On my way to work today and the unthinkable happens. Car overheats and gauge is all the way on the top at the Hot. Pull into parking lot, pop open the hood to see. On the driver side of the engine, steam and white smoke is coming out. Hissing all over the place. Coolant is not coming from the hoses and overfill bottle is not overflowing. But, underneath the engine is a big puddle of coolant right underneath the sparkplugs. Think I blew something, possible coolant seals? Well, got to tow it home tonight and put the car in the garage. Rebuild time? Plaese advise... Thank You.

'87 gxl, 147,000miles, intake and exhaust, MSD 6A

 

Pehaps you blew the big drivers side coolant hose... That's really the only hose on the spark-plug side of the engine. I've had that hose blow out on me, but luckily I noticed it before the car overheated.

There's a good chance that the coolant seals are now blown... The only way to find out is to repair the external leak (wherever it may be), refill the car with coolant, then start it up and see if you have symptoms of an internal coolant seal leak.

 

What symtoms should I look for in regards to a internal failure? What symtoms should I look for in general?

 

check if the coolant hose for the heater broke. its right above the spark plugs. make sure that and the other hoses are ok then after all this think of the worst.

 

What would cause that hose to fail? Is that a wear and tear item due to age?

 

oil from oil filter changes will eat away at it

 

due to the fact that FC's are old, hoses and rubbers tend to be brittle over time. yes, it's caused by age, i've had one incident like that... and i changed it... good thing it blew right in front of a Pep Boys store how lucky can u get...

 

lol blew mine in front of a parts source once.

question about overheating, as i had the main hose off the block below the spark plugs rip an completely pop off a few times when i first got the car.. had it close to overheating a few times but the few times it started to get really hot it was as a result of being completely empty of coolant (that hose comes off an it drains in under a minit) but i never had any seal damage. is this because there was no coolant to cook the seals with?

 

The seals 'cook' from heat, not just heated coolant.
The heat warps the irons/housings and ****, and causes the coolant seal to tear, im pretty sure thats what happens. Reading the "how to buy an FC" in the faq is the best way to check if your seal is blown.