overheated it - i might cry

[Napalm]

OK so driving home from some around town duty. backed out of a drive way - saw and smelled coolant. gage was OK - engine was fine - didn't have far thought I could make it.

why I honestly don't know - oh kid in the car probably lead to some of that.

Anyway. driving on - temp looks ok - ok. and there it starts rising - ok . gets up the red line. ok - engine overheat on DIC - power reduced mode - and a popping noise with what I thought was white smoke - might have been steam.

neutral - shut down but right before I do there is a bit of knock - go away - engine still idled right before I cut the key.

No signs of oil on around the exhaust manifolds yet. let car cool - dipstick pull shows oil is about at the right level - no notice major drop off and no milk or smell.

going to let it sit overnight before I attempt to do more. OH where did the coolant come from - so far as I can tell upper rad hose slipped off the rad. lower hose looks still connected and even feels to be in good shape. I can't tell if the rad leaks but hard to say. and I don't see obvious engine damage.


good thoughts and well wishes appreciated. I'll post more tomorrow.

First plan of thought is to get new hoses - both, new thermostat and o ring (or housing if needed) - coolant.

is it true I won't know if I have a popped head gasket unless I do a compression test or if there is white smoke out of the tail pipe? I don't see signs but won't know until I try to start it again.

Has anyone had one of those coolant pipes in the valley pop? Might that have been what I heard - and the white stuff be steam?

[52WASP]

Napalm,
If the vehicle had time to go into reduced power mode, I think she might be OK (well wishes coming your way here). If a radiator hose came off, that would barf coolant, and the remaining coolant, now no longer under the ~15PSI of the system, will boil. Hence the white smoke (steam).

Good luck.

[Napalm]

That's what I'm hoping - I was uphill a bit when that happened - and it was before the low power notice. I'm hoping what I heard was fluid hitting the hot engine but shrug.


this morning still good oil level (it wasn't on flat ground so hard to say) - and nothing in it. no puddle under it other than by the radiator as the rest dripped off the car.

So I have to get it up my driveway - took a deep breath and started it. it started normal and had it's normal coldstart knock (light piston slap). I don't know if that was covering up something worse but the engine ran ok for the 1 minute it tool to get parked. I live on a steep hill unfortunately so it was light throttle up the hill.

anyway shut down asap - and seemed to be OK at that. Now the fun begins.

Thank you again.

[TonyKarter]

You may have missed a catastrophe. Hoping you find what it was so you can resolve it. Water pump? Your predicament reminds me that my radiator hoses are only 12 years old. So is my brake fluid. Damn, them Aussies know how to build a car.

[Napalm]

well the upper rad hose slipped off the radiator is the primary cause. Not sure where the white puff came from but I'm thinking it might have been steam.

So today got new rad hoses, clamps, tstat, fluid, oil, etc. filled up rad, started car - let it run - checked rad added to it - no new sounds. seemed ok, no white smoke out the back. OK checked car and reset trouble codes with torque pro. read oil pressure oil temp and coolant temp while checking car.

coolant got up toward 230 - shut it down again. forgot to run the heater. opened rad cap, filled with more fluid ok, looked around. Started back up - ran ok - smelled some coolant - but got the heater running. smelled more coolant - shut it down

upper hose at the WP slipped off most of the way. !!!!!!!!!!, sprayed me with coolant - before putting it back checked the shop manual I had put the hose on down to the base - so manual pick shows it further up the neck - ok let me put is back a bit - then clamp down. also press back onto the RAD as far as it could go - clamp down.

Top off more coolant. start car - so far so good. I haven't driven it any distance yet but I plan on it later this week. Gertrude is no longer my daily driver. partly sad day - I've daily driven that car since 2011. She has 188K on her. again though so far so good.