Have I cooked my engine??
Hi guys and girls. I had a new v6 supercharged engine put in my 99 calais after it cracked its head due to problems with the cooling system.
The other night I had changed the oil and water, drove 20ks and suddenly the motor made a loud clacking noise that increaded/decreased with acceleration/deceleration. No change in temp guage. It then stalled. Opened the hood and radiator cap was half off with water gone! Can't restart it even with leads. Have I killed my calais? Can't afford another engine. What else could it be? Pls help.
your temp gauge only reads water temp so if theres no water in the radiator it will read normal. check the dip stick to make sure theres no water in the oil. when the engine over heats the pistons expand and they can get stuck in the cylinders best thing is to let the engine cool completely fill with coolant(you might have to remove the thermostat and fill the engine that way) and just hope it hasn't siezed up.
Jack42
Thanks. The car has ben still for three days as I can't start it. There isn't water in the oil. It tries to turn over but doesn't catch. Spark plugs ok. Fuel pump works. I'll do what you recommended but I'm worried about that clacking noise I heard before it stopped. Doesn't sound good to me.
how bad is the clacking, is it a continuous ticking sound or more like someone sitting in there with a hammer
when you changed the water in your cooling system, did u take the time to properly bleed the system? You might have caused 'air pockets' to develop and cause them to overheat your engine. I disagree that the water temp is just reading water. If your cooling system is improperly bled from a new change of collant or loss of coolant, the flux of water AND steam will not make the temp sensor register any change in temperature. So to you, when you are driving it on the road even for 20km, it will 'look' that the engine temp is normal but in fact you are cooking your engine. your temp reading should go 'bleep...bleep...bleep" before indicating 'HOT' in your temp reading.
The clanking sound that you hear is the piston rings and piston head knocking against the engine block. I can almost guarantee you that the piston rings are blown, the piston heads are warped and your block has already been thrashed. My best best would be to take the head off your engine and take a look at the interior damage. Assess the cost of repairs and see if you can get a brand new engine installed.
By the way, when you opened your hood when it was overheating. What did it smell like? Steam ? or nauseating steam? If its enought to generate steam, then your entire cooling system has been destroyed.
This has happened to me before. I hope this helps
It was a noise like castinets. Like clack, clack, clack and sped up when i did and slowed when i did. There was a smell of steam but none left as the radiator cap was nearly off and the overspill and radiator dry. Also the tube into the overspill had popped out. Don't have the money for big repairs at present. Is there anyway I caN drive it even if some cylinders aren't going? If I keep up the water and oil. Why won't it start even and what would start it? Don't want to damage it further if its not a cracked head. If it's cracked and I can drive it, its not gonna matter since its already cracked? I dunno. Crap thing to happen with no warning - didn't screw on the radiator cap properly! and thats what happens.
Please get it checked by a mechanic because those castinets will soon change to jackhammers inside metal drums. If you are adamant on driving with this mechanical condition, it will develop more problems and end up in engine failure. An overheating engine will create more problems with your transmission and its best to check things out before driving it. I wouldnt recommend trying to start it as your crankshaft is actually forcing itself to churn the pistons in an already damaged block.
VT V6 wanting 300RWHP
Worst case scenario you should be able to sell the top end of the engine depending on the damage and with the money put a N/A engine in.
If the piston heads had been deprived of lubricating oil, the engine cylinders would have developed an oval 'profile' and very prone to more mechanical damage. If cost wasnt an issue, I'd be looking for a reconditioned engine that would just be a simple 'drop in' installation. If you looked up on my other threads, i've tried EVERY option to fix several components when my engine blew up from overheating, but finally settled down on a brand new engine.
Trust me mate, having 'fixed' one problem will not guarantee more problems will not come up from the last 'overheating' scenario.
I can truly say, i'm rather paranoid about my VX cooling capability so i've made it a point to check the cooling system periodically.
VT V6 wanting 300RWHP
Not sure if that was meant for me, but what I'm saying is maybe sell the supercharger plus all the parts for someone to do a conversion with that has a N/A engine. Then purchase a N/A engine to put in the car.Originally Posted by blacknight
That way you have an engine that works.
thanx blacknight. the real tragedy is that its a brand new engine put in last year at great expense. The previous motor cooked too but it was a long lead up to the replacement as I had temp warnings, had to replenish the water every trip. The mechanics had to take out all the dash to fix the cooling system which is connected to the aircon. Can't believe I've been so stupid not to screw the radiator cap on tight enough and that has caused this. I'll get it to the mechanic before I totally give in to despair.
There hadn't been any warning or pre-death symptoms. Temp guage normal, then clack clack and it stalled. All in 1 minute. I didn't see any steam from the hood while driving as it was very dark and rainy.
sounds like its stuffed, thought u would have learnt the first time u had a cooling/ radiator problem. easy fix is to wreck ur car and buy a bicycle, the worst thing that could happen too uis a flat tyre....
goodluck with it all
Donating member
That 'pinging' or rattling noise you heard, probably was pre-ignition, caused by the mixture firing too soon due to the excessive cylinder heat.
I once blew a top hose in traffic, tried to make it home (5k's) Got half way before temp needle wound right over to HOT, dash beeped, flashed "HOT", motor 'pinged' its head off, quite loud. I then turned off the engine, got the missus to bring a new top hose and water, fitted on side of road, fired it back up, no problem.
Try ang get the motor to fire up, then have a listen to any noise. Good luck!
glennis - I have been looking after the car! This was due to a tiny mistake when I didn't screw the radiator cap on tight enough. It wasn't at all like the prior trouble I'd had that meant a new engine. I feel sick about it. Well, I'll find out soon from the mechanic. Maybe I'll be lucky.
ha ha ha I own a motorised bicycle just incase my car breaks down
Even with your cap off you shouldn't lose all your coolant, but the coolant will boil at a lower temperature due to being unpressurized so you may have boiled and the engine block is sill able to get hotter and hotter until it seizes. If it has boiled the gauge wouldn't had read much above half as thats about 100 deg and coolant boils at about 125 deg if its good quality. Check if there is any coolant left in the system, if the coolant is still above water pump height then there would be enough in the system to keep the temp gauge working as it would still get submersed in the coolant that the pump pushes through the engine. Try to turn the engine over by hand and listen for any clicks or ticks and feel for tight spots, hissing is quite normal as its just compression getting passed the rings. Use the bolt on the harmonic balancer turn in a anti-clockwise direction as im pretty sure its a left hand thread.
well its a small lesson learnt. ever heard of measure twice cut once???? all ways double check ur work that u do on ur car
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