Newbie here...be gentle.

Long story short:

Wife crashed my 99 EX Sedan w/ VTEC 4 about two hours from where I am...it was towed to a local shop and I was only able to see it at night due to work and whatnot. In the dark, it looked like it was mechanically decent with plenty of body damage, so I started it up with no problem and I noticed the radiator was leaking and was probably empty. After a couple minutes of idling in park, it died, and I figured it was just due to the computer sensing a lack of coolant.

I decided the body damage was bad enough that I didn't want to deal with it and decided to give the car to my mom figuring she could fix it up and have a decent car for a good while. When I went to pick it up, I tried to start it to get it on the trailer, and it wouldn't start (it did turn over though, so it's not seized). I inspected more closely under the car (now in daylight) and saw that the oilpan had been damaged, and sure enough, the oil was drained. So now I'm sweating, thinking that I might have trashed the engine by idling it with no oil.

I hoped that maybe the computer had cut off the car when the oil pressure dropped to zero, but I now don't think Hondas have that feature...so it probably just idled until it couldn't.

Unfortunately, I can't even see the car now (military trip) and can only advise by phone.

I advised my mom to replace the oil pan, put oil in it, fill the radiator with water and try to start it...just to see what happens.

First, anything wrong with that advice?

Second, if the engine isn't seized, is there a chance that it's ok. It only idled for a few minutes (5 or less) and was never out of park, and it's not seized as far as I can tell.

Third, if it is ok, is there anything beyond putting oil in that I need to do? Do I need to reset the computer or anything?

Thanks fellas.

 

cheapest way is to let the car sit for say a week then have the pan welded (if possible). Then fill it with oil and coolant. The car prob just needs the stuff to work ... I highly doubt that the car has such electronics. japanese car manufacturers are very practical so its prob some simple principle that is keping the car from turning on.

 

Why sit for a week?

She already bought an oilpan and is going to (hopefully) have a friend bolt it on...so that $30 is already spent.

I'm sure folks are wondering why I didn't see the oil light....I was so happy it started, I immediately popped the hood. It seemed to be knocking, but nothing drastic...then it cut out after a few minutes.

It only idled, so it wasn't under a huge load, and the starter still turns it over.

 

ouch,,,,,, that knocking noise sure does not sound very good. you might want to get a shop's opinion .. try to go to a shop that specializes on Hondas or the Honda dealer ..I would do that before investing any money on the current engine , should it need to be replaced

the good news ,,,,engine is not seized since it starts,,

reason it might have died is that engine might have overheated badly enough to die, ( did you chk eng temp ) while engine was idling ??
if all the oil spilled out,oil warning lite should have come on, unless wiring or something got damaged to keep it from coming on

 

If you get it working again you probably took a year or 2 off of the engines life. I would run the BEST synthetic oil after you get it working again.

 

Trust me, you would be amazed at how tough those Honda engines are, even when abused like that. Fix the damaged pan and radiator, fill it back up and it will probably be ok since you were only idleing the motor.

 

engine is toast. engine stalled becuse it seized. don't even waste your time....ecu does not stop engine due to lack of coolant or oil pressure. it isn't that smart. when the engine cooled back down it unseized (common of you are not running under load when the oil drained out) for sure rings are toast and most likely main bearings took some abuse.


my friend seized her windstar's 3.8L and it would not start. let it cool off and replaced radiator. engine started and ran afer we changed oil. Ran for about 2000 miles and then boom....