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Car overheated and now won't start

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outkast

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
The story: The other day my car overheated in traffic and i had to drive it about 5 or 10 miles until I could get out of traffic. When I finally got out of traffic and found an exit it started smoking. I pulled over, let it cool down for about 45 minutes and checked the coolant, and found nothing there. I refilled the radiator, tried to start it and it wouldn't turn over. I checked the oil and the dipstick was dry. Trust me it had oil in it before. I checked things out as much as I could and the outside of the block was covered in oil.

This morning I pulled the head off thinking I blew the head gasket but it looked fine. I also checked the engine fuse to see if it blew, but it was good too. I haven't checked the rear main seal yet, but I am going to do that in the morning. If anyone has any ideas of anything else I need to check or what it could be PLEASE let me know. Thanks in advance.
 
#3 ·
drcustom said:
lots of heat and no oil...i bet your bearings are shot, maybe something is seized.

drop your oil pan and look for blueing or discoloration.
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I have to agree. Especially since it won't even turn over. Sounds like it might be tear down time.
 
#4 ·
That really sucks, but yes you monkey fucced that motor.

I sort of did that with my 3KGT SL because I was on the Monitor Merrimack bridge in Newport News and I didn't want to leave my car on there since it'a an automatic tow. I let the temp go right into the red hoping it would make it to the other end. It did, but the motor was never the same. It still ran when I sold at 200k, but it smoked bad. All it was was a stuck thermostat too.

Now I regret selling that car simply because it had heated mirrors and a stereo....both of which my Eclipse has not. I can use 87 octane and get more than 24 mpg though...so that is good, this car doesn't smoke either. It also attracts less street beggars...big problem with the 3KGT.

The other day I lost the alternator belt in my GS, I remembered the sad 3KGT and let it run until it reached the first mark before the red. I didn't like doing that either, but it was cold and I had to get home. I shut it down a couple of times and drove home about 2 miles, and it lost some coolant, but it is ok for now. I haven't noticed any more noise or loss of power, but I can't imagine running a motor without a water pump can do it any good.

I now run the synthetic oil and that may have helped I hope.

Shit happens, next time just let it sit and block traffic and call AAA. You may get some dirty looks, but your motor will thank you.

I wish you luck in fixing that motor, you may be better off swapping in another used one if you are short on resources and time.
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks again for the advice. I haven't had time today to work on the car, but I did check out the underside and its COVERED in oil. I knew there was oil on the front of the tranny before, but now I see that its everywhere. Is this an indication that my rear main seal is bad?
 
#9 ·
possible maybes...I had a friend who did the same thing, engine started overheating, had to drive it to get out of traffic, the oil...yadda yadda etc...to make a long story short we found he had several problems.

1. Why was the car overheating in the first place...my friends radiator core went bad and as a result it A. would not cool worth a shit which led to B. the coolant overpressurizing due to the fact that it spiked up the temp ladder C. made all his coolant evaporate D. blew the headgasket and shot a little bit of coolant into the engine E. caused the car to smoke...if it was white smoke it was your coolant going up.

2. He lost all his crushwashers and his turbo went bad because the oil that was feeding the turbo shat everywhere. But also it was a 6 bolt block he was using and they pull oil from the head so he had a massive oil leak and it shate oil all over the tranny too and we could not figure it out for days. But just a suggestion that maybe you should check your turbo to see if its ok and check the oil feed line for it to make sure thats ok too.

And anytime an engine over heats and you have to drive it I always think its just smart cookies to change the head gasket anyways. With the heat too your head is most likely warped also even if you think its ok get it milled or at the least checked out.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
I put the car back together this morning since everything looked good. It didn't look like the vavles were bent, and the head looked good. Keep in mind that I didn't fully tear down the head. But from what I could tell everything looked good. I went ahead and replaced the HG while everything was off. Anyway, I got everything together, charged the battery, and the car still won't start. I did a compression test and 50psi was the highest I could get. The car sounds like its strugeling to turn over. As usual, any help will be grately appreciated.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
greenstreak said:
I didn't see you post the answer to this anywhere in here. Was their bearing material in your oil?
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I ccan't give you an honest answer because somehow I lost all of my oil. Next time I get some time to work on the car I'm going to drop the oil pan and check the bearings.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
Well I dropped the oil pan today and appearantly I hadn't lost all of my oil, or antifreeze like I'd thought. When I drained the oil, I got an antifreeze/fresh oil/burnt oil combo. After draining the remaining oil in the pan, I found a few shards of metal at the bottom. While I had the pan off I looked at the #1 bearing and there was slight discoloration.
 
#19 ·
outkast said:
After draining the remaining oil in the pan, I found a few shards of metal at the bottom. While I had the pan off I looked at the #1 bearing and there was slight discoloration.
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Bummer dude, sounds at the least you spun that bearing. I'm guessing the discoloration is blue-ish in color...that's realated to extreme amounts of heat which can damage the rod/crank/block. The shards are probably pieces of that bearing or maybe others. If you're lucky you will be able to just replace the bearings and grind/polish the crank, and with no compression you'll also have to at least hone the cylinder walls, but that's best case scenario...I hate to say it but there's probably more that needs done.

No question that you'll have to tear that motor down and have a shop check it out...might be a good time to just do a 6 bolt swap.
 
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