Running Low

[APugsLife]

How far can you drive with your oil light on in your car?

[Old_Geezer]

You can drive as far as it takes for the engine to seize up.

[=rizla=]

Check the dipstick.

An average car has say 4.5L of oil in it, and its normally 1L from min to max on dipstick. On the min whilst not great isn't likely to seize an engine in a short trip to the shops, but with no oil on the dipstick have you got 3.5L or 0L of oil??, 0L will ruin your engine in well under 1 mile, in fact with no oil will cause some engine damage in a couple of seconds.

If it was me and I had some oil on the dipstick I would run it very gently to a shop, if that was my only option for getting oil, no oil on the dipstick and i'd walk/taxi/phone a friend.

So far as it loosing oil, how much is it leaking/burning?,

[SpikeyBush]

Some cars have two oil lights. One is an oil level light which comes on when the level is getting low and is usually orange. You can drive normally with this lit but top up as soon as possible. The other is the oil pressure light and is red. It is red for a good reason. If this light comes on then your engine is not getting any lubrication. This can be due to either a lack of oil in the sump or a failure or blockage in the oil pump and to continue driving in this instance will write off your engine within a matter of yards.

NB try not to put cold oil into a hot engine, let it cool down first.

[Jasmine123]

The oil light means low oil pressure. Low pressure can have many causes, one of which is low oil.