oil change question

That's quite a sentence you have there.

After the 5th read I think I figured it out "Will it damage the engine to leave it drained of oil overnight?"

I can't imagine any harm would come from doing this overnight. After all, the oil drains from the engine every time you stop the engine. The only difference is that the oil is sitting in the oil pan rather than outside of the car. Oil is also drained during many bits of major engine work to no ill effects.

I'd say the most compelling reason to advise against doing this is, a) hardly takes any more time to stick the oil back in, and b) to hedge against the risk of someone in the household grabbing the keys and starting it up not knowing it's not ready to be driven. But if yer the only driver, and you wanna give it a good complete draining, go for it.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

I might be concerned about the anti-drain back but that is mostly a concern in "vertical" engines. I might also disconnect the battery so that I wouldn't forget to put oil in it before I started it. :)

I try not to leave vehicles in an unservicable state if at all possible....

Cold air will infiltrate into parts of the engine normally covered with engine oil. If that cold air is moist, then that moisture will coat those areas. However, the first or second engine run to full temperature should dry it out.

alf scribbled:

Why would you want to do that?

Why would you want to wait before refilling it?

My greatest concern would be to forget to put oil back in the engine the next morning...

do you want to leave it overnite to get as much dirty old oil to drain out? I flush my cars with maybe a half pint of keroscene or crankcase flush after the oil has drained, and let that drain. The new oil stays a lot cleaner for a lot longer.

VF