wooops, I blew it.

91 940SE wagon, turbo. I just bought this old beast, for my son, it was in good running condition, rough interior, brakes, tires, shocks all like new, generally looked well maintained under the hood, timing belt was done at 200k (car has 230k), etc.

been driving it around town daily to make sure its all in good condition before turning over to my college son when he returns to school after the upcoming holidaze... today was a relatively warm day for here (Santa Cruz, on the Central California coast), and I was running a bunch of stop-n-go kind of errands around town, and intentionally pushing the car a little harder. His school is about 6 hours drive north of us, in Arcata, Humboldt County, northern California coast.

I noticed some steam leaking at my last stop, looked under the hood, and there was still half an overflow bottle, the temp was just 'hot' and not 'over the top', so I tried go go the mile or two home so I could deal with it.

the last 3/4 mile (1km) is up a 300' (100M) hill, I drove this as gently as I could, but nearing my driveway, the engine check light came on and the needle was pegged. I heard it pinging lightly the last 1/4 mile... so I coasted in my driveway, and popped the hood, lotsa steam coming out. smell was singed coolant not burning rubber or oil. The overflow bottle was empty, so i grabbed the garden hose and ran lotsa water through the engine, could hear it coming out from the engine size of the heater hose thats on the back of the block under the intake manifold, so I dribbled water through it to let the engine cool off.

the oil looks OK. its brown now instead of clear almost-new, but it doesn't smell burnt, and its still oil, not at all creamy with water. there's no water vapor in the oil cap either, just oil.

now that its cooled off it cranks and turns over, briskly even, but no start. so what did I likely do to keep this car for starting?

I'm probably going to have to get it towed to a mechanic. I could replace the hose (although it looks like a real knuckle buster back there) but not sure I can diagnose the 'no start' condition.

 

Start looking for another engine. Never, EVER push an engine that's overheating, and NEVER add cold coolant/water to the cooling system once it has. At the very least, you've warped the head badly.
People have got to get past this "the oil looks good, so the engine is fine" diagnosis of an overheated engine.

Regards, Andrew.

 

Andrew is probably right on this Pierce. Historically, American V8's always ran cast iron heads and cast iron blocks...like metals expand and contract at the same rate. Most relatively modern motors (including the B230) run an aluminum head bolted tightly to a cast iron block. Unlike metals expand and contract at different rates, meaning overheating a motor is a definite no-no. With all the crap the federal government has mandated be on US cars...I fail to understand why they don't incorporate a shut down feature to save people from themselves. The motor will be less than it was...regardless of the outcome. Before you contemplate buying a motor (which may be cost prohibitive) have it towed and have the shop: 1. Do a chemical test for hydrocarbons in the coolant, if it fails the head gasket at least is gone 2. Do a compression test 3. While the plugs are out, have them use a bore scope and examine the cylinder walls...if the cylinder walls are "gallded" the motor is shot. The prognosis is not good for your motor, but $150 worth of diagnostic tests may be an option before either dumping the car as is for $200 or spending $1500-2500 on a re-motor job.
By the way, if a motor is overheated, it's permissible to hose down the radiator to lower temps but not the motor. Cast iron is brittle and easily cracks. Also, unless the motor is in immenent danger of bursting into flames, leave it running. Shutting down a hot engine before cooing will often cause it to seize.

 

my mechanic thinks maybe coolant got into the distributor or something since the leak was spraying down the intake manifold area. but of course, he won't know til he sees it. having juts taken a closer look at the blown hose in the daylight, I'm gonna let him replace it, its in the most inaccessible place i can imagine, short of removing the whole manifold.

I would have pulled over and parked it, but where I was has zero shoulder and zero parking, its a narrow windy 2-lane country highway that goes past my house. my driveway is literally the first pullout from where I first realized things were going bad. the alternative would have been a very dangerous U turn (blind turns for downhill traffic) and coasting back into town, and even at the bottom of the hill there's no parking, just a bike lane, for about a mile.

worse case, I guess I scrounge another B230FT.... I do believe this mechanic told me the other day he knew someone in town who had one that was a fresh full rebuild he'd never used.

 

I have an '89 740 turbo and had the same hose rupture. I fought a long time trying to get decent access to the clamp. Removed throttle body etc. That was a waste of time.

Tackle it from directly above. Once you get at it from that angle it's routine.

 

Got it towed to the shop today...
FWIW, my mechanic says the engine has fine compression in all four, and after he cleaned the fouled plugs, it started and ran OK, a little rough on idle, but he figures once the hose is fixed and he gets some coolant back into it, and its run a bit it will likely sort itself back out. I suggested going ahead and replacing *all* the hoses, and doing an oil change too, for good luck, he concurs thats a very good idea since my son will be taking this car into the southern desert over his winter break, then back up to far northwestern California back to school...

 

Hey, that's great news! Looks like you dodged the bullet! Being a turbo and thus generating positive pressure, the head gasket will fail at some point. Heck, all head gaskets fail eventually...turbos just a little sooner. Be sure to tell your son to pay attention to not only coolant levels but to the temp gauge.

 

To be honest, you bought this car for your son as reliable transport yes? At the very least, I'd have the head pulled and the gasket replaced. This will allow the head to be looked at and skimmed. It's not an horrendously expensive job on a redblock, labour is short and parts are cheap.
I wouldn't trust that engine to be reliable for very long. I've seen it too many times where someone seeming got away with a big overheat and then had the engine die a slow, painful death. I certainly wouldn't trust an overheated engine that idled roughly afterwards (I've never had an engine that overheated idle less than perfectly if it was O.K), but then I wouldn't trust a mechanic that said an overheated engine would sort itself out either. I'm also concerned the engine fouled plugs during the overheating event, that indicates lots and lots of oil in the combustion chambers and that's an excellent sign the engine ran very, very hot.
Some engines you can get away with big overheating events, the redblock is not one of them, especially a turbocharged one.
Just my opinion, a few dollars now is a sensible investment.

Regards, Andrew.

 

Typhoon, yer right.. mechanic swapped the bad hose and ran a more thorough set of tests, and the head gasket is blown somewhere around #2 or 3. there was some coolant in #2. he's gonna pull the head monday and we'll go from there.

potentially good news is, he's got a complete rebuilt head from a volvo 240 turbo that never got installed a few years ago, got to cross check #s and stuff, but it may be suitable and I can have it really cheap ($100?) since its just filling space. oops, guess the 240 turbos were B21 not B230FT, so oh well, anyways, we don't know if the head is bad or not til we get it apart.

 

my mechanic took the head off today.
#2 and #3 were sucking coolant from the blown head gasket.
the head had several hairline cracks, looked old. I was offered a good head for a good price, its en route, should be running next week.

 

so.... since the turbo is out of this car, and while I await the replacement head, is there any sort of visual inspection that would indicate its general condition, and whether it should be serviced or replaced before reassembly ? I have zero experience with turbo systems...