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Argh!!
I noticed it seemed my NB was a tiny sluggish last week.. and thought I should check the oil.. To my amazement it was dry!! as in nothing on the dipstick. I babied it to the petrol station and filled 2 litres in there (tho now its .5 cm over). Its only 5k since oil change, and oil and temp dials have always been all normal. No signs of oil loss at work and home parking spot either. Havent noticed any exhaust smoke either.

Only incedent to happen recently I did hit a smallish tree branch during windy weather here in melb 2 weeks ago that left a hole in my rear bumper. but i dont think that caused it. I usually find my self topping up ~ 1 litre between 10k services but this is a lot.

Not what I wanted for christmas..

Question is.. If its not physically damaged is it normal to burn (or mysteriously lose) that much oil? and is my engine damaged running with such small amounts of oil?

thanks.

Well no oil can lead to serious damage, but are you sure there was none or was it just very difficult to see on the dipstick? Some oils are quite a light colour and don't show up easily on the dipstick, as opposed to seeing some brown oil on the stick which most people are used to.... If the oil pressure gauge was showing the usual pressures, there's a good chance there was an ok amount of oil in the sump. The engine wouldn't have run for the last week on no oil.

Have a good look around under the sump and also around the oil filter to check for any leaks, but you really shouldn't have to be topping the oil up at all.

I had another look, car is lowered so its hard to see but with a flashlight it all seemed dry and grey underneath the car. The oil wasnt that clear, sorta brown. So yeah im pretty sure it was lower than the dipstick.. and the pouring of 2litres proves that.. tho i proabably put ~.5 litre too much now (which i know isnt good either).

All of this makes me think of all the times I have dríven it hard in the last few weeks and the poor engine on half oil.

I'm pretty sure the difference between the high and low marks on your dip stick is 1lt.

Yeah in my car the difference between high to low is less than 1 L...

I never have to top before the next oil change either...

To the OP, when did you check the oil?
Was it cold?
After a run?