David Hu$tlerhoff

Basicly i wanted to start a thread that has not to do with the usual "no boost on secondary", "where is my coolant" or "did all 3rd gens come with turbos?"
And maybe it could help to cure some guys' paranoia (like mine ).

well, my idea is, everyone who overheated his/her engine should write it down here, and give the following parameters:


mileage(when it happened, and currently):
reason: (busted coolant hose/blown waterpump etc)
what temp:
if stock gauge, what position:
did the engine survive it?:
additional notes: (ambient temp, under what conditions it happend blah blah)


no bashing please, thought it could be useful

mr_ouija

92000 miles on car (21000 on motor)
Threw waterpump belt...
Almost to the red, ALMOST!
Hellz yea it survived!

I was at the track, the belt was thrown during the burnout. The needle didn't start moving til I was over halfway down the 1/4 mile. I left off the gas maybe 3/4 of the way down the track and coasted to the end. Buddy who I was racing against and me pushed her the 1/4 mile back and she turned out okay, new belt and radiator and all is well. BTW, she turned a 14.1 that run w/ 7psi.

David Hu$tlerhoff

i start:

mileage: happened at ~55000 kilometers, now at 56900

reason: radiator cap popped off

what temp:
if stock gauge, what position: 10 o'clock

did the engine survive it?: not sure, that's why i started this thread

additional notes: drove for ~20 miles,also a few miles fast, saw steam coming out from under the hood when i was driving very slow, stopped, looked, realised "oh f*ck!", jumped back and saw temp gauge at 10 o'clock, shut off engine. ambient temp was around 20 Deg. Celsius. 1,8 liters of coolant were missing

Trexthe3rd

Mileage: Unknown
Reason: Bad water seal
Stock gauge pegged red intermittenly
Water temp at filler neck shows anywhere from 190 to 240
The engine worked fine for another 10K+
I was in denial during that time.

cabaynes

iTrader: (4)

wow, suprised to hear how long it lasted... thats a little reassuring to know

apneablue

Mileage: 84K Stock Motor
Reason: Throttle Body Coolant line busted
Stock Gauge: 10 o' Clock
Water temp: Didn't look cuz PFC was responding faster.
PFC: 107°C


I have a blown coolant seal and am packed up with CRC blockweld when it happened.

Car sat for almost two weeks before starting up and took a while to start but eventually did...Dumped another bottle of CRC in with water only (no coolan) and have been running that for about 200 miles. (I don't drive very often) Otherwise it seems to be ok!

spurvo

Sooo many coolant problems for me!

Purchased car at 61,091. Driving it around to get licensed, I noticed fans coming on often with my lights on. Temp gauge was not linearized at the time, and did not move from the middle position. The fans WOULD turn off again, so I was cycling between 210F to 195F. After much wringing of hands, I found the filler cap was old and cracked, and the pipe plug just behind the filler cap was leaking. These were fixed and the fans stopped running and coolant stopped overflowing 'cause I stopped constantly refilling.

About 1000 mi later, the thing started losing coolant again. I replaced all 14 hoses, and it started drawing coolant back on cooldown. Yay.

I did the temp gauge linearization and fan mod (dysney style) a little after this. I pretty much watch the gauge religiously from that point on, and kick on the fans at a gauge position that corresponds to 190F.

When under the car for the hoses, I noticed that battery acid had dropped onto the plastic end tanks of the stock rad. Looked exactly like the steel plateds melted by alien blood in Aliens. I stuffed a mis-welded Fluidyne in, and temps took longer to rise under given conditions, though would still rise of course.

About 66,666 (should have guessed) I noticed coolant dissappearing again (I check it each morning before I leave) I tightened every hose. It still lost coolant. I took it to local reputable mechanic (Bothell Import, the OTHER Hayes!) and they put a pressure tester on it. Drool from the waterpump housing to heater pipe connection, and LOTS of drool from water pump. Belts were too tight at some point. So I replaced water pump AND housing at 67,091 (6,000 miles into it all) and tightened hoses again. STILL losing coolant. Borrowed said pressure tester (have YOU ever heard of a shop loaning out tools? BIZZARE! and cool as all hell!) and found the one clamp I hadn't tightened. Still lost coolant.

So I put a cut 7-UP bottle into the filler neck and had the GF run the car. Tiny bubbles frothing out of the filler neck for 5 minutes straight. Right.

So reman shipped today to Pineapple for 5 year warrantee rebuild, and I'll swap it as soon as it's done.

Note that my car is pretty early production (#1851), so I'm wondering if there was a change in O-ring materials for later engines that allow them to run longer. Seems I've read huge numbers of posts of the rings failing at around 65 to 70K miles.

That's my sad tale. Sticking with stock engine config as there is plenty of quiet power from the stock engine for me. I can still drive the car while the reman gets rebuilt (stupid me and my un-beater modded self!) by just adding coolant every time I drive. It doesn't lose that much coolant during my daily to and from work drives, and now I can rev the hell out of it and more or less not care

Shinobi-X

mileage: 100,0XX (then), 100,1XX (now)
reason: Coolant line from AST leading to Overflow tank disconnected. Also possible bad radiator
what temp: Unknown (Temp gauge stops reading at 250F)
Did the engine survive it?: Yes, I pulled over immediately
additional notes: Under WOT one of my friends noticed that the temp gauge was reading higher than the normal 180F temp. I had also forgotten to turn on my leading fan switch. After filling up with some more coolant I had kept in the car, I drove back home with the fans on, and temps. stayed stable at 180F. After finally reaching home, the car dumped coolant onto the unerbelly, and pavement.

alwan16

mileage: 72000
reason: radiator core sprung a leak
what temp: 130 Celsius in stock sender location..behind 2nd rotor
if stock gauge, what position: as hot as it goes
did the engine survive it?: yes...but definitely degraded the coolant seals imo
additional notes: super hot 100+ degree day in sacramento autocrossing. survived being run/idling for 2 hours....started to drive home and temp gauge shot up....pulled over...noticed a hissing sound and coolant gathering underneath the car.

car lasted another 3k miles before showing weird signs of random overheating and exhaust in the coolant. engine was just replaced by me.

Nathan Kwok

Driving back from a track day, going up the grapevine, gauge slowly crept up to 10 o'clock by the time I got to the top of the hill. Turned out to be a stuck thermostat. At the same time I put in a Fluidyne and installed a real temp gauge, that was 2 years ago and about 5000 miles (yeah I don't drive it much). Since fixing it, it has been running stone cold ever since, I can just run the A/C and that turns on the fans, even on the hottest days it'll stay around 190F. No problems whatsoever since then, although I'll probably have to rebuild eventually. Right now I have about 45k miles.

Nathan Kwok

Driving back from a track day, going up the grapevine, gauge slowly crept up to 10 o'clock by the time I got to the top of the hill. Turned out to be a stuck thermostat. At the same time I put in a Fluidyne and installed a real temp gauge, that was 2 years ago and about 5000 miles (yeah I don't drive it much). Since fixing it, it has been running stone cold ever since, I can just run the A/C and that turns on the fans, even on the hottest days it'll stay around 190F. No problems whatsoever since then, although I'll probably have to rebuild eventually. Right now I have about 45k miles.

mike schramm

At 49K my coolent hose split and dumped all the coolent within seconds. I was in busy traffic and could not get over to stop. I drove (slow) for about 1/2 mile as I watched the temp needle climb. I shut the car down right before the needle hit the top. I just knew my engion was distroyed. I got a new hose, filled it up, and have no problems 6 months later. However, It is a touchy subject and I still suffer alittle paranoia about engion damage.

xstacy7

Ok, I didn't really survive the overheating, I just came really close to having it happen to me. I was driving along one day going along one day and the beeeeeep came on so i filled it up, the next day I came out and there was a big puddle behind the drivers side front wheel, I narrowed it down to the AST. While I was changing it the nipple on the side with very little pressure just broke off. It was just about dead. Oh and I narrowed it down to the AST because it was bubbling out the "seal" near the top

mb7

Had mine down in Myrtle Beach last summer, about 98 outside stuck in traffic, and for to turn the parking lights on to help.... Went up 3/4 of the way, I quickly found a side road on went down it at about 70mph, cooled the temps down pretty quick. Did good the rest of time while I was there, but I knew it was down hill from there. After that it seemed progressively harder to start. I didn't drive it too much afterwards, just on the weekends. Finally when christmas came I got a real good present ( well still in the process of getting the best one ). I was on the way to my parents house for christmas, and there was this slow car in front of me... So what do you do when that happens in the 7. Duh! Make him look like he is standing still. So I procede to pas him got to about 85 in 3rd and the engine pitch went from wAAAAA to woooooo. I knew what had happened right then. To this day I believe it was due to overheating, maybe just paranoid but.... Now I'm getting street-port, PowerFC, AVC-R, Fuel mods, and the BNR stage 3's ( what I'm waiting on to finish the project ) and some other goodies. Just gave me the excuse to get off the money and do it right

mb7

Damn that was a long post, I don't feel like proofing it so sorry for gramAR 'n speelin.

rotary

i bought my car hit and the radiator was cracked. it overheated after i started it. i wanted to see if it would hold water but it didnt. no biggie when i got a new radiator my car works perfect.

neevosh

milage: Around 55K
reason: 1st- Stop and go traffic uphill during summer. 2nd- Uphill run through the mountains
guage temp: Both times it got up to 120 C as measured by my Greddy guage with the sender in the stock location.
survival: I replaced the radiator with a Fluidyne and didn't have any more problems. A few times I saw temps near 110 C during hard uphill driving. Engine was fine until it crapped a seal at 65K.

2furious

Mileage: 105,000

What happened: Overpressurized radiator, Coolant hose came loose.

Temp: Stock gauge pegged

Survive: I have 112 now, and I have it sitting waiting to replace plugs, fuel filter, oil pan gasket. I'm not gonna risk an engine again by being stupid. I have a beater now, so I'll be OK. Also, I think one reason I still have an engine is because I am so paranoid that I warm it up for at least ten minutes before driving and let it run for at least 3-5 minutes before shutting it off.

Additional notes: Did this by peeling out while it was doing the accelerated warmup process thing. Yeah, I'm a dumbass. Automatically the overheat buzzer went off, but it stopped after a few minutes. The buzzer went off everytime I started it up after that until one day I was driving and the hose came off of the nipple on the AST and shot coolant everywhere. I even had the engine shut itself down from overheating. Had it towed home, and it sat for three weeks until I found a OEM radiator on eBay. Installed lower mileage stock radiator and Alum. AST before driving it again. No more coolant problems.

bajaman

At about 84K miles I was at highway speed, heading to work one morning when the coolant buzzer came on. This wasn't that unusual as the car had been overpressurizing the cooling system due to bad 'O' rings and I was having to add coolant every other day or so.
So I just turned around to head back home, but hadn't gone more than half a mile or so before the stock gauge continued its rise to the top and pegged itself. I am only about a mile from home by this time, thinking I can baby it, but.....the car started losing power BIG time, bucking and shaking and the engine quit as I pulled to the side of the road.
I let it sit for about 30 mins, FINALLY got it to start and went straight home. By this time the temp gauge was pegged again.

I did the block-seal thing, it lasted for about 2K and then recently I did it again and left the sealer and water mix in. So far so good. The car starts and runs perfectly fine.

I don't think you could have got an engine any hotter than what mine was, and (knocking wood) it didn't seem to do any permanent damage.

Hope this helps your peace of mind......

donsmith

Mine was at aprox. 49,500, after a day of autocrossing in about 90 - 95 degree heat the AST cracked and started leaking. I was about 60 miles from home and decided to try and make it, I had some water in the trunk. The stock gauge got up to just almost red (never heard the beep) when I pulled over and shut down. I let it cool, filled the radiator, and made it home. It's only been about 1,300 miles since then, but it's almost all autocross runs in the high heat, and the gauge hasn't gotten past 9 again. (I do get an occasional whiff of coolant in the cabin, but it could just be paranoia.)

rpm_pwr

when: 119,000km's
what: lower rad tank AST nipple crumbled / rotted
temp gauge: stock -> 10 o'clock
did it survive?: Yes.

The same motor survived a trip to 10 O'clock because I STUPIDLY left the AC on during a top speed run. The old girl was happily pushing 265km/h before I spotted my mistake

Eventual cause of death came when the car was run over by a 4WD. Who knows, maybe the engine survived, but it did end up where the gearbox was supposed to be!

-pete

prew

iTrader: (9)

when: 66,000
what: lower rad hose starting leaking heavily
temp gauge: 9-10 o clock, didnt move, but started to beeeeeeeeep
did it survive: hell yea it did

i left it where it was and my dad and i went the next day and shortened the hose so that i could get it home. ordered new hoses and that was that.

artowar2

mileage (when it happened, and currently): approx 20K, approx 46K
reason (busted coolant hose/blown waterpump etc): Piece of newspaper blew in through the bumper and covered about 1/2 the radiator core.
what temp: unknown
if stock gauge, what position: started climbing rapidly from 1/2 toward the top
did the engine survive it?: Yep. So far, so good.
additional notes (ambient temp, under what conditions it happend blah blah): Hot summer day, 90 to 100 or so, driving through town. Stopped and popped the hood when I saw the gauge rise, then found the newspaper. Let the car idle with hood open until it cooled to normal temps-- didn't take long.