Here's the scenario. Leaving work today, I noticed smoke pouring out of my battery side vent cover. I looked at my v guage and sure enough the idiot light pops on. I just threw the 1 month old belt that I took to the mechanic 4x to adjust. SH!T! Since there was no place I really trusted to ditch the car, I decided to limp it home.
I turned off the lights and stereo, turned the heater on and drove 55 on the freeway for the 8 miles home,keeping it in as high of a gear as possible (4spd). Right at about a mile from home, I noticed it losing power and 1 block from home I noticed smoking out of the deck again.When I pulled into the driveway, I popped open the deck and smelled the huge cloud of Mobil1 and the faintest smell of hot coolant. The radiator wasn't bubbling, although the overflow had overflowed.
So, what do y'all think? Did I pop out a gasket or worse, F up the innards? It is a low mile (14k mile) rebuild with forged guts. My temp guage doesn't work, so I don't know how hot it really got. What should I look for tomorrow when I check it out in the daylight after its had the night to cool?
HELP ME MR. WIZARD!!!!!!
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10:19 PM
PFF
System Bot
DRH Member
Posts: 2683 From: Onalaska, WI, USA Registered: Dec 1999
8 miles is an eternity with no coolant circulation. I managed to limp my old 84 home about 2 miles one time in the same conditions. The temp needle was pegged before I got there and it died with just enough to coast in the driveway. It was cooking all the oil off the high miles motor and sounded like a diesel. After it cooled, I fixed the belt, checked the coolant and started it up. It was fine (or at least as good as before).
Fix your belt. Make sure your coolant is full (not just the tank, check the radiator and engine cap). Check the oil for any signs of coolant (over full, milky brown, etc.). If it looks OK, cross your fingers, say a few words to a higher power if you're so inclined, and turn the key. If there are no unusual sounds, warm it up, let it cool off and check the coolant again. Then it's test drive time.
I doubt that you hurt the motor .while you were on the freeway she was kept cool by the air moving thru the radiator.Yes she got hot but it does not sound like you over did it I would out your new belt on top off the fluids and star her up These motors are somewhat forgiving let us know how it goes
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10:57 PM
stimpy Member
Posts: 8197 From: Salinas, CA Registered: Jan 2000
Thanks for the good words, guys. I just wish the shop had done like I asked and put the Gates brand belt on in the first place. One month on a belt?! What kinda B.S. is that?!
You could have caused damage to the pistons, rings, head gaskets, or valve stems, or in a worse case even have warped the heads or cracked the block. The fact that the engine lost power isn't a good sign but since you were so close to home when it happened you might luck out and escape major damage.
First thing I would check is the oil, see if it's dark and thickened or if it looks like it has antifreeze in it, then check the condition of the antifreeze and check around the outside of the engine and under the car looking for leaks or any obvious signs of damage. Don't even consider starting the engine without changing the oil and oil filter and replacing the belt so the water pump works.
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Originally posted by stimpy: Here's the scenario. Leaving work today, I noticed smoke pouring out of my battery side vent cover. I looked at my v guage and sure enough the idiot light pops on. I just threw the 1 month old belt that I took to the mechanic 4x to adjust. SH!T! Since there was no place I really trusted to ditch the car, I decided to limp it home.
I turned off the lights and stereo, turned the heater on and drove 55 on the freeway for the 8 miles home,keeping it in as high of a gear as possible (4spd). Right at about a mile from home, I noticed it losing power and 1 block from home I noticed smoking out of the deck again.When I pulled into the driveway, I popped open the deck and smelled the huge cloud of Mobil1 and the faintest smell of hot coolant. The radiator wasn't bubbling, although the overflow had overflowed.
So, what do y'all think? Did I pop out a gasket or worse, F up the innards? It is a low mile (14k mile) rebuild with forged guts. My temp guage doesn't work, so I don't know how hot it really got. What should I look for tomorrow when I check it out in the daylight after its had the night to cool?
HELP ME MR. WIZARD!!!!!!
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11:10 PM
Neal Member
Posts: 1247 From: Calgary AB, Canada Registered: Jun 2001
I hate to share my story after the good words but im gonna anyways.
In may of 2000 i rebuilt my 2.8, Then in about august of 2000 i redid the suspension, and broke a coolant line in the process. Finished my work refilled the coolant burped it quick and drove it to get aligned. Got to the alignment shop no problems with coolant but on the ride home a bubble boiled and i was only a few km from home so i drove and overheated it. refilled the coolant and everything was fine for 8 months then she started knocking... then the bearing spun 2 weeks later. A small crack in the head was leaking into a cylinder, not enought to smoke mind you, and it was also getting into the oil, but not enough to change the oil's colour.
So now ive got a 3.4 almost ready.
But my point is that you may think you got away with it now but it could come back to haunt you.
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11:18 PM
DRH Member
Posts: 2683 From: Onalaska, WI, USA Registered: Dec 1999
Originally posted by LarryB: The fact that the engine lost power isn't a good sign but since you were so close to home when it happened you might luck out and escape major damage.
That might not be as bad as it could be, that belt also runs the alternator, so you were running off of Battery power from the second the belt went.
I might try a compression test, I don't know a great deal about em, but if your piston rings/head gaskets were killed, you may be able to notice them. Especially after only 14k miles.
I had my alt/water pump belt go out on me a few months back, the temp pegged about as fast as the volts dropped, fortuneatly I was able to pull over. Good luck with it, Gareth (vows to eventually get to an FCO meeting )
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04:08 AM
GarethWright Member
Posts: 400 From: Broken Arrow, Ok, USA Registered: Oct 2000
Originally posted by LarryB: The fact that the engine lost power isn't a good sign but since you were so close to home when it happened you might luck out and escape major damage.
That might not be as bad as it could be, that belt also runs the alternator, so you were running off of Battery power from the second the belt went.
I might try a compression test, I don't know a great deal about em, but if your piston rings/head gaskets were killed, you may be able to notice them. Especially after only 14k miles.
I had my alt/water pump belt go out on me a few months back, the temp pegged about as fast as the volts dropped, fortuneatly I was able to pull over. Good luck with it, Gareth (vows to eventually get to an FCO meeting )
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04:09 AM
Cheever3000 Member
Posts: 12400 From: The Man from Tallahassee Registered: Aug 2001
Seems like it is belt season. At the end of last year it was cam gear season...
My girlfriend was driving the T-top 88 and threw the serpentine belt. Even though she was on the interstate it still pegged immediately. The air keeps the water in the radiator cool but without the water pump turning the cooler water doesn't get circulated back to the engine... Anyway, I checked the oil for signs of water and there were none. When I put the new belt on and started it, it ran fine although it sounds kind of funny and doesn't have as much power as before. Plus, I have to leave the a/c on all of the time to keep it cool now. By cool, I mean down by the first mark where it used to run. It wants to run around 220 now. I'm glad I'm not keeping this motor in this car anyway...
And to make the story worse, the very next day after I got the belt on the T-top, my Indy threw a belt! Took no chances and immediately pulled to the side of the road. Left it there and went and got a belt. It is running fine because I had it on the side of the road within a minute of the belt letting go. The bad part here is that the Indy uses V-belts and I only put the alt/wp belt on to get it home and have never put my a/c belt back on yet... and dang is it hot!
Stimpy, I hate to tell you this but you most likely did internal damage to your engine. It may be driveable, but you will have gasket leakage problems, oil burning problems and maybe lowered compression. Most likely you didn't hurt the bottom end as long as the oil didn't thin too much and you had decent oil pressure. The rings and valve train however didn't fare as well. They simply can not operate without wear at those temps. Heat travels from the ignited charge to the heads, pistons/rings and coolant flowing thru the block and heads brings that heat to the air leaving radiator. The rings/pistons dissipate the heat to the cylinder sidewalls and the coolant takes it from there. Without flowing coolant, the metal surface temps got very hot and that accelerates wear. At the very best you may not have immediate symptoms but you surely took miles/years off of the engine life. I hate to sound pesimistic but I have never seen a good overheating from loss of waterpump (or belt), stuck thermostat or coolant blowout leave the engine unaffected. Good luck and definitely post your results. You may be able to educate others about your experience of driving w/o a cooling system.
My neighbor once drove his 1 yr old '94 vette for only a 1.5 mi afer the belt broke. They never took the eng apart but it leaked oil like a sieve after that. His car was already warmed up though which made it worse.
GL!!!
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12:16 PM
stimpy Member
Posts: 8197 From: Salinas, CA Registered: Jan 2000
I have high hopes still, because there was no smoke coming out of the pipes, but I have lost a lot of confidence in his car. Maybe time to start looking at For Sale signs. Maybe time to buy that low-mile 86 SE 4cyl auto here in town. Or a truck. Maybe a 72 Pinto...
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04:12 PM
Mach10 Member
Posts: 7375 From: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Registered: Jan 2001
Funny, I drove my Mazda Protege for 23kms with no waterpump. That was a gas. I just let it cool every 500m. Surprised my battery lasted as long as it did, and that I didn't nuke the aluminum engine...
Who knows, stimpy. You MIGHT have squeaked by on this one... Do the checks before running the car full-time again...
I had the same thing happen to my 1984 duke except that no one touches my car but me. It threw an autozone belt and the first indication was the voltmeter going down and the second was the temperature pegging. The coolant overflowed on mine too.
I got it towed home and I changed the oil and brought the coolant level back up. That was about 2 months ago and it's still running - I drive it to and from work every day (about 100 miles).
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08:13 PM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
do a leak down test like a compression test but use compressed air and see how long it takes for the pressure to leak out where it goes tells what is bad rings values gaskets ect. will not hurt car even if something broke inside. good luck
------------------ Question wonder and be wierd
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10:25 PM
GarethWright Member
Posts: 400 From: Broken Arrow, Ok, USA Registered: Oct 2000
Originally posted by Cheever3000: Dang. I didn't know Broken Arrow was such a late-night kinda town! Last time I was up there, they rolled up the streets & sidewalks at 11:00 p.m.
Yea no joke, everything but Wal-Mart closes after 9 (it IS interesting seeing which people are in Wal-Mart at 3 AM) but lucky for me, I'm not a natural born resident of B.A.
be glad its all cast iron. its a little bit forgiving. If it was an aluminum engine it would have been junk in minutes. It prob would have locked up before the first mile.
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11:26 PM
stimpy Member
Posts: 8197 From: Salinas, CA Registered: Jan 2000
The loss of power was probably the engine starting to overheat. My jag overheated (plugged rad and broken gauge) and it started to run like crap, no power before I realized that the cooling system was shot. I drove it for like 15 minutes like that. If it's not smoking or bleeding fluids, and your oil is still water-free, you MIGHT have squeaked by... Good luck!
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12:56 PM
stimpy Member
Posts: 8197 From: Salinas, CA Registered: Jan 2000
UPDATE-> Well, I got the oil changed and got the belt on. (Sidebar- Now I know why I let Wally's boys do my oil. $27 for my Mobil1 oilchanges as everyone knows. I bought a 5qt bottle of Mobil1, a filter, filter wrench, and oil drain pan. $37. And I still mashed my knuckles loosening the drain plug.)
No coolant in the oil, although it looked like there might have been some metallic powder in the bottom of the pan, but it might have just been dust blown into the tray. I added about 2 gallons(!) of coolant into the cooling system. But it fired right up. I still need to get the belt properly adjusted, so I didn't run it long. I'm going to get it taken to the shop and get it properly looked at.
Wish me luck.
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04:12 PM
rodmcneill Member
Posts: 1616 From: Indiana USA Registered: Oct 2000
It's more complicated than taking the biggest screwdriver you can find, jamming it between the alternator and something tough, prying for all you're worth and then snugging down the adjustment bolt?
I changed the waterpump, put on an underdrive pulley, installed the belt and used the above method to 'adjust' the belt. (It felt tight, so I left it like that and it didn't slip.)
Granted, I didn't get a lot of miles before my dumba$$ self ran the oil pump dry for the few moments it took to (I suspect) ruin a rod bearing.
Oh well... I've been dreaming of a 3800SC II for months now. Guess I'll just have to find a way to pony up the dough for that now.
Maybe I'll turn my old 2.8 into a project motor later on. Hmm... a turbo 3.1 could be interesting...
------------------ 85 GT (to be modified...) --Um, no the paint isn't oxidized, that's the ultra-rare Whirlpool White textured finish... yeah. 89 Lincoln Town Car (has Fiero Envy) --Hey! Can I have an anti-sway bar too?
