Engine trouble - HELP

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by kh7062

i only ran the car at that temp for less than 5 mins

I know; everyone on this board has overheated before and chances are there was no harm done. Check your oil and coolant levels and let us know if either of them are obviously down.

[madmaxx]

A couple three years ago there were FelPro intake manifold gaskets being used that would squirm and create a coolant leak between the intake manifold and cylinder head. The problem was the gaskets were made for racing engines where you are constantly pulling the engine apart so gasket squirm through temp cycles is irrelevant. The correct ones with the metal core cost $26.00 instead of $16.00. Depending on how old the engine is it is very possible that is your problem, I would guess if your engine is pre 2007?

[patrickt]

... and assuming there is no water in the oil, or oil in the water, the classic "first step" in tackling an overheating situation is to start the car up and see if the thermostat opens and the fans come on. If it does, and they do, then you have to try and recreate the overheat condition. If you can, then either too much heat is going in to the water/coolant, or not enough heat is coming out. Considering how new your car is, it's almost a sure thing that's it's the former.

[kh7062]

Ok. I checked oil. Dip stick says to add. I can't find where the coolant is!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by kh7062

Ok. I checked oil. Dip stick says to add. I can't find where the coolant is!

You know that's actually better than saying it was two quarts over and looked like Nestle's Quik! Any chance you could snap a pic of your engine and post it?

[madmaxx]

There had to be some coolant or the temp gauage would have never read. There is a shiny square tank in the front of the engine. It is the reservoir, take the cap off when it is COLD COLD COLD so you do not get sprayed with hot coolant. The coolant level should be slightly above the divider or flat plate you see when you look in.

On a side note my gramatical skills are pathetic, I reread some of my previous post to this thread and there is no excuse, but hopefully you get figure out what I am suggesting. Time to crack open another round!!

[Blas]

I got some photos....
The car appears to not have an overflow tank installed...
His chrome expansion tank was just about empty.
The fluid in bottom of the expansion tank looks slightly rusty but not oily...
No obvious coolant leaks on garage floor.
Fans are working...
He said oil level was very low on dipstick, but it looked like oil and not like a milkshake...
The little puf of steam when he turned it off was from the radiator area....
Car had been running fine up to today....started running a little rough.
I recommended he not start the engine to put it away tonight, have it towed to the dealer, have a coolant pressure test done, and if that fails a cylinder leakdown test....I also suggested an oil change due to the excessive temp he achieved...Also a good check of the oil for coolant...

[WardL]

Sounds like KH7062 caught it in time. Yes, get it to mechanic, change oil, top off coolant, let them fix it. This could happen to anyone! When she's hot, shut her down no matter where you are!

[DANGER]

Are you the original owner???

[CHANMADD]

Are you sure the guages are in Celsius and not Fahrenheit, The car lives in California and we are not Metric here!

[jhv48]

Being in Newport Beach, I am assuming you had Danmar Autobody do the installation?

Have it flatbedded to them. They will take care of it for you. The temp spike leads me to believe that the thermostat stuck shut.

The rough running is another problem, probably resulting from the temp spike. That could be an intake gasket or (probably not) a head gasket leak.

Mine did the temp spike thing. I had both the stuck thermostat and the leaking intake gasket,

Both repaired under warranty from Roush.