Hello!

Pontiac trans am 1988
350 TPI

Something quite concerning happened today. I attended a car show with my shitbox car. The journey there went smoothly, but I noticed the coolant temperature rising. Initially, I thought it was due to city driving, so I continued on.
Upon arriving and driving at a slow pace, I saw that the coolant temperature had reached 220°F. I urgently searched for a parking spot, but the temperature kept climbing, eventually exceeding 260°F.
I quickly got out to inspect the overflow reservoir, and I noticed it had expanded like a balloon, with the coolant boiling inside. Without hesitation, I turned off the car, hoping that nothing worse would occur. However, the coolant cap popped off, causing coolant to spill everywhere.
I decided to leave the car as it was for the remainder of the day. After about 6 hours, I attempted to start it, and surprisingly, it worked!

Now, onto my questions:

1. How much damage could my car have sustained, and where should I look for damage that needs replacement? should i just expected the motorblock to be warped and try selling my car while it still works? The car was running with these high temps for about 40 seconds
2. Additionally, neither of my fans are turning on, even when the AC is running. How should I go about troubleshooting this issue? i guess this was the cause for the overheating

 

If it hit 260 for 40 seconds I don’t think it would have caused any damage.
my car had a broken power wire going to the relay which caused the fans not to turn on. I would first check fuses and make sure there are no broken wires near any of the relays.

 

I don't think that hurt your engine but you could take it for a short ride and see if it burns oil or lack of power. I would put power directly to the fans, one at a time and see if the fans work. Then see if grounding the relay turns on the fans. Others may have a better idea.

 

Same thing happened to me years ago. The car most likely is fine. It's not like you ran it hot for a long time.

 

I had a 92 camaro that had plenty of cooling issues. I replaced everything 2 times over before I understood it good and it bugged me forever. You shouldn’t have any issues overheating for a couple seconds. I’d try doing what the other guy said and put power directly to the fans. Go from there, if it’s the same as the 92 I had (I’d assume it is) there’s probably a couple ways to go from there depending on what happens.