Driving on low oil

I have a question about the effects of driving on low oil. I recently aquired a 92 Crown Vic from a familiy member. The car runs (and looks) great, considering that it has 210,000 miles. (Heck, it's still on its first tranny!) The engine is a bit newer than the car, as it was swapped out under warranty at around 50,000 as the original was burning oil.

Anyhow, I recently noticed that when the car is suddenly stopped (this has happened twice), the oil light would come on very briefly (it would stay on for 1/2 sec to 1 sec then go back off). I dismissed it as an errant sensor; the entire electronics cluster is a bit screwy on this car -- even the gas gauge is known to jump around a bit.

I had the oil changed today, and the report noted that the oil level was "off stick". Not good! I've driven the car around a good couple of thousand miles since I aquired it, and I doubt that the low oil level is a new occurance (it doesn't leak). I guess the oil light was from the low oil level; whenever I braked, the little bit of oil that was in there probably pooled away from the pump intake, dropping the pressure for a moment and tripping the light. The car usually takes 5
1/2 quarts or so.

I haven't noticed any change in the way the engine sounds or performs. (I knew how it performed before I aquired it). What's the likelyhood that I've done some damage?

Thanks!

-Ryan remove "NO" and "SPAM" for email replies

Or just simply the results of 11,000 RPM. I doubt the oil mattered at all at that point...

You probably didn't damage anything. The oil light came on because on a hard stop with the level a bit low, the oil pump inlet screen became un-covered and sucked in a slug of air causing the oil pressure to drop to zero for a few seconds. Since it quickly recovered oil pressure, this didn't do any more damage than starting the car a few extra times.

Next time, keep a close eye on the oil level- obviously this engine burns a little oil. No big deal, just keep it full from now on.

Running with the level chronically a quart or two low isn't good becuse it wears out the OIL faster by making it run hotter and circulate through the engine internals more often and spend less time in the pan cooling off. It only becomes an immediate danger to the engine when it gets so low that the oil pump picks up air slugs all the time, and it doesn't sound like it got that bad because the oil pressure warning lamp will flicker in those circumtances.

pressure only intermittently under (I assume) closed throttle. If the oil= was low because it was not changed for a very long time the oil could be= in poor condition and turning to sludge because of age and high = temperature.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/Oil.jpg

The results of low oil (1 qt) and high RPM (Around 11,000)

Spammers are vermin. Please kill them.

When you have a car that's got 200,000 miles on it, I would get into the habit of regularly checking the oil, not just waiting until oil changes.
Only takes 30 seconds after each gas fill-up and leads to peace-of-mind.
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

You are on overtime with that engine and obviously it uses some oil.
It could last a good long time yet if you monitor the oil regularly.
Chances are it uses the same amount of oil all the time, say a quart in 1000 miles or even less. Figure out what the usage is and keep it topped off. I like to keep mine within a half quart of full.