Phil---10 minutes or so with an idling engine probably didn't seriously
hurt anything, so long as the lubrication system was working.
Without knowing all that you had apart, I will only make a guess as to
why the engine overheated to the boiling point so quickly.
Chances are good that you have, or had an air lock in the cooling
system, IF you did things like drain the radiator, block, and such.
I wouldn't take the engine apart just to see if bearings and cyl. walls
were damaged.
What I would do is to take off the radiator cap and run the engine some
more, burping the system of air. (Cavitation could've taken place when
filling an empty system) Watch the temp. gauge as you run the engine,
referably around 1500 rpm.
Dick
Phil wrote:
From: phil@opentext.com(Phil Beckman) Date: Sat, Apr 24, 2004, 6:53pm
(PDT+2) To: 6pack@autox.team.net Subject: Overheating
I started my car for the first time since last September and major
surgery on a variety of parts of the car over the winter. Part of the
work I did involved disconnecting the temperature sending unit. When I
put everything back together, I forgot to reconnect it. As a result, the
temp gauge never showed that the car was warming up. Shouldn't have been
a big deal but, as it turns out, there's something amiss with the
cooling system too. I suspect its something as simple as the thermostat
being stuck. Anyway, I was puttering around in the garage, glancing at
the car every once in a while waiting for it to warm up when I noticed
steam coming from the radiator. Stupid of me to not realize something
was wrong when the temp gauge showed no reading after 10 minutes.
Anyway, I immediately shut the car off when I saw steam. Then I
proceeded to reconnect the temp sending unit and check the gauge. It was
pegged all the way to the right past Hot.
My fear is that I've damaged the engine. I know some cars, particularly
more modern cars, are very unforgiving about being overheated. I don't
really know how tolerant a TR6 engine is of this sort of thing. Any
opinions? What are the chances that I seriously screwed something up?
Any way to check?
Thanks
Phil Beckman
73 TR6
Libertyville, IL
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