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    #1

    car overheated

    My car is without a fan currently for reasons I'd rather not get into at the moment.

    I was letting it idle while I wet sanded the hood, so that I could check the transmission fluid and top it off.

    As I was explaining to my little brother the concept of wetsanding, I noticed a cloud of white smoke billowing out from behind the left headlights. After a short exclamation (oh, SHIT!) I raced around the car and shut it off immediately. I popped the hood and the coolant overflow was in fact overflowing, and boiling out onto the inner fender apron.

    It could not have been doing this for more than a minute. Before anyone else says it, I know, I'm a fucking idiot. The car is missing a fan and didn't even have enough coolant in it, but it was cold out tonight and I didn't expect it to overheat as quickly as it did, especially because I've horsed around in this car in its current condition in the past without it ever skipping a beat. It's not even registered at the moment, and I'm just trying to prep it to be my DD.

    I let the car cool down and replenished the lost fluid with ice cold water. I started the car and drove it about a hundred feet back into its place up behind my house, and it didn't act funny or unhappy in any way whatsoever. The temperature gauge was below midrange, probably because of the cold water I put in.

    I've never been enough of a dumbfuck to let a car overheat like this before except when I did it intentionally to try to kill one of my old cars. My question is what kind of damage could've resulted if any? It's not acting hurt so I'm not too worried, but I'm interested in knowing what could result from an overheated engine? I'm sure headgaskets and warped heads are just crashing the surface of bad effects, but that wouldn't happen from 20 minutes of idling in the driveway. This is my baby and I'm trying to get it ready for daily use again. I hope I didn't screw the old girl up at all.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Nah, you oughtta be fine. Takes a lot of heat to start warping things much. You said you replaced teh fluid with water, though...should really replace it with 50/50 antifreeze and water.

    2001 Ford Crown Victoria P71 - "The Fire Engine"
    1985 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series
    But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

    Comment

      #3
      The car's fine. The old 302 is a tough motor. I would advise against putting icewater in an overheated engine though. The old timers used to say it would sometimes crack the block. Not sure I beleive it, but I don't really want to find out though.
      Owner of the only known 5 speed box wagon with a lift kit.
      AKA, Herkimer the Hillbilly SUV.



      Axle codes
      Open/Lock/Ratio #
      -----------------------
      G / H / 2.26
      B / C / 2.47
      8 / M / 2.73
      7 / - / 3.07
      Y / Z / 3.08
      4 / D / 3.42
      F / R / 3.45
      5 / E / 3.27
      6 / W / 3.73
      2 / K / 3.55
      A / - / 3.63
      J / - / 3.85

      Comment

        #4
        Originally posted by GoodSamaritan View Post
        I would advise against putting icewater in an overheated engine though. The old timers used to say it would sometimes crack the block. Not sure I beleive it, but I don't really want to find out though.
        Oh, it'll do it. My uncle cracked the head on a tractor that way one time.

        But Jim did say that he let the car cool off before he did that, so I'm guessing there's no danger in that, either.

        2001 Ford Crown Victoria P71 - "The Fire Engine"
        1985 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series
        But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

        Comment

          #5
          It wasn't really icewater. It was just cold. Plus I put it in the radiator and then just let it sit for maybe five minutes, so the water probably warmed up pretty fast while the engine had time to cool down a little.

          I know I should be doing 50/50, but I didn't have any coolant and I had to at least move the car back into its spot behind the house. I've been planning on replacing it with 50/50 when I replace the lower radiator hose, which is something I've been putting off for a while.

          But Goddamn it, this means I have to do the 3g upgrade and the fan install right now instead of sticking it out through the winter. I never thought it'd overheat this easily.

          Comment

            #6
            As long as it was shut down promptly its OK. Only time you really have to worry is if you're tooling down the road with the gauge pegged and keep going like that. The cold water in the radiator probably is no big deal, it would have warmed up real quick. Just never spray cold water on a really hot engine, that can cause the metal to crack.
            86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
            5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

            91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

            1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

            Originally posted by phayzer5
            I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

            Everything looks like voodoo if you don't understand how it works

            Comment

              #7
              I heated the snot out of my '82 engine once. I was driving around in the city in the heat of summer, with the A/C crankin' and a non-functional clutch fan. Combine my very low idle and traffic and it's gonna get hot.
              The motor was predetonating like there was no tomorrow and it was running horribly. When I finally got to my aunt's house, it puked about half a gallon of antifreeze. I didn't have a temp gauge at that time so I don't know how hot it got. But it was predetonating on and off for about 5 minutes before I finally got to shut it off.
              It didn't seem to phase it.
              1990 Country Squire - under restoration
              1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - daily beater

              GMN Box Panther History
              Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
              Box Panther Production Numbers

              Comment

                #8
                Originally posted by Tiggie View Post
                I heated the snot out of my '82 engine once. I was driving around in the city in the heat of summer, with the A/C crankin' and a non-functional clutch fan. Combine my very low idle and traffic and it's gonna get hot.
                The motor was predetonating like there was no tomorrow and it was running horribly. When I finally got to my aunt's house, it puked about half a gallon of antifreeze. I didn't have a temp gauge at that time so I don't know how hot it got. But it was predetonating on and off for about 5 minutes before I finally got to shut it off.
                It didn't seem to phase it.
                Is this the one with that bad rod knock in the motor? :p

                Comment

                  #9
                  Originally posted by CheeseSteakJim View Post
                  Is this the one with that bad rod knock in the motor? :p
                  Yeah, sure is. But that started about a year after I cooked it. I guess it could be related. I know the bearings were trash to start with, so I think it's more related to that.
                  1990 Country Squire - under restoration
                  1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - daily beater

                  GMN Box Panther History
                  Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
                  Box Panther Production Numbers

                  Comment

                    #10
                    yeah, gotta love the durability of these engines,i once ran my old vic off 4 cylinders! it was torquing itself so much,it snapped off the power steering lines.
                    [URL="http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3358314"]

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Keep an eye on the cylinder head bolt heads for the next few days, make sure non of them broke off. Also I fried my oil control rings when I overheated, so now if the motor turns 4K+ oil smoke billows out the tails. Not good
                      1989 Lincoln Town Car - "Anabelle" - Original block, .030 over with SpeedPro pistons, rods fitted with ARP hardware, FRPP +volume oil pump, GT-40 3bar heads, Crane 1.72 rockers, 89' Fox cam, 93' Cobra lower intake, Explorer upper and 65mm TB, 93' Lightning EGR spacer, K&N intake kit from a 4.0L Ranger, 19lb/hr injectors w/ 87 Mark VII ECM, cat/smog deletes, Big Brake conversion, 3.55 K-Code Trac-Lok/Disc brake rear axle, CVPI LCA's w/1" sway bar in rear, wagon front sway bar, BBK 2.5" off-road H-Pipe, Flowmaster super 40s, HPP wheels, 3G alternator w/LMR.com wiring kit, gear reduction starter conversion, Best 1/4 time: 16.0 @ 85mph.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Originally posted by CheeseSteakJim View Post
                        My car is without a fan currently for reasons I'd rather not get into at the moment.

                        I was letting it idle while I wet sanded the hood, so that I could check the transmission fluid and top it off.

                        As I was explaining to my little brother the concept of wetsanding, I noticed a cloud of white smoke billowing out from behind the left headlights. After a short exclamation (oh, SHIT!) I raced around the car and shut it off immediately. I popped the hood and the coolant overflow was in fact overflowing, and boiling out onto the inner fender apron.

                        It could not have been doing this for more than a minute. Before anyone else says it, I know, I'm a fucking idiot. The car is missing a fan and didn't even have enough coolant in it, but it was cold out tonight and I didn't expect it to overheat as quickly as it did, especially because I've horsed around in this car in its current condition in the past without it ever skipping a beat. It's not even registered at the moment, and I'm just trying to prep it to be my DD.

                        I let the car cool down and replenished the lost fluid with ice cold water. I started the car and drove it about a hundred feet back into its place up behind my house, and it didn't act funny or unhappy in any way whatsoever. The temperature gauge was below midrange, probably because of the cold water I put in.

                        I've never been enough of a dumbfuck to let a car overheat like this before except when I did it intentionally to try to kill one of my old cars. My question is what kind of damage could've resulted if any? It's not acting hurt so I'm not too worried, but I'm interested in knowing what could result from an overheated engine? I'm sure headgaskets and warped heads are just crashing the surface of bad effects, but that wouldn't happen from 20 minutes of idling in the driveway. This is my baby and I'm trying to get it ready for daily use again. I hope I didn't screw the old girl up at all.
                        Takes more than one time to screw up the engine.

                        If you want to run the car, running your heater full blast should help. I do it on mine. But then again, I have a fan, even though the clutch is bad.

                        Comment

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