Accidentally drove while overheated... a little worried

[Saturdee]

Well on my way home my power steering, alternator (I think) and water pump belt that I was planning on replacing very soon broke. So I had to drive about 25 miles to get home, so stupidly I decided to just drive home not thinking anything would happen and after about 10 or so miles I look at my temp guage and it was as high as it could go, so I pulled over real quick. I also noticed that right after the belt went, the battery light and brake light stayed on, idk why.

Anyways, long story short, car got towed home and I drove it overheated and I was just wondering if that would do a lot of damage or none or what, I'm kinda worried, thanks.

 

[mrbill86]

The reason for you battery light being on is becuase the belt is no longer turning the alternator and the alternator is what charges your batter. So if it's not getting charged anymore, the juice is getting used up and the battery will need charging. As far as the brake, I'm not too sure. The first thing you'll want to do is a compression test on your car. That will let you know if you blew your head gasket or not. As far as anything else that could have went wrong, you may need to replace your thermostat, water pump, and coolant lines. Also check things out under the hood to make sure you didn't melt the crap out of anything. Another problem that could have happened is damage to your turbo. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head at the moment. Just make sure to do a compression test first and that will let you know if you blew the head gasket. Good luck man. Oh and by the way, make sure no coolant leaked inside your car, because if it did, then you blew your heater core.

 

[Saturdee]

Wow... well that sucks. How would I check to see if coolant got in my engine?

And based on this scenario how high are the chances of all that stuff happening; starting up my car, drove about 1 minute and belt broke, then about 10 minutes of driving without that belt.

I'm just really hoping it took a while for it to heat all the way up to what it was, and that I wasn't driving it that long of a time with a maxed out temp guage...

Edit: I just ran out and checked under the hood and I saw nothing that looked melted thankfully, no wires or anything.

 

[mrbill86]

Well the biggest things that you could have messed up is the thermostat and head gasket. Just do a compression test, they have the testers at Autozone for like $30. Also, if you want to check to see if your coolant and oil are mixed, pull out your dipstick. If it looks kind of like chocolate milk, then it's mixed. Or just remove your radiator cap and put some water or coolant in it if you can't see any and see if there is oil floating at the top. If it got into the combustion chamber, you would know itstantly because it will smoke like crazy. I'm sure everything else is fine.

 

[Clinical]

Driving for that long I'd almost want to bet you warped your head, possibly the block but not as likely as the head.

My buddy broke his alternator belt and drove it back to our meeting spot and just in that drive it overheated and was shooting coolant everywhere.

Then drove it home less than a mile and probably got worse.



My alternator belt came off one time, although I had heard it for the last two miles on its way out and was just praying it'd get me home. I finally heard some whipping noise and saw the remains of the belt fly out. I kept driving watching my temp gauge, within 5 seconds if the belt flying off my gauge was shooting up and would of maxed out in 2-3 seconds if I hadn't of turned it off..

I cant believe it even was still running after 10 miles.

 

[mrbill86]

Driving for that long I'd almost want to bet you warped your head, possibly the block but not as likely as the head.

Ah and here's the other problem I completely forgot about. If you warped your head, that's luckily nothing too major. Just take it to a machine shop and have them fix it for you.

 

[Mopar McNeer]

You're lucky that the car didn't just stall from overheating.

Keep checking your coolant levels, also check to see if the coolant and oil have mixed at all.

If you are really worried, tear it down and have a machine shop surface the head. My local shop charged me $60 to hot tank and surface my head. I also replaced the valve guides/seals after hot tanking my 420a to be on the safe side. New Head gasket and the usual other bits and you should be good to go.

How did the car run after you over heated it? Pretty much like normal until you shut it down?

 

[ratatack]

I just went through the same thing unfortunatly but this go around im putting better headgaskets in and soforth.

 

[V12 Killa]

had this happn to buddy of mines (im not sure how long he was running overheating) and it turned out fine so hopefully yours does to. but just do compression test as stated earlier.

 

[Saturdee]

How did the car run after you over heated it? Pretty much like normal until you shut it down?

It felt like the car was running normally. The only thing I noticed is when I pulled over, I smelled something, don't know what, but I could faintly smell it. It went away quickly though, and it was night so I'm not positive if the car was smoking or not, but I don't think it was.

 

[321]

Once the belt brakes and you loose your water pump temps rise very quikly (like with in a normal city block). If you drove miles with no water pump, I would say you probably will have head gasket issues and very possible a warped head. I dought your block would warp. If I were you I would replace the belts and put cooolant in it and see what it does. If all is fine,go with it. If not then take it from their. If all is fine, that dosn't mean you didnt weaken the head gasket and may have issues months later. Trust me I know ,it happened to me when my belt broke.

 

[Saturdee]

Okay, but how will I be able to tell if my cylinder head and gasket are warped or not? Would I have to tear it apart and check or could I tell by driving?

 

[Clinical]

just get a new belt on and drive it, do a compression check. If compression check turns out good and it doesnt heat up / push coolant consider yourself damn lucky.

Otherwise you'll need to pull the head and take it to a machine shop to be surfaced.

 

[Saturdee]

Alright sounds good, and I just checked the oil, it's dark and I barely have any, and I have like no engine coolant either.

 

[johnson512n28]

If your coolant overflow reservoir is empty, you might have a bad thermostat. Mine shot the coolant straight out of it a couple times while I was driving when my thermostat went bad. I also would make sure your radiator cap has a good solid seal. If you pulled right over when you saw your gauge go up your chances are good on the engine, but if it was running for a mile or more above that halfway point as stated you're looking at trouble.

Good test for your thermostat is to take the radiator cap off and run the car with the coolant topped off. It is likely to overflow a bit until it gets to running temperature (I use a turkey baster to grab the excess and put it in the reservoir) If the thermostat is good it will engage and the coolant should start spinning and going down. (This will take a good 5min to get heated up).

 

[danl]

Once the belt brakes and you loose your water pump temps rise very quikly (like with in a normal city block). If you drove miles with no water pump, I would say you probably will have head gasket issues and very possible a warped head. I dought your block would warp. If I were you I would replace the belts and put cooolant in it and see what it does. If all is fine,go with it. If not then take it from their. If all is fine, that dosn't mean you didnt weaken the head gasket and may have issues months later. Trust me I know ,it happened to me when my belt broke.

Thats been my experience. They overheat EXTREMLY quickly and start to warp the head in no time flat. As soon as that motor gets above 230 deg F all bets are off. Head may need surfaced, piston skirts may have started scuffing etc...

 

[Saturdee]

GREAT news, me and my friend put the new belt on, put some more coolant in, I checked one of the spark plugs to see if there was any green on it, and there was none. When we started it up we waited a little bit and and the coolant almost overflowed (we had the cap off) but then it started flowing. I noticed no trace of oil in the coolant at all and even after I drove back up to my house, none. Car starts and feels like it runs fine, even though I didn't drive it far. And I put some more oil in when I got home. I think I'm gonna go start up my car and let it run for a little to see if my thermostat is alright now though.

So maybe, somehow I got super lucky, but I still am going to get a compression test done just to be safe.

Let me know what you guys think, does that sound like everything's working good?



Edit: I started it up and let it run for a little, revved it with the radiator cap off and noticed a little bit of bubbles, not much, this normal or not? Thermostat seems to be working though, that's a plus

 

[danl]

These motors don't mix oil in the coolant when they leak. You need to get it up and running, take it out on the highway, and lay into it. If it overheats then let out, headgasket is letting air into the cooling system. Get off the highway and check the overflow, if it is bubbling out or filled up with coolant, again HG is leaking. Next *carefully* take the rad cap off and it should be filled to the top with coolant. If there is any air at all the HG is leaking.

The bubbles with the cap off is not normal, but you may have air in the system from something else. If your HG is leaking a little bit you can drive it just fine. Just keep an eye on the temp gauge when going up hills and top it off periodically. Then plan a weekend to replace the headgasket. When the summer comes, they tend to overheat much easier with small HG leaks, something to keep in mind when the weather warms up.

 

[Saturdee]

Well I think the bubbles was just from the coolant maybe like getting through the engine or something, because after I let the car sit for a while and heat up, I gave it some throttle again a couple times, and had no bubbles at all, so that was reassuring at least.

I'll keep an eye out for what you mentioned, thanks a lot.

 

[321]

Take it out and run it. Gradually go farther. Maybe start by doing laps not far from home just incase it needs to be towed back. You can tell if the t stat is working by feeling the two radiater hoses. Only 1 will be hot when closed, and both will be hot when opened.

 

[Mopar McNeer]

Getting the bubbles out of your system is a good thing. You need to "burp" your system so that air pockets are not trapped in the engine, as they cause hot spots and can be the cause of overheating or poor cooling.

You should continue to drive like normal, but check the oil & coolant levels (and condition) weekly, if not daily for atleast a month. You are looking for coolant in the oil or loss of fluid level without seeing any leaks.

I hope everything works out and you have no issues.

 

[gst96spyderman]

It felt like the car was running normally. The only thing I noticed is when I pulled over, I smelled something, don't know what, but I could faintly smell it. It went away quickly though, and it was night so I'm not positive if the car was smoking or not, but I don't think it was.

That sweet smell is the coolant/water evaporated because of overheating. #1 check radiator cap #2 compression test. You are very lucky. As am I. I had overheating issue as well, and it was only the radiator cap.

 

[Saturdee]

Alright I'll check up on everything you all said, thanks a lot guys, hopefully everything turns out fine.

 

[nightmares GS-T]

I overheated the other day as well. Happened to look down at the temp gauge because the car was idling much higher than I had it set and it was maxed out. Pulled over and checked my logger to see an astounding 264 degrees! Luckily so far I havent seen any signs of a blown headgasket or a warped head so im praying I got really lucky. Anyways like others have said if the compression test checks out and you dont overheat anymore then dont worry about it.

 

[GsXdSmKingGsX]

I overheated the other day as well. Happened to look down at the temp gauge because the car was idling much higher than I had it set and it was maxed out. Pulled over and checked my logger to see an astounding 264 degrees! Luckily so far I havent seen any signs of a blown headgasket or a warped head so im praying I got really lucky. Anyways like others have said if the compression test checks out and you dont overheat anymore then dont worry about it.

Check your water pump and all of that business.