white84z

iTrader: (1)

Well guys,
Finally had my first issue with the car, after about a month of driving the 1997 m6 formula i picked up i had a pretty major incident imo. While on the way home from work today the car overheated out of nowhere. Went from 190ish on to boiling in a matter of 30 seconds to a minute. I was driving down a 2 lane road that has absolutely nowhere to get off on until you reach the road in front of my house. As soon as i saw the temp shoot up( i watch my gauges like a hawk, just a habit) i had to find a place to pull off, luckly i was less then a minute from the entrance and whipped it over and walked back to the house to get the brother to help me push it home.

My question is what should i expect? I know my did the exact same thing when i threw my waterpump belt but seeing this is a cam driven pump im ruling that one out. The car does not leak or loose any fluids, I check them weekly.

Would a stuck thermostat cause this to happen?

Also, what should i prepare damage control wise. The car has not been started since and will not be started until i get the thermostat changed as this is what i am expecting.

Thanks Guys

speed_demon24

iTrader: (6)

Same thing happened to me and I assumed it was a stuck thermostat. A month later my car hydrolocked on coolant when I tried to start it.

white84z

iTrader: (1)

I plan on doing a pressure test to the cooling system to see if it cracked a head or blew the gasket. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Probably get a cam if i have to tear it down. May just pull it and have the local machine shop do a .030 build worse case. But until funds allow i need a vehicle and funds are terribly tight at the moment.

67goatman455

iTrader: (14)

put a new thermostat in it and do a pressure check on the cooling system to see if you lose any pressure (may indicate a bad head gasket) run it to see if the fans kick on after you go through that

white84z

iTrader: (1)

fans were running even after i shut her down, didnt turn off for a while

jester1614

iTrader: (13)

check the hoses as well might have busted one

white84z

iTrader: (1)

Ill check when i pressurize it, when i looked the water looked like it puked out the overflow tank

duh

iTrader: (16)

don't count out a bad water pump. You could have had the driveshaft come loose from the impeller. It's a notorious problem with the diesel Ford trucks (had it happen twice in a year to a work truck). I'd swap the t-stat to start. You can get lucky and not do any damage when the car over heats. I was lucky enough when I put my EWP in, I wired it wrong and it was shutting off, car pegged the gauge on a 6 mile round trip....more than once....I was able to get it home and re-wire it and hasn't had an issue since...It helps that you noticed it right away, that's where you save your engine.

1badzee

iTrader: (12)

Make sure the fans are coming on. Mine didn't come on once and the car overheated. Luckily nothing happened.

trippinholyman

i had that happen twice...first time was water pump leaking leading to loss of coolant. second time was thermostat. after both times it ran fine. did pressure test and she held through it. this was after overheating to the point of coolant puking over the overflow and hissing and smoking. i got lucky.

swap tstats or just take the old one out, put water in and run it bleed it and pressure test it. you'd be surprised how much these engines can take. i thought for sure i would have blew a gasket or warped my aluminum heads. but i didn't.

Ralls

iTrader: (32)

First thing I would do is pressure test it to rule out headgaskets or any other leak. Then drain the radiator and pull off the front cover on the water pump. My brand new water pump went out on me recently and found out the turbine separated from the shaft. If all that is good I would replace the thermostat and radiator cap.

white84z

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys, ill pull the waterpump cover and make sure the impeller doesn't free wheel while im swapping the t stat. EWP is next on the list now as well as a fail safe t stat.

One question though, will the car still run ok if i step down to a 180 or 160 t stat

white84z

iTrader: (1)

Pulled the pump cover and the pump is tight but now the freaking cover wont seal to save my life where can i get the gasket and o ring?

Ralls

iTrader: (32)

The only seal for that plate is the o-ring. Did the o-ring break or did you tighten the plate on crooked? Make sure you tighten it a little at a time criss-cross pattern because I noticed that when I put mine on. Regardless, put some RTV around it and make that your gasket.

So the pump is good. Did you do a pressure test yet?

white84z

iTrader: (1)

Well, had a hulk moment and overtightened a cover bolt and broke it off so i have a reman cardone pump coming from o'reilly. I found the cover leak during my pressure test, once i get the new pump and get it in ill re test. Im just going to keep the old one and do a electric pump swap on it later.