Im not Crazy am I ?

[Nick2317]

Ok today the wifes sister was driving their mothers car when it got hot and kept driving it til the motor literally stopped running and just shut off ......Now me of being sound mind told them that when it got hot and you kept driving it to the point where it shut off that now the motor is shot and to look for another motor or new vehicle .....am I wrong or is it really possible for the motor to have survived that and still be ok??

I think it would have gotten hot enough to atleast warp the head if not do more internal damage like melt the crank bearings and stuff like that

BTW this is on a late 90s Dodge Intrepid I think

 

[furyus]

Only way to find out is to put in some coolant and start it up.

 

[Cranky]

Bearings generally don't melt unless you lose oil pressure then they just end up rubbing off the babbitt and worse and if you run it long enough without oil, yeah, you'll end up getting hotternhell and transfer so much metal that it will lock it up most times. In this case, the pistons probably grew enough that they got tight enough to stop the engine. They are probably scored and the cylinder walls have damage and the rings probably lost some tension from the heat. See if it'll start once it's cool. If it does, put some water in it and see if it smokes

 

[b-star69]

Ok today the wifes sister was driving their mothers car when it got hot and kept driving it til the motor literally stopped running and just shut off ......Now me of being sound mind told them that when it got hot and you kept driving it to the point where it shut off that now the motor is shot and to look for another motor or new vehicle .....am I wrong or is it really possible for the motor to have survived that and still be ok??

I think it would have gotten hot enough to atleast warp the head if not do more internal damage like melt the crank bearings and stuff like that

BTW this is on a late 90s Dodge Intrepid I think

i had a 98 intrepid that did that once i let cool off for a 1/2 hour then drove it 7 miles home. it was fine sans the bad rad. i also had a /6 duster when i was a teen and a long way from home it quit after the 1/2 hour i drove it home adding water every 1/2 hour. mopar rules!:headbang:

 

[RustyRatRod]

Entirely possible for it to survive.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Be careful here. We have an 02 300m 3.5 v6 at work right now. Same deal, ran it hot til it stopped. Once it was towed in to us it started and ran but needed a radiator and a water pump and the heads were warped. Once all that was taken care of and a new t stat as well, it still overheats. The heads were pressure tested and the machine shop said they were ok. Obviously there is a block issue. The deck surface checked fine. Must be where we cant see. Should have just sold them a motor from the start.

 

[64BEL]

It might be ok. A few months ago one of the gals at work had a similar experience with a Windstar - 3.8 ltr. It had a block heater in it and the element rotted out and puked out all of the coolant. It sounded like a diesel when it stopped running. After a cool down, I was able to get it started and drive it a short distance to fix it. After I put a new freeze plug and coolant in it, it fired up and has run just fine ever since.

 

[Meep-Meep]

It really depends on the engine and how that design tolerates over heating. I had a thermostat stick closed (or never open) on a 20R Toyota but didn't realize it until the gauge was off scale. There was no indication of a problem; I just glanced at the gauges and said holy **** then pulled over. It got hot enough to crack the oil and boy did that stink! I had it towed home then the next day I pulled the T stat out, changed the oil, set the valves and drove to work. Seemed to survive OK. This was one of those cases where I didn't want to know what happened to the inside.

- - - Updated - - -

.........But whether you're crazy or not may be a topic for another forum :grin:

 

[Bruzilla]

I was driving a 440 Roadrunner like that one summer here in FL, and that plant was so hot it kept dieseling for a good three or four minutes and I swear I could hear the oil bubbling in the pan once the dieseling stopped, but I let her cool down and she ran fine after that.

On the other hand, I was driving an 82 Escort that had aluminum heads and all that car did was overheat a little bit and that was enough to warp the heads.

 

[67 coronet]

depends on how long it lasted in overheat.you can melt many sensors before you do real eng damage on computer vehicles.no real telling what is wrong.fill it up with water(no need to waste coolant)and see if it runs.if it does,do a block test.(fluid and tool can be purchased at major auto parts venders)

 

[RustyRatRod]

Generally, what happens when one cuts off from overheating is the rings lose tension and compression goes away. Sometimes they regain tension when they cool, sometimes not. We just did a little Honda Element engine overhaul about a month ago. It was run hot until it quit. It blew a head gasket. It did not run hot because it blew a head gasket. It gradually lost coolant over its life and the customer never checked it. It finally got to the point where it did not have enough coolant for proper heat transfer and it ran hot and blew the head gasket.

It was towed in. It would not start at first, but not because of the blown head gasket. It spun over free as a bird with no compression. We let it sit and cool off stone cold. After that, it fired up....begrugingly. Upon teardown, the rings were blue. Now it's runnin like a new one. I bet after 2800 bucks, that girl will check her fluid levels from now on.

Anyway, it is all dependent on a myriad of variables, so there's really no way to know for certain until you try to bust it back off and see if and how it runs.

 

[Dave1]

Possibly a plugged radiator, you said it was replaced but, was the cooling system flushed of all junk? Wifes 4.0 Jeep ate the water pump once, there was no hint of it going out until the bearing went, after pulling it apart the impeller was grinding away at the aluminum housing. I replaced the pump, removed the rad and washed it out. Put it back together and it kept overheating, 2 days it drove me nuts. Engine hot, rad cold how 'bout that? Removed the rad again and really flushed the tanks, a LOT of aluminum fines came out, seems they were in the block and pushed back into the radiator plugging the cores as it ran. It was fine after the re-flush and never got hot again.
Dave

Be careful here. We have an 02 300m 3.5 v6 at work right now. Same deal, ran it hot til it stopped. Once it was towed in to us it started and ran but needed a radiator and a water pump and the heads were warped. Once all that was taken care of and a new t stat as well, it still overheats. The heads were pressure tested and the machine shop said they were ok. Obviously there is a block issue. The deck surface checked fine. Must be where we cant see. Should have just sold them a motor from the start.