Had a little off-road oops...

"Your engine needs enough oil to operate, running with not enough is... not enough." these engines have a "low oil shut off" that won't allow the engine to run if the oil gets too low. SO, if the engine was running, he wasn't too low on engine oil.

 

2nd gens don't have any type of low oil or oil pressure shutdown, just the oil pressure light on the dash.
There are vehicles out there that will shut down if they detect low oil pressure for a period of time but the Tacoma isn't one of them.

 

Turd gen has an oil level switch in the pan that'll give a warning on the dash if low. However, it doesn't shut off the engine automatically. Had a branch poke through gaps in the skid plate and break the wires to said switch on a friend's truck, triggering the warning, but it didn't shut off the engine.

 

Yea 2nd gens don't have a low oil level switch just a low pressure switch that turns the light on in the dash when the pressure falls below about 7psi.

 

I assumed there was a low oil switch because on my '07 Tacoma, while driving through a pasture through and over a bunch of soapweed, my Fumoto valve got opened and I didn't notice the light right away. Once I did notice it, I got out and found the Fumoto valve open, so I quickly closed it. The rancher and I checked my oil level on the dip stick and nothing showed. We were out in the middle of no where and since the truck still ran, I decided to head back to the ranch. As we were going down a fairly steep hill, my engine shut off. At which point we had to walk a ways to find cell service and called the ranchers wife to bring us some oil.
Put oil in and away we went.
Didn't do any harm apparently. Got about 253,000 miles and still running good.

 

PLEASE tell me you got video of this OP.

 

but 3 quarts isn't enough

 

Def sounds like a hydro locked engine.... time for a new engine.

 

Lucky you noticed the oil light & responded quickly.

This detailed post I wrote about Fumoto's available but little-publicized heavy-duty locking clip may be of interest. Costs about $3.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fumoto-valve.325259/page-2#post-28228005

 

Yea I don't think I'd ever put one of those on anything, too easy for something like that to happen or for some mischievous person to crawl under there and dump the oil. That's like those new Fords with the 1/4 turn plastic plug that comes out super easy, I'm always afraid those are gona fall out if something bumps them.

 

I guess it depends on where you live and/or if you have "friends" who know your vehicle has a fumoto. For my taco there is no visual angle I can imagine in which a passerby would see, by happenstance, that there's a short Fumoto (I chose one with no nipple on it) vs. a stock drain plug.

 

I wonder why Toyota didn't program the ECU to go into limp mode a few seconds after the oil low-pressure switch activates? Or maybe even shut the engine down entirely?

Were they thinking that there are situations where the driver would want or need to sacrifice the engine for safety reasons, like trying to complete an aggressive pass or merge on the freeway?

 

Idk I guess it's a risk some people are willing to take to not get oil on their hands but it's not something I would ever do or recommend. I don't mind getting my hands dirty, I live in dirt and grease pretty much every day.

 

There's definitely a convenience element to it. But aside from that the Fumoto makes it possible to quickly & easily take small oil samples at regular intervals. Also makes it a lot easier to adjust oil level if needed.

 

There's very few vehicles I know of that will shut down the engine for low oil pressure, level, or overtemperature. The oil pressure switch on the Tacoma isn't even connected to the PCM in any way, all it does is turn on the light. Majority of the time by the time the light comes on and is noticed it's too late anyway.

 

and not a single “ . “ was used

 

Interesting. I didn't know the Taco's oil level sensor is a completely dumb switch just connected to a dash light. At a minimum it should be connected to the audible beeper, the same one as the seatbelt. The sound should come on constant & not shut off, when the oil light comes on.

 

Yea I never saw a need for that either unless one suspected a problem, an oil analysis costs almost as much as an oil change (if you DIY) unless your using some super expensive oil.