sure enough, I was a quart low. I added a quart, and now it reads fine. Imagine that!!

Then I started thinking. It only dropped to zero for a second, but at idle speed, 1 second is roughly 100 crankshaft rotations without oil pressure- just residual oil. Throw in some rush hour traffic... Yep. It's no wonder none of my cars lasted more than a couple years.In the past (before the astro), I would regularly run a qt low, and once I even noticed it was 2 qts low. I didn't think much of it. Hey 3 qts is better than 0 qts right? But then I've never had an oil pressure guage to "show" me the damage I was doing.

Just thought I would share my lesson learned the hard way.... Keep an eye on your oil level Darn it!

[trybe13]

I remember the days of pulling into the gas station with my grandmother as a small boy and the gas attendant asking her to pop the hood so he could check her oil (Then he would ask if she wanted ethyl or regular. If you have to ask, never mind!! LOL!!) . Anyone else remember that?!?!?! And he did it every time she went to gas up. It instilled in me the knowledge that I need to check my oil every time I get gas. All these years later I still check my oil every time I gas up. My Safari burns NO oil, but I check anyway. It is a good habit to develop if you don't have it already.

[dunedog]

Jim ,I was the guy checking the oil.
Checking the oil on a regular basis is paramount!
and better than that I remember wire mesh filters that never got changed you just kept adding oil to the engine.
Can anyone say 'babbit bearings'