Well guys, my 86 camaro decided to throw both the alternator belt and water pump belt on the way home today. I usually keep an eye on the temp gauge and the motor runs and idles in traffic at a cool 180, never had a problem. Pulled onto my street and to my horror noticed the temp gauge buried at 250. Needless to say, I immediately killed the engine and was treated to the sound of coolant boiling in my overflow tank.

It's exactly 8 miles from work to home for me and I know it was fine for at least half that distance. for the last few miles I didn't think to look at the temp gauge until I hit my street.

Now what I'm wondering is this, you guys think anything was damaged? I've got aluminum heads in a punched out 350 and I know those are particularly susceptible to heat warping. Let alone damage to gaskets and such. I'm so mad I think I could kill something, just finished a massive amount of work on the car and now I'm afraid my engine is roached.

God help me.

 

well,check it out,man! I would do a coolant pressure test.if that is ok. you probably don't have a warpage issue.maybe you got lucky

 

True, It's just going to be a few days before I can really mess with it (because of work and such) and I wanted to see what everybody thought. I mean, yes it overheated, but it was for such a short time... Hoping everything is alright! After it cooled down last night I went out there and it fired right up and seemed okay for the ten seconds or so that it was on.

Anything in particular that I should look for?

Thanks!

 

Mine isnt a v8, and I dont have aluminum heads so this post is probably pointless. But, when my rad drain plug blew out of my stock rad I didnt notice any change in the car running and when I looked at the mech temp gauge, it was pegged past 300. Replaced the rad, filled her up, and not a phase. Runs like a top still 100,000 miles later.

A coolant system pressure test and a compression test should be good to start you out i think.

 

Fix the belts and refill the radiator. Run the motor and check for leaks. If you don't have any leaks you could be ok. The best way is to pressure test .

 

Well, I doubt anyone is following the thread still but I thought I'd go ahead anyway and say that everything is fine, and I was just being an overly-paranoid ***.

Thank you guys for all the great suggestions though!

 

Good to hear. Won't hurt to change oil in it.

Something similar happened to me with a car once. I was on the highway coming home from work, and heard a thud hitting the hood, looked in the mirror and saw a belt lying on the road. I knew a water pump belt broke, but drove it home any way watching the temp, with the heater on high to help cool it down. It ran warm but not in the danger zone. I could tell the engine was down on power because it was running warm. I put on a new belt and no engine problems after that.

My advice for anyone next time : pop the hood and put a floor fan blowing to cool the engine down as quickly as possible once you get home.