Car dragged by police while stuck in third gear - damage?

[Neo]

Hi Everyone,

I bought my Porsche Cayman S two weeks ago, and on Friday it broke down. The gear stick went floppy and it was stuck in third gear. Looks like the gear linkage has failed.

However, I had broken down in a dangerous position on Park Lane, Mayfair in London and the police attended and said that they had to drag my car off the road "in the interests of public safety". One of the police officers sat in my driver's seat while another officer towed the car off the road. I'm not sure if the officer in my car depressed the clutch while it was dragged, but judging from what they were saying about safety being more important than damage to the car, I suspect he may not have done.

If this was the case, it means that the car was pulled about 25 yards in third gear, the wheels rolled freely, so the engine would have been turned over while not running. The car had last been running about 45 minutes earlier.

I'm worried that this may have damaged the engine given that oil was not flowing through the engine, but the pulling force will effectively have been doing what fuel ignition normally does. Is it possible the engine could've been damaged, or do I have nothing to worry about at all?

[grbspeedster]

I am sure they would have put clutch down, you would have seen back of car dip with load from engine if they hadnt, and sound of engine spinning over.Oil pump is mechanical drive so oil would have been circulated if engine spining

[Neo]

Well, I hope so (that he put the clutch down). The reason I suspect it might not have done is because I was expressing a lot of concern about dragging it off in gear and about potentially damaging the engine, and he said that is of no concern where there is a safety issue - he didn't mention about dipping the clutch at all during this exchange. It was only after the police left that I realised about doing this, hence why I didn't think to ask him if he did.

Good to know it won't have done any damage thought - the Porsche garage where it's at now said the same.

[murky]

I am sure they would have put clutch down, you would have seen back of car dip with load from engine if they hadnt, and sound of engine spinning over.Oil pump is mechanical drive so oil would have been circulated if engine spining

YES! i think your right!good advice