What Happens To An Engine Without Oil?

Even those with just the most basic of engine knowledge know that having clean oil is one of the most crucial components of operating an engine. Without it, complete and utter destruction will more than likely unfold and potentially leave you stranded if you’re talking about the engine in your car.

The basic purpose of oil, if you weren’t sure, is to make sure that everything inside of your engine is well lubricated. With all of those metallic parts rubbing up against one another, you want to make sure that there is as little friction as possible because friction tends to wear parts down to nothing, using those metal shavings to wreak havoc.

This time, we follow along with the guys over at Engineering Explained as they attempt to see what is going to happen when an engine is run without oil. To measure the difference in an engine running with oil and without it, they break out a thermal camera to see if the cooling properties of oil change much and then shortly after dissect the engine to see what the internals look like.

Follow along with the experiment down below as this Harbor Freight one cylinder engine is monitored to see what the path to destruction might look like when it’s fired up and runs without lubricant. Keep in mind that if you aren’t staying up-to-date with your oil changes, processes similar to this could be unfolding underneath your hood.