My car overheated in traffic today and i could not get over because the side of the hill was on fire so i decided to tough it out finaly got off the freeway car cooled down to 245. Went to pull into the driveway at work and the whole car just shut off. Tryied to crank it would not crank also my holly red fuel pump is very noisey when the key was in the on position it was very faint sounding. I have a Optima red battary any ideas of what it could be i think it is electrical all i know is i need to get to my g/f's bday dinner tongiht after work. Right now i am letting my car cool down. This is on my 68 Firebird BTW

 

dont worry your not the only one this has happened to i overheated my car today so i let it sit for a lil while at a friends house to cool down and when i went to crank it up it wouldnt run for long it would crack go to idle speed the die i had to keep on the gas and bark the tires puttin it into gear and had to drive it home without lettin up on the gas cause it would die if i let up on the gas any solutions of why its not runnin would be helpful to both of us. i dont kno what to do so i got on here to see if anybody knew what to do and u just happen to have the same problem. i hope someone can help us

 

well for fast, i'd recomend making sure the block didn;t seize while cooling down. Try to turn the crank from the main pulley bolt, if she turns freely then you just took off about $2k in possible repairs.

Next i'd check electricals. If you havn't done this yet, do it now. Turn the key all the way and check to see if the relays click or anything. There should be a noise somewhere thats normal but sound when the car is running.

for you demon bird, i havta say. It runs but runs like crap, unless you keep your foot on the thottle.

My guess would be that you warped the intake or heads and theres a severe vacuum leak and holding throttle down get the pistons the air they need thats measured atleast.

Not many things that control idle will be affected from overheating. I hope it something else.

Check for coolant in the Oil both of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Best of luck

 

I let it cool down for about 2 hours just went outside and put the key to the on position the fuel pump sounded noramal and cranked right up it stumbled at first i drove it around and now it seems fine.

This is the 2nd over heat this engine has had in its 400 mile life. All parts are new except the radiator which is probly thhe origonal when i took the cap off there was slidge on it. I did have the radiator cleaned and pressure tested and they said it was fine with no leaks. The car will only overheat when its not moveing. and for the love of *** i can not figure out why. I did notice some coolant around a head bolt so i think it may not have been tightend down good enough. Iwill check that when i get home.

The oil looked ok but i will be changeing it soon should i just use dyno oil in the car since it only has 400 miles on it or do i still need to run the ND30?

 

FAST RS, you probably 90% chance blew the head gasket. No motor can take temperatures of up to 245 and you're lucky you actually made it to work like that.

I understand you were in traffic and there was nothing else to do, so I understand why you did what you did.

Definitely, like Chevy racer said, check for coolant in your oil. Pull the dipstick and if the oil looks like your favorite starbucks frappucino, then you blew the head gasket.

I would guess the block wouldn't have seized. In my short amount of experience, I could be wrong though, I still have never seen an iron block seize up like that, it all depends on how long you ran the motor overheated for. So that can be good news.

Now to the source... why was your car overheating in the first place? Did your fan not cut on? Are you low on coolant? Do you have air pockets in your coolant? All these questions can help lead to a better diagnosis of what could be wrong.

 

i always use dyno crap for the first 1500 miles then i swiitch to synthetic.

I'd recomend a high flow water pump, they flow more water at lower RPms colling the engine better and not taking any extra power.

Radiator cleaning and opressure testing? nah...

Check your thermostat as well, may be defective, and open sometimes but not all.

And oh crap, coolant around a head bolt? You cant just tighten the bolts in the area of that particular bolt. the head must be removed and resettled. Torqued down in proper sequence and proper ratings.

This furthers my previous statement, check that for water, when the oil is changed, water always settles to the bottom and oil on top, use a clear container to degree how much you took in.

 

its a funny thing, the only times i've ever expereinced a xseized engine from things different then broke rods and the sort. They always froze while colling down. simply because while the engine is hotparts are expanded and have higher tolerances. When they cool down any malformation's effective problems will increase.

 

T stat is new Water pump is new Fan is awalys spinnign its hooked directly to the water pump and does not use a clutch. This cooling problem is bothering me allot. i want to fix it first before i go replaceing head gaskets. and i think that that bolt has leaked since day one. When i put the head on i did not use any silcone on the threads as i did not know to do this at time time. Next time i pull the heads i just want to put some edelbrock heads on. But first gotta fix this cooling problem i thoght i had fixed it up until today. I do know the engine was bored 30 over to 462.

 

my car when first bought was the same way, it had a new water pump and a stock thermostat. Yet they were both rated stock. t-stat is a low temp, cant remember now.

And the high flow water pump was what really did me good. Kept operating temps alot lower. Then later i went with a radiator that was a whole inch thicker then stock, and it broguth operating temps way down. Now while cruing the highway my temp gauge is around 150-170. thats it. And while just sitting, 190. she used to be like 220-235 sitting and 190-200 cruising.



Helps a lot bro.

 

I have a feeling i am going to be taking the 600 i have saved up for a paint job and put that to a new radiator. But i want to be 100 perent sure it will solve my problem. im sick of not being able to take the car into traffic.

 

radiators only cost $130, get a radiator for a big engine sbc, i got one from a truck that had a 400 was same width and heigh, but1 inch thicker. Just find a vehicle with the size you want and order it from autozone or whatever. Worked for me.

And to make sure that works for you, if the engine is new, then the collant passages inside is should be clean. Replace all hoses, clean your thottle body line and everywhere that has collant going to it in direct flow. This normally doesn't affect colling until your at high RPM only becuase it restricts flow but be my guest to clean it out...

 

If i get a radiator i want to get a almunium one like a becool or griffin AZ does not have an almunium one for my car and thats what i would like to get. I can awalys flush out my system again i guess but the engine was compleaty rebuilt so i dont see any of that being a problem. Only other thing i can think of is my heater core is not hooked up because it leaks so i have it bypassed and the blower motor is dead but not using the heater core would not do any of this would it?

 

alright im almost positive i didnt warp my valves or anything like that cause it wasnt severe overheatin it was at like 235 redline at 260 but would it not gettin enough fuel make it quit working cause i just got outside and when i use to turn the key i could here the electric fuel pump whine really loud but now its barely makeing a noise i barely heard it i dont think my fuel pump is pumpin like it should if at all would that cause the car to die?

 

I've had the same problem.Maybe check that your starter isn't over heating.......you might just need a starter kit.

 

not sure whats causing you to over heat....good luck

 

My car had to of reached at least 270 it was way past the 250 mark. It sucked not being able to pull over otherwise my whole car would have been fryed to a crisp.


demonbird Maybe you melted a vacuume line or something. I have over heated my v6 camaro once to 260. headgaskes did not blow at all i was luckey

 

you shouldn't have to worry to much. As long as you get temps down. Radiator, and water pump would be my first, as they worked great the first time.

But I'd replace that head gasket first, if water geting into the oil and gets to your bearings thats almost immediate destruction. Water kills the oil addiditves. And therefore turns oil into a liquid flowing through everything. Not good at all.

 

Get an aftermarlet rad, like a Griffin... the 19x31x3 Griffin I ordered last week cost about the same as what a stock-replacement rad cost me a couple years ago.

 

my radiator is aluminum and i paid $130 at autozone...

 

According to AZ's website it is not avaible for my year keep in mind it is a 68.

I think i know why i lost power only thing i can think of would be heat soak.

 

Griffin makes universal replacement GM rads... just find the dimentions you need and they will have something for you I'm sure.

 

Found out yesturday i have a 2 core radiator would that cause me to over heat at idle but run at 160 when im at crusing speeds?

Also i have seen some without provisions for the tranny lines can i just run a tranny cooler for the transmission

 

Just run a separate trans cooler.