Dead Engine V6 overheated.

[bitemeoz]

Hi

Need some advice please. My engine overheated last night due to someone (not me) not putting the radiator cap back on properly which i didn't know about until too late. It heated up and then temp went down so i thought it was ok. Then it developed a knock and the engine stopped. Pity the temp reading wasn't accurate because it measures the water temp (when there is no water in it the reading stayed low, i guess it was measuring air temp). anyways so now the engine wont turn over. What should i do? An engine with 3 months warranty is $550. What do you think is wrong with it? The engine turns but wont fire. Top end i guess stuffed. I want to sell this car as well so i just want to get it running.

Thanks for any replies.
John

[ACEMonkey]

Everything will have been wrong with it...piston rings, cam, valves etc etc etc. Basically, a cooked engine is stuffed.

Personally, its your car so you should have been looking after it with regular maintenance, which can be as simple as taking 30 seconds to pop open the bonnet and running your eye over the engine bay to spot if theres anything missing or wrong. So it doesn't matter who's fault it is for not putting radiator cap on, the blame still lies on the driver or operator of the vehicle at the end. But we all learn from experience, some more expensive than others

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Ecotecs warp pistons when they overheat so you won't have compression, thats why it won't start. I wouldn't bother trying to fix it, you may be very lucky that it only did a gasket, but I doubt it. It would cost you more that $550 to repair yours.

[maxwelljean]

My VT Supercharged Calais did the same thing. A hose blew and I only realised that the engine had overheated when I heard a clanging noise coming from the engine. I quickly pulled over and had the car towed to a garage. They replaced the hose and motor seems OK. I was just wondering what damage this overheating could have caused to the motor. Will there be a loss of power or any other future problems that result from this. The mechanic did not think so but I am not too sure.

Any comments from anyone who had struck a similar problem. Thanks.

[greenfoam]

This almost happend to me once :S I had the cap on crooked after being in a rush to get the car ready for the drags, someone picked it up at the inspection tent once I got to the track, luckily it had only just warmed up by the time I got there (about 20 ks) so hadn't lost much/any water yet. I would have seen the temp spike after a race or two anyway but still. I've had blown hoses before and you can spot them pretty quick