No oil pressure following starting without oil during oil change

I've changed the oil many times on my 2016 but it was a slog today. Cold, tired, and a chassis covered in mud and snow did me in. I brilliantly got into the vehicle and started it to warm up - before having added back the oil. Thankfully, I realized it within just 5 to 10 seconds. I filled the 6.6 quarts and backed out of the garage and parked in my driveway. Later, today, I started it and noticed the oil pressure light was on. I am sure I put in 6.6 quarts. There is no oil on the garage floor or the driveway. Yet, when I pull the dipstick, I am not seeing any oil.

1. Is it possible the oil pump lost its prime when I briefly ran it without oil?
2. If so, is there a way to prime it?
2. Why the heck am I not seeing oil on the dipstick? And, yes, I definitely put the oil in the oil fill.

Thanks!

 

I'll let others chime in on the oil pressure light issue, but I know a lot of owners have a hard time seeing the oil level on these dipsticks...especially new, clean oil. Did it feel oily after you checked it, or was it dry (the dipstick)?

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! Never heard of a oil pump loosing it's prime, but I have heard of sending units going bad, giving a false reading. Really don't know too much about the 4.0Liter Toyota, but from what I've read they are tougher than that. If you spun a bearing, and oil holes don't line up.... that should not have happened with 5-10 secs. run time. Or was it 5-10 mins? Hope not.

 

Hi Beerz,
I am sorry for your mishap. Obviously one should not do what has happened here but since there is always some residual oil film remaining on the components, I don't think running the engine for 5-10 seconds w/o oil would have caused a permanent damage. I don't know this for fact but perhaps the ECU needs to be reset. The thing that I don't understand is why you don't see any oil on the dipstick. Having added oil, the oil sump should be full.

 

Thanks for your responses.

I checked the oil level again this morning in the bright sunshine. Plenty of oil. Too much, in fact, because I had added some in a panic last night.

I knew it had to be the filter. Checked the discarded box. Fram 10158 - so no problem there. So, back under the vehicle in the cold and snow. I found that I had inadvertently put the perforated tube into the oil filter assembly upside down. Hence, the standoff portion of the tube was away from the disk at the bottom of the housing and was, rather, pointing upwards towards the flow channel. I righted it, drained out some oil, and started her up. All is good.

The moral, I think, is to go in and warm-up inside the house instead of rushing to put it all back together.

 

Congrats, a happy outcome as it turns out.

 

whew
Well done.

 

I did this, or I thought. I changed my oil before driving 600 miles, at my destination I checked my oil again and it showed empty. I had a heart attack before realizing that I was on a sloped driveway and once I went onto level ground it read fine.

I am going to drill a small hole on the dip stick like some fords do so it will be easier to tell the oil level after a change. Ridiculously hard to read the dipstick after an oil change.

 

Have you had any issues since? Had a similar mishap where the engine was run for a few seconds without oil and was wondering how your 4Runner has been doing.

 

Could you explain this a little more? Did you replace your plastic oil filter housing with the metal housing, swap over the perforated stand-off tube, but installed it upside down at first?

 

I've had 1st gen, 3rd gen and the 5th 4R, I've always ran the engine 15 - 20 seconds with the drain plug off to drain more oil. Same with my tundra and wife's car. Not one problem.

 

^

 

I thought the same…that’s a lot of seconds!

 

Here’s a 15 minute test with no oil:
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1109814_what-happens-when-an-engine-runs-without-oil