I randomly checked the oil on my 2001 Chrysler cirrus LXI today and was shocked not to see any oil on the dipstick reading. I know I have a very minor oil leak but never had this happen. No oil light warning was appearing on dashboard, so I drove to gas station to check. They also got no reading, and after adding 2.5 quarts of oil, a reading appeared right in the middle of dipstick. Any idea why I could have lost this much oil? Why didn't my "check oil" light come on?

The car is slightly overdue for oil change service. Thanks for any advice, hoping this is not terribly expensive repair. I feel very fortunate that the engine did not cease up. I'm assuming that there had to be at least some oil in the engine if it only took 2.5 quarts to get the reading on dipstick back to normal level?

 

What engine?
if 2.7L, then look for a leaking oil switch.
Also, does your oil light come on when you turn the key on?
Some twit had removed the lightbulb out of mine before I bought it.

 

Some motors oil lights only come on when the oil pressure gets too low. You can still cause some damage to an engine if the oil level is low,but no light appears. Hopefully you will be Ok,but best keep and eye on it. There are a shed load of "leak fix" products on the market. might be worth a try.