Damn.

I really want to stress a very important issue that has just happened to me yesterday in my car. I drive a 1992 AWD Laser, and it has the coolant/oil oil cooler... it's sandwiched in between the oil filter and the pump assembly. The assembly can work its way loose simply from spinning off the oil filter...

It had worked it's way loose, and blew all the oil out of my engine. Funny thing: The oil idiot light never came on, and I never noticed it until I heard my lifters start hammering. I was literally 1 block from home at that point, so I just pushed the car into the garage to see what the hell was going on.

What's needed to re-torque the big hollow bolt thingy that holds it on is a 24mm deep socket. I suggest EVERYONE check this out. The manual says to torque it to 29-33 ft lbs, but Randy Nuckels ran into troubles torquing it to factory specs (see http://users.ticnet.com/randynet/oilcool.htm for the complete story. Same thing happened to him) so I set the wrench to 22 ft lbs, and went with that. I didn't have the time or the patience to mess around with washers like Randy did, but his solution is by far the best.

This is a very hazardous problem. I would suggest next time you change your oil you take a close look at it, and possible re-check the torque.

Now, the next question: What damage may have occurred? Hopefully not the main bearings... maybe the lifters? I just got the thing back together, and filled with oil. I fired it up, and the lifters made a hell of a racket. I figure I'll let it sit for a while and check for leaks again in a few hours. Pray with me that the lifters aren't toast... or anything else, for that fact. <sigh>

CHECK THIS OUT. IT COULD LEAD TO A BLOWN ENGINE.

The full damage on my car is not yet diagnosed.

Darin Chalifoux
92 Laser AWD

Credits: Dan Aho for getting the torque specs, My roommate for the use of his Grand Am for running around for stuff, and my old man for the use of his torque wrench, and Gary Herrick (Toyota Tuner... I'm also a toyota dude) for calming me down when I went and grabbed the jerry can for the lawn mower to finally put my car out of misery :-)

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Darin Chalifoux, Resident Fat Guy.
1992 Plymouth Laser RS AWD

Darin,

This happened to me last year the day I picked up my car from the dealer I bought it from. I was packing my car to go to toon town that night and I had the car running. I went inside to get something, came back out and hopped in the car, scanned the guages and WTF!!!! Oil pressure at 0!! Shut the car down and looked at the snow a the front of my car. All of the oil. Called the Dealer and screamed bloody murder. They came out and towed the car to back to the shop ASAP. I told them the car was a piece of sh!t and I wanted my money back., that they were a bunch of incompetant hacks (GM dealer). Anyway they could not tell me what was wrong with the car so I made them strip it down and have a look at it. (It was less than a minute that the oil pressure went from normal to 0) but I played dumb and said I had no idea how long it was like that. So I had them check the car and there was no visible damage. I told them that I had the work order and if I had any indication of premature wear on any engine component in the future they would be receiving a bill. I have not benn back to them since.

p.s. they had the timing belt on incorrectly which was sighted by my mechanic when it went in for it's first oil change 5000km later.

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Chris "I'll fix it later" Bolt
93 TSi AWD

"The incompetance of everyone other than myself is astounding..." -Me, today, after finding that a printer pronounced dead by a 'good' shop works perfectly.

Your oil light sender is probably toast, like mine was. If I'd ever had a problem, the only thing that would have saved me was the factory gauge. The 4G63 is pretty good, and with today's oils, your car can actually get away with things like that without too much damage. I'd just run it for a bit and see if the lifters quiet down, or take your valve cover off and make sure the cams aren't scored. I'd say you're probably alright.