TheSamba.com :: View topic - 89 2.1 overheated and died now what do i look for?

Fri Sep 03, 2010 6:42 am

wife was driving the car the car and all of a sudden the motor made a loud knocking/slapping sound and she noticed the red temp light was on and pulled over and the motor died.
i showed up and looked in the back and the motor was so hot.
i looked at the expansion tank and it was totaly empty.
i added water/antifreeze and as i was adding it was rumbling through out the system like it was bubbling.
as i was adding the water i noticed up front under the drivers seat water was leaking out big time so i am assuming i blew a hose.
I let it sit for an hour and was able to start it up and idle for a minute but then shut it off. Motor sounded like normal no knoocking or slapping sound.

Can someone tell me the potential damages and what are the things i should look for.
if it still runs after replacing hoses can i still drive it?
help.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 6:49 am

:shock: :shock:
you poured cold water in an overheated engine???
I'd start looking for cracked heads, personally...

where's the leak?

Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:41 am

ugg...
i guess that was probably not a good idea.
i am checking today for the leaks...

Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:56 am

kenhuna wrote: i guess that was probably not a good idea.

not particularly, no ... if your engine had a chance to cool down, you might be lucky. even though the what you describe as "rumbling throughout the system" suggests otherwise. fingers crossed, in any case.

the most likely cause of a comprehensive and sudden loss of coolant is one of the coolant pipes leading to the front splitting or slipping off the connecting metal doodahs (or breaking due to excessive rust, if you've got an olde rmodel with metal pipes). any idea how long the idiot light was flashing before your wife stopped the car?

Matt

edit: just noticed that you said coolant came gushing out up front. sounds like one of the pipes came off.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:07 am

she said a couple of mins to get to a safe place to park

im wondering what the knocking sound was?

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:09 am

so what kinda damage should i look for in the motor. can i tell if i have cracked heads, leaky head gaskets?
should i do a compression check?

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:10 am

fix teh leak and fill it up and test it, then give it a compression test if your still worried (or examine the coolant carefully for compresion leak blowing bubbles)

you mayhave dodged a bullit, your wifes quick thinking to turn off the motor when the red over heat light appears was a good call. I have heard of folks continuing to drive with an over heat, bad news. give her a high five for paying attention.

that said, if you have a failed hose, you might be wise down the road to repalce them all for reliability sake, but first repalce the one leaker and then determine if there is any engine damage, which youwill be only able to determine by driving it some more. the fact that you could start it again with no noise is a good sign.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:11 am

I'm no expert, so this is just a wild stab in the dark:

with the coolant gone your engine overheated, the oil turned into steam and stopped lubricating and what you heard was the sound of the metal bits of your engine connecting.

a couple of minutes can be enough to cook an engine. it took me only a few seconds on the German autobahn to kill my dad's Golf IV ... (flat out, admittedly. Thermostat got stuck).

Matt

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:14 am

ok
so if i replace the coolant hoses and get it running again (it did start up and ran like it did prior to it spilling coolant) what kind of damage will happen?
i plan on changing all the oil/coolant/ check all hoses and do a compression check.

i guess just run it till it dies???

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:16 am

kenhuna wrote:

i guess just run it till it dies???

yep.

as bluebus said: fix the leak, fill up and see what happens.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:18 am

thanks guys.
if it did overheat, will a compression test show anything.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:19 am

something just occured to me: the slapping sound might just have been the hose coming off.

did the temp rise as well, or was it just the light flashing? if the light comes on without the temperature rising, this is to indicate a low coolant level, not overheating.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:21 am

she said gauge was high.
the sound changed with rpm she said.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:22 am

kenhuna wrote: she said gauge was high.
the sound changed with rpm she said.

oh.

:?

best of luck in any case.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 8:30 am

Hate to tell you this. The red light was blinking first but not noticed or ignored. Temperature gauge needle then move to the top but not noticed or ignored. Coolant continue to leak out. The engine them over heated and oil temperature shot up and no longer lubricating the bearings. Bearings then spun and piston ring annealed. I think the engine is toasted. The engine may start but it is no longer in the condition like it was before. The hoses run under the passenger's seat close to the walk through so I don't know why water is leaking under the driver's seat.