General LSX Automobile Discussion - I thought I killed my T/A Tonight.. A Good Scare.

Well, me and my friends went out to a nice open spot to have a little fun with our cars and not have to worry about cops/saftey.. So I was doing a few donuts here and there and the engine temps would get up to about 225 so I'd let the car rest for a second. I was worried I was beating the car too hard, so I wanted to take it a little easy and give her some good time to cool down..


Well, the last round out, I went a little overboard with 2nd gear spins, and a donut or two. I feel like a terrible owner, it slipped my mind that the car was getting hot pretty quick.. Well, In the middle of a spin, the car just died on me. No noise, no clunking or clanking, or anything. It scared the shit out of me. Checked the temp, and it it had to have been near 250-260! Took the key out and opened the hood, no smells, but there was some ticking noise. A few mins later after letting hot air blow through the vent with the hood up, it would try to start but wouldn't get close to starting. About a half our later after some good cool down time, it started and everything seemed fine.. I feel pretty lucky, and I know not to beat on the car too much since it's a 100k mile 14 year old car.


Well my main question is, is there anything that I could've possibly damaged, and signs of damage I should look out for the next few times I drive it?


Also.. is it normal for a car to get this hot, this quick? I was only driving it for about 2 mins, and half of that time was coasting at 10 mph.. It rarely got past 4750-5000 rpm.. If the car sits for a while while running, say 2 mins, it'll get a tad bit past 210.. I'm just thinking of all the HPDE guys that run their car hard for a while, there was no where near as much WOT time as they do, but my car gets hot enough to die after a few donuts that aren't even back to back?

Have you checked your fluids?

unless your stroked big heads/cam That doesnt seem normal, Mine does not get over about 180 while hard driving (doughnuts, WOT, burnouts Etc)

It really shouldn't matter what you're doing with the car-it shouldn't get THAT much hotter than normal unless there's something wrong with the cooling system. The t-stat, fans and the way the front end is designed all work together to make sure the car stays within a temperature range; 250-260 sounds too high IMO so I'd look into the cooling.

As for post-donut damage, if you didn't hear any death rattles, low oil pressure or have any other issues once the car started it's probably fine; these motors can take a beating and some have done so with 'mods up to 200K or more, although I personally wouldn't push it unless you can rebuild/replace with no problem. I guess you could check your oil for debris?

This car is bone stock internal wise, a cat back and lid are the only mods.

I actually haven't checked the fluids since it died, I would go out now but it's dark and raining. I'll check the oil first thing in the morning when I can see.

Well, I just got this car about a month ago. Good maintenince records, etc. It's right above 100k miles, all the fluids should probably be replaced, including motor oil. The owner put a K&N filter that could probably use a cleaning as well. I just couldn't see why it gets so hot.

Hmmm.. How loud should the fans sound I can hear them easily in my moms SUV.. It never crossed my mind but I've never heard anything turn on besides the motor, no matter how long/hard I was driving.

The fans are very obvious when they start spinning. If you are not hearing them...start looking for any problems in that area.

Ok well that's definitely what the problem is, or should be. What would cause the fan to not turn on?

Electrical. Check relays, fuses, grounds.

Ok, will do. Thanks for the help yall.. Definitely got a good scare tonight.

Lol, no fans would cause a problem. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but these cars are set up so that they won't start if they're at a specific 'temp and the fans aren't running. That would explain your no-start 'OP...

^^Correct. They have a low speed and a high speed also. When it kicks into high you definitively hear them. If not....well now you know! LOL!

Haha.. Can't believe I hadn't noticed something as obvious as the fans not starting. Well, I'm glad it's something this small/simple.

That motor is on borrowed time.

Haha.. Can't believe I hadn't noticed something as obvious as the fans not starting. Well, I'm glad it's something this small/simple.

On an LS1 it's rather noticeable; there's a click and then a loud noise that sounds like a propeller plane taking off. On other cars like my LT1 there are no such signs, I either have to watch the voltmeter drop as the fans turn on or actually look at the fans.

I'm guessing the fans haven't run since you bought the car?

If the fans happen to be working, then my next guess would be poor cooling system flow. The car is 14 years old, and who knows how old the coolant is....it may have turned to sludge by now, and several tubes of the radiator may be blocked with that gunk. It's also possibile that pieces of the air dam may be broken or missing, reducing air flow.

That motor is on borrowed time.

What makes you say this?





And I'm about to go out and take a look at everything right now. I definitely want to get to the bottom of this problem.

Well, the motor oil looks fine. Not milky or anything. No debris like someone had said to look for. Just needs a change next week.

The coolant however... The coolant dipstick wasn't dowsed with fluid, but it was a good amount of fluid.. but the fluid that was on there was reddish brown.. Almost as dark as my motor oil but not quite.

Gauges are notoriously inaccurate. That being said, lets hope that the coolant gauge shows hotter than it actually is. My guess is the check engine light should illuminate when the motor gets that hot too. I think head gaskets will leak or the heads will warp at those temps (more than 240*). I think that what the 'borrowed time comment was about.

Cancel that last post. It's clear, but with a reddish residue build up on the dipstick. It came off pretty easily on the towel and made the fluid look the same color. But the fluid itself is about clear.

Gauges are notoriously inaccurate. That being said, lets hope that the coolant gauge shows hotter than it actually is. My guess is the check engine light should illuminate when the motor gets that hot too. I think head gaskets will leak or the heads will warp at those temps (more than 240*). I think that what the 'borrowed time comment was about.

I hope so. No check engine light from what I remember, but once it died I was out of the car pretty fast so I don't know...

tstat might be bad.

all motors are different.. my buddy had a ford 302 motor in his mud truck and all the freeze plugs went out so he would just drive it and beat on it till it got so hot it wouldnt run. we did this for like 8 months then fixed the freeze plugs and the motor ran great. but at the same time my dads 302 in his lincoln overheated once just from getting low on water (leaked out the weep hole in the water pump) and it blew a head gasket. you may have a easy fix just replace the fans or relays. may have to change the thermostat and check water pump if it has 100k it prolly has all original coolant parts. if you do wanna check for a head gasket leak they have this kit you can buy that goes on where the rad cap goes and will check for exhaust gas in the coolant...

the high speed fan doesnt turn on until 226°, my car never gets close to that hot, and i cant hear/notice the low speed fan.

Correction, the temps were probably closer to 240 degrees tops. So if the temp guages in the car are anywhere near accurate the high speed fan should've turned on.


Well, since it's getting inspected soon, I'm planning on taking it to a shop to let them evaluate this problem and the rest of the car too. I'm not good with electrical things such as grounds and I don't trust myself with any serious mechanical problems like this might be or might cause..

Flush coolant put new in change termo stat stock temp is fine. Check for leaks in radiator and make sure fans are working.

Your fans should have def been on. idk how you don't notice that lol

YOU SHOULD FEEL LIKE A BAD OWNER! Don't beat on that car so much!

my car used to do this well the over heating not the shutting off and then i flushed the old coolant out put a new thermostat and coolant in and all was good!!

I definitely do feel like a bad owner. I felt so depressed the rest of the night.. But I don't feel soooo guilty because it's the first time I've ever done such a thing with this car, I don't think this was caused by the abuse as much as something faulty in the cooling system. I don't really beat on the car too much, but tonight has made me alot more careful than I was.



Well, as for the car, what I know is:
-Fans, or atleast the high-temp fan definitely don't work/turn on.
-Driving around temps stay around 185ish. Idle temp rises to about 210.
-No alarming sound when, before or after the car died. Started up after a half hour or so of cool down time.
-Motor oil looks fine, just needs a change. Coolant is clearish. A reddish residue on the dipstick.
-Car drives fine, still no noises. I haven't gotten on it, but it doesn't seem to lack power driving around town.



Maybe the PCM will kill the car once it hits a certain temp to avoid causing any damage?

Maybe the PCM will kill the car once it hits a certain temp to avoid causing any damage?

Yes, Chaman and I established on the 1st page of the thread that if the car is at a certain temperature and the fans are not working the car will not run...

I feel the same way man. Almost every time I used to go WOT 1-4th in my 95' I always felt like I shortened the life of the car. Same with burnouts/donuts

The orange coolant aka dexcool has problems with gumming up, my dd 06 gp had dexcool and gummed up at4 yrs old and 80k so the first thing is do is drain the coolant run water to get all the dexcool out and run green cooland, don't ever mix the colors but just make sure all dexcool is out before adding the green antifreeze, this fixed my problem hopefully it fixes yours

Same thing happened to my 2000 just driving to work one night.

The check gauges light came on and i was bouncing off the top of the temp gauge.

It was the T-stat, fixed it with a stocker and its never happened again

Did you check your fans? Thermostat?

Doing donuts is a good way to ruin your power steering. You better check out your fluid levels including your power steering. Your car came stock with a tranny cooler thats mounted in front of your radiator. Guess what happens to your tranny fluid temps when you overheat your radiator? If it smells burnt you better change it.

Does anyone have a real temp reading? Cause my gauge sits around 210 but it's wrong. My car runs at 193, and in hot traffic it'll get up to 230-240. But the gauge is always around 210. I rely on my scan gauge. Can you run a cooler thermostat in these cars?

I'd bet a lot of peoples cars run a lot
Hotter then they think.

if you have cats... and they are clogged they would cause this issue as well...


seen it before on imports

2.5 altimas being the prominent ones... cat gets clooged up and will actually cook the motor

I have cats, they come out soon!

Well, me and my friends went out to a nice open spot to have a little fun with our cars and not have to worry about cops/saftey.. So I was doing a few donuts here and there and the engine temps would get up to about 225 so I'd let the car rest for a second. I was worried I was beating the car too hard, so I wanted to take it a little easy and give her some good time to cool down..


Well, the last round out, I went a little overboard with 2nd gear spins, and a donut or two. I feel like a terrible owner, it slipped my mind that the car was getting hot pretty quick.. Well, In the middle of a spin, the car just died on me. No noise, no clunking or clanking, or anything. It scared the shit out of me. Checked the temp, and it it had to have been near 250-260! Took the key out and opened the hood, no smells, but there was some ticking noise. A few mins later after letting hot air blow through the vent with the hood up, it would try to start but wouldn't get close to starting. About a half our later after some good cool down time, it started and everything seemed fine.. I feel pretty lucky, and I know not to beat on the car too much since it's a 100k mile 14 year old car.


Well my main question is, is there anything that I could've possibly damaged, and signs of damage I should look out for the next few times I drive it?


Also.. is it normal for a car to get this hot, this quick? I was only driving it for about 2 mins, and half of that time was coasting at 10 mph.. It rarely got past 4750-5000 rpm.. If the car sits for a while while running, say 2 mins, it'll get a tad bit past 210.. I'm just thinking of all the HPDE guys that run their car hard for a while, there was no where near as much WOT time as they do, but my car gets hot enough to die after a few donuts that aren't even back to back?

some makers will shut down an engine when it hits a certain temp. fords do this. before anyone jumps on me, i'm not sure if gm does or not, but it sounds like that's what heppened to you.

250 is way too hot. 225/230 is as hot as you want to be.

when you let it cool down between playing, did you let it idle, or engine off to cool down? did you notice if your fans were running at all? i think these cars used to have problems with the fan relays. was your coolant properly mixed? had the car exhibited any tendencies towards getting too warm before this? if so, when? in traffic? on the highway?

Ok well that's definitely what the problem is, or should be. What would cause the fan to not turn on?

a quick easy check on the wiring, is to turn on your air conditioning. when the compressor runs, both fans should also run. if not, check relays, fuses, and give the fan motors a love tap.