What happens when you keep driving a very overheated car? Is it possible the car can burst into flame, or will the engine block just melt and your engine will die and that’s all that happens?
My wife did that to my Dodge Daytona, out of ignorance: “Honey, the car won’t go up into the driveway, and it smells TERRIBLE!”As soon as I went out the front door, a hundred feet away, I could smell it.The water pump had failed. If she had stopped and shut it down when the over-temp light came on, it would have been an easy fix. She kept driving it until the head warped and blew a head gasket. When I checked the oil, it was rusty brown (water in the oil). She also cracked the heater core. I bypassed it and told her to wear a sweater.I was in the Navy at the time, and the base had an auto hobby shop, so we towed the car there and I repaired it. Fortunately, the only engine casualty was the camshaft bearings (bad oil), so I ordered a high-performance camshaft (broke my heart) and had the head milled to fix the warp (which increased the compression ratio of the engine, which also broke my heart LOL) and did a valve job (basically, rebuilt the head).I was fortunate that the rest of the engine, including the turbo, were not damaged. After the rebuild, it also cured the car’s tendency to overheat under prolonged boost, maybe because of the new water pump. Afterwards, I could tow a travel trailer on the freeway under full boost for several hours with no problems.Except for the water pump design (had to replace it three times in six years), it was a great little car!I've had engines seize when they lost oil, for whatever reason, and I've overheated many when I was a teenager, but in every overheat case, the engine just stopped working until let it cool and replaced the coolant (and repaired whatever caused the loss of coolant, such as leaking hoses, or other failure, such as a stuck thermostat or broken fan belt).I've also run air-cooled engines with a broken fan belt (which means the only cooling was from the oil.), and they kept running a long time before blowing a head gasket. One was so hot, it had sparks coming out of the exhaust, but it kept running.
What does it mean when a car's battery light turns on while the car is moving (eventually car decelerates and stops)?
The alternator is failing or has ceased functioning. Whereas the engine's torque is usually giving your car constant electricity using the alternator, when it fails to do so the battery's reserved power is then used. Usually the battery is only used to start the vehicle. It obviously has enough power to spark the plugs, but only for so long, especially if you are also running your radio, A/C, headlights, etc. Once the battery is dead, the car is dead.This happened to me more than once. The alternator has a finite life in every car, so there comes a time when it will die, and it will almost certainly not be at the most opportune moment. Recognize signs of this happening before it is too late. Mine was failing for months before it inevitably gave in and I finally figured out what was wrong. A similar issue is if your serpentine belt snaps, the engine is no longer running your alternator, whether it's in good shape or not. This will cause more issues than the car just dying in five minutes- the water pump will cease functioning to cool your engine down and you will eventually overheat it and perhaps irreparably damage the vehicle.There are possibly other things that can cause this issue but this seems by and large the most likely.
Car overheating but not leaking in driveway?
Hi! I don't really know much about cars, but I recently bought a 97 Firebird that started overheating. I was first told it was a head gasket, but there's no white smoke and my oil doesn't have any antifreeze in it. The car overheats after about 10-20 minutes of driving, but doesn't leak a drop of coolant when parked in the driveway for 3+ days. Huge amounts of coolant steams out from the engine. I tried Barr stopleak, but that didn't do anything. I also replaced the radiator cap. I tried driving it again last night, and after 10 minutes it was overheating with large amounts of steam coming out. The coolant isn't completely gone - it only takes maybe 1/10th of a coolant jug to fill it to the top, but the heater is ice cold and the temp gauge climbs very quickly. Any idea what it could be? Thank you!
Car overheating unless i turn the heat on?
My suv seems to have something wrong with it every week anymore. I recently had a new battery, new radiator, new alternator, new brakes, and some other stuff I don't know. I just know every time I turn around its something new anymore lol. Anyway, the other day the check engine came on and I looked down and the heat thing was all the way up to the right. I turned the heat on (thats what I was told to do before we got the radiator replaced) and it went back down. So now if we sit idle for more then a couple min it overheats. Then, last night it started to overheat and when we went to turn the heat up, it was cold like the air was on. I turned the heat off for a few min and then tried it again and it was back to being hot. What could possibly need fixed now? any ideas? lol
Why would my car overheat and then immediately cool off?
When a engine overheats, do not take out the thermostat to check it. Start checking the things that don't need a lot of work. Make sure your radiator fan(s) is/are coming on at the proper time. If two fans, one comes on as soon as you turn the AC on. If it has one fan, it should turn faster when you put the AC on. Check the coolant level, at the radiator cap, not the reservoir, unless the car doesn't have a radiator cap. While you're checking the level, start the engine and when it starts to get warm, make sure your coolant is rushing passed the radiator cap fast to see if your water pump is working. After all that, if that all checks out then you can change the thermostat but they hardly ever go back, but they get changed a lot, until people find the real problem. Stuck closed thermostat will overheat the engine and the engine will die in 15-20 minutes at idle. Stuck open and it won't be overheating. Good luck.
My car is overheating when stuck in traffic but cools down when moving?
I have a 2000 Chevy Cavalier with about 179000 miles on it. I replaced my radiator the upper and lower hose and thermostat about two months ago. I also replaced the O2 sensors and it has been running great. It is primarily my to and from work car and it gets about 32 mpg now. But last night I was stuck in stopped traffic and didn't notice until my check gauge light turned on but my car was completely over heated. I turned the max heat on and that didn't help. Finally I turned around and gave up on where I needed to go and the temperature returned to normal. What could be the cause of this. I don't think I can ignore it because traffic is a ***** in my area.
Will blowing cold air help an engine warm up faster on newer model car?
Blowing cold air will do nothing for warming up the engine. When you have the climate control set to cold, air is diverted to flow through the AC evaporator, which does nothing for the cooling system. Seeting climate control to hot WILL increase the amount of time it takes for the engine to warm up because the little door diverts air flow through the heater core, which has coolant running through it. you are takign heat away from the coolant when you use the heater. 20 minutes sounds excessive. You probably do have a thermostat problem. You can have an alarm shop install a remote start module. Start the car form insude your house and let it warm up before you exit the house.
Why does my air conditioner turns off after about 15 minutes?
This issue is an issue that can be resolved by a authorized repair technician only.Here is a possible list of issuesThe compressor is leaking oil. Thus it is overheating and shutting down within 15 minutes, The oil in the compressor cools the compressorThere is grime or dirt build up in the outside condenser unit, This is preventing the heat teansfer from happening from inner unit to outer unit, causing tyhe compressor to overheat and shutdownThere may be many other points of failure, but normally (at least in India) are not solvable by self help, because the ACs are not designed for customer repair.So call the Authorized service center and get your AC unit looked at