How hot can a rotary get before you are in danger of damaging the seals/engine? I broke my alternator belt the other night and because of that the water pump was not working for a minute approximately.

Measured temp (gauge) was at 280. Normally the car runs @ 180 or so. I'm hoping that I'm not going to have to do a rebuild or repair.

Unfortunately, I know that rotaries are generally not very tolerant of high temps so I guess I'm wondering how high people have gotten w/out doing permanent damage to the engine.

 

280 is in the TOASTed area, but it could be ok, like a 10% chance.

Fill it up with water and crank it, if it starts to drink water or burp it out then you are done, if it doesnt but runs badly it could be a worped IRON

 

I found out the bad way that my motor at least can take 250 at the thermostat for 10 minutes.

My fan got stuck in the shroud while drifting. Not a fun night.

I kept pouring water on the radiator and cranking the motor every minute to keep the coolant churning while I was also flapping the hood to get cold air in the engine bay.

 

Well, it might take it if it was still in good shape. Just fire it up and see what happens.

 

Seems good to me.. Fired her up and watched coolant levels and so on.. Runs just as smoothly as normal w/out any funny business. Guess I got lucky on this one and learned something as a result!

 

That's good news. I had a similar incident this summer. I broke a belt on a 104* day on the Central Expressway in Dallas. I literally couldn't get off or onto the side of the road for too long. My S5 temp gauge pegged, but I had no engine damage. The radiator did not boil over and I credit my Evans Cooling NPG+ for saving the engine.

The take home lesson for me is to replace my belts once per year by the calendar.

 

Interesting, my situation was somewhat similar. I was on the 520 bridge here in seattle.. It has no shoulders and nowhere to pull off.. I attribute getting off so easily to the Taurus e-fan that I have installed.