So hypothetically say I'm out one night in my Trans am with the 305 tpi and my friend in his dads 1993 audi wants to drag. so since I want an easy win under my belt I say why not. we take off and get "up to speed" and I totally left him behind me. I looked at all my gauges and they were ok except for the coolant which read between 240 and 260 in the red area. I pull into his driveway and pop the hood and the coolant in the resivor is bubbling. What kind of damage can this cause and how could someone, mainly me, fix the problem.
this is hypothetical since I know speeding is wrong

 

Well, the last time that happened to me it was a blown head gasket. Go figure.

Auggie

 

Yeah, I asked about that in the tech board probably two weeks ago. Its probably air getting in the system which means a bad head gasket, or even a cracked head or block.

 

Bubbling in the reservoir? That's normal at those kinda temps. At 260, a 50/50 mix of water/coolant WILL be boiling at atmospheric pressure. MY guess is the pressure relief on the rad cap opened and dumped boiling coolant into the overflow tank.

I'd just watch it for a while and see what it does. You may have damaged something, or may not... hard to say.

 

Start the car when cold and let it warm up just idling...if the thermostat opens and you get bubbling...then the head gasket is bad...if your car got that hot, then the bubbling is from hot coolant.

Make sure your cooling system is good...

 

Check your cap.

 

your fine dude just dont do it to often and if it happens find as many fans as possible and get em blowin on it but the boiling over is in the design of the system and that is why your cap is designed the way it is.

 

As long as you stop driving it once it boiled over you won;t have hurt your car. If it happens again then this is what you should do. First flush the radiator with water and a flushing substance. The buy engine ice and distilled water do the 50/50 mix and let that replace the anti-freeze or whatever you have in their now. If it still does not work, hook up a manual fan switch, this enables the electirc fan to run all the time. If it still is overheating get a new thermostat, one that opens up at 160 degrees vs. 195 degrees stock one. This will allow coolant to start flowing through your engine sooner. IF this still does not work it is time to dump the radiator you have and get a better one. If that does not work then buy a new fan setup with one large fan or two smaller fans.
Hope this helps

 

Bubbling could just mean that the coolant has reached very close or is at boiling point. That just means that you're coolant has gotten a bit hot.

I wouldnt worry too much about it.

 

It sure is nice of a few of these guys to recommend hooking up "as many fans as possible" without mentioning the fact that running all those fans all the time puts a drag on your engine.. and since we're talking about racing, that's obviously not something you want. You didn't provide enough information about your car's normal operating temperatures and ranges to get a real answer from anyone... run through the basics of your cooling system components and then investigate how your operating temperature is actually behaving... saying, "hey, my car overheated" doesn't ever result in a solution

James

 

I had the coolant bubbling in my car before.....Let it cool back down before you continue driving and there should be no problems....This happened 2 years ago and my car is running fine till this day(knock on wood)..

You should be fine..