Lets see, the last motor I did that to was my 1993 Ford Ranger XLT, which I sold in 2006 with 450000 (that's right, almost half a million) miles on it.
that's the way my daddy showed me how to do it many years ago. It has NEVER failed me. I have never once damaged a vehicle. For that matter, neither did my dad who until about 5 years ago had been doing his own oil changes since he owned his first vehicle. Somehow that seems more than just lucky. Since the last oil change on the Mazda was at the tail end of June, I don't believe the engine had sustained any damage over the previous 4 years I had been doing this, or for that matter the 5 years I have been doing it with my other vehicle, or the 13 years I did it with my Ranger. Not to get defensive here, but no, you don't have the answer. What you have is a disagreement. As always and in any topic I raise or contribute to, I am willing to learn. If I have been doing it wrong to the detriment of my vehicles, I am not beyond changing how I do things. However, given that in 6 or 7 vehicles I have owned I've never experienced a problem, I think the lack of any problem over about 50 years of owning vehicles between my dad and myself may have led me to have concluded that the way I was doing things was just fine. In any case, my original question seems to be answered, as my mechanic did confirmed to me that a vehicle could indeed be running very low on oil and not have the oil pressure light illuminate. Thanks again for the input.
Rgds
