As the subject leads into, I finished changing my water pump last night. Or should I say my friend changed it while I shot the sheet with him...anyways, everything gets put back together, we're pouring the coolant in for the first time, and naturally the radiator bubbles over, as he was pouring the coolant in REALLY fast...so we start the car and turn the heater on to help suck it through the system. Time goes by, radiator hoses stay cold, heat blows ice cold, so I turn on the lights to see the temp gague...my temp gague is reading almost in the red!!! We shut it down quick, and thought. He said the thermostat was stuck and not letting the coolant circulate. I said no way...the thermostat is barely a year old, and the car was overheating because there wasn't enough coolant in it. Meanwhile the radiator is dead full and won't take any more. So we let it cool for a minute, start it back up to see if it'll help get it going, and within seconds shoots from 200 or so to red.

He calls his dad, and he said there may have been a huge airpocket in the coolant we had thrown in...

By the time he gets done on the phone, the radiator has FINALLY managed to purge itself of air, and is bone dry. The rest of the coolant goes in with no problem, after a bunch of "I told you the thermo was fine!!" from me.

So anyways, the reason why I'm writing this is that the car is running fine, but could those 2 stints to max temp have damaged something?? The oil isn't burnt in the least, and both times it got REALLY hot for no longer than 10-15 seconds at the most. Everything appears to be fine, but I'm still nervous something might pop up, even if not right away.

Am I OK?? Opinions??

So by the time we ge

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Jason E

'89 Camaro RS
-Medium Grey Metallic
-2.8, A4, T-tops, 94k miles
-Hypertech chip, Accel wires/coil/K&Ns
-Alpine 60x4 and Bostons

'97 Z28
-30th Anniversary package (white with orange stripes)
-LT1, M6, t-tops, 45k miles
-Eclipse CD and 10" Aluminum sub in JL Audio Stealth box, Boston RM speakers, Xtant 403a amp

Speed Kills...Wanna live forever? Drive a Ford.
Long Live #3...

 

You probably didn't hurt anything, but you should have changed the thremo anyways, even if it a year old, because things like that happen, what happened was the thremo thought that you did have any so it shut the flow off. But you should not have damaged anything.

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Chevy 2.8L 60° V6
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?Chevy 2.8L Heddman Headers (Going on soon)

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http://www.geocities.com/fiream/RobsCarArtPa.html?994187591828

 

The same thing happened to me after I changed my heater core.It must be a common problem.
I was lucky I alway keep a checks on the guages and it didnt quite reach 220.As soon as I shut it off the coolant level dropped and I finished filling it up and went on my way. Unless you have noticed something right away ,like a blown head gasket, I wouldnt worry about it .
They can take alot of heat for a short period like that .

 

That's the blessing of cast iron engines.
It's takes abuse.

PS, I've reused my old thermostat of over 10 years. I media blasted it & added oil to the shaft for the spring area. It works fine. DO I recommend ya do this?
IF you have the media blasting option, sure.
IF not, new ones are way chaep!!

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

 

I figured I didn't...and yes, I love cast iron engines The only thought that REALLY crossed my mind was the head gasket issue, but again, I would have seen that right away. This car has been my baby for 4 years (and my family's for almost 13), and I guess you could say I'm a little neurotic about keeping it tip-top...