Oil Pipe/Drove Engine Without Oil
 

Good Evening,

I have a 2007 Camry XLE V6. It has approximately 70k miles on it. Yesterday as I was driving to work, I noticed the on screen display said "Engine Oil Pressure Low".. I was on the interstate and had to drive approx 4 miles before I could pull the vehicle in safe location... Mind you by this time, the vehicle is knocking very, very loudly and losing speed. After I finally stop the car, I open the hood, pull the stick and there is no oil on the stick... I can smell burning oil so I know there was a leak somewhere..

The car was certified, so it was taken care of by the dealer where I purchased it from.. They determined the cause as an oil pipe..

My question is at this point, are there likely to be any long term effects of my driving the car for the couple of miles with no oil in the engine. Should I contact Toyota motor company and ensure that this incident is documented for future reference?

Thanks

If the engine started knocking and refused to keep up speed then yes suspect some engine damage has occured. This would shorten the engine life, how much?

Check what pipe broke or leaked. Toyota has had issues with a pipe going to the variable valve timing system leaking. If this is the pipe it is an factory defect.

The issue is what Toyota will do about this situation, my guess is nothing except fix the pipe and tell everything is now fine.

i'd go to the dealership and raise hell if i were you. driving 4 miles on low oil could have scored your piston walls and that would be the least of your problems. is the car still under warrenty? if toyota is only going to replace the oil pipe then bring her home and run a compression check. go to your local auto zone, they rent out tools for free. i paid 35$ to rent mine and got 35$ back when returned it. and it was brand new too =). check all 6 cylinders. remember to pull the efi relay out when cranking the car. crank the car 2-3 seconds each time. i dont know the compression numbers you are going to be looking for but as long as all the cylinder are close to the same compression you should be good. but really.... go raise hell with the dealership. you could have been broken down along the freeway just waiting for a guy with an axe to end you.