battery wasnt taking a charge so i go a second battery and charged them both in series to fix it. after a few hours my original battery was about 3/4 charged. i installed it in the car and let the car idle to try and fully charge the battery.

i left it and went to mcdonalds and was gone for about a half hour or so. i came back and i noticed it was no longer running. i popped the hood to find steam and my overflow tank boiling and my belt running from my crank to alternator and water pump crammed against the passenger side shock tower. the temp gage in the car was pegging as far as it could.

the car turns over with the key. the water pump can turn by hand. i got a new belt and tried starting it and it does not stay started for more than 2 seconds.

i have a few questions:

this is exactly what i found. can someone tell me why the car stopped running? i realize it got extremely hot and stopped, but what causes the engine to shut down. tolerances close up or something?

my next question is why was the coolant boiling? is this because the pump stopped pumping coolant through the rad?

what could i have possibly destroyed/damaged.

and finally if i boil my coolant like i did, will it distill the water out of the coolant, so i have only coolant in the car, or do i have to add my mix of coolant and water.

thank you i am a huge fan of this board. its a life saver.

 

I personally would not let a car run unattended, for very long, bad idea all around. The other is to just buy a battery charger and at least one extra battery like I did. Sounds like alot of work could have been saved via charging off the car. I doubt that caused the problem, though.

Early 3rd gen motors are not well known to me, The TPI has a serpentine that like my Cadillac's is rather thick
Bill