E30 Zone

If I had the sump off the engine would it damage anything to start the car for 5-10 seconds? Maybe a very daft question! Got a rattle I think maybe coming from the crank and want to see if it is

hmmm.. i wouldn't but i'm sure someone will let you know soon

I wouldn't either unless i was planning to replace that engine.

With the sump off you should be able to grab the conrods and give them a wiggle, they should move front to back but not side to side. To inspect them properly you will need to whip the caps off and have a good look at the bearing shells and crank, same goes for the mains, just be sure to torque everything back up properly.

Rik178m wrote:If I had the sump off the engine would it damage anything to start the car for 5-10 seconds? Maybe a very daft question! Got a rattle I think maybe coming from the crank and want to see if it is

Hard cornering on track can cause enough oil starvation to lunch the motor. Even brief oil starvation can be enough to trash an engine, and even if it wasn't the crank spins so fast even at idle (about 15 times) that you wouldn't be able to make any kind of visual check anyway.