Damage from Overheating Question

[xraven]

My Car-> 1989 240sx Coupe

The lower rad stays ice cold after driving(30min +), upper rad is goes a little warm. Rad fluid you can splash your fingers in even after driving for an hour.

**My question is how much damage can I cause to the engine when the engine heats up to this point --> Max o|--x-------------|o min Pretend the x is on bar is the curved white bar on the display for temperature.

**Aside from lowered performance how can I tell that my engine is overheating (besides a nice red glow)?

You can notice the engine performance drop significantly as the engine heats up. I really hate running the engine like this and will be massaging the rad hoses and bleeding the suspected bubbles from the cooling system tomorrow.

**Is it recommended to replace the thermostat on a whim along with the rad cap?

** Are there any other recommended replacements to do on this car regularly? Or is this good enough -> zerothread?id=32760

I DO know that the car sat for 3-4 months before I bought it yesterday.
Modified by xraven at 8:49 AM 1/11/2007

[ISUJinX]

In extreme cases, you will warp the head from excessive heat. My advice is to bleed the cooling system yourself before you drive it again. Make sure your water pump is turning, replace your thermostat, make -sure- you get all the bubbles out of the cooling system.

If you absolutely 100% no questions asked have to drive your wife to the hospital to have a baby, drive with the heat on full blast (and windows open depending on your climate). Other than that - Fix it before you drive it.

[xraven]

Well, I emptied the coolant, replaced the Thermostat with an OEM (170f), filled the coolant and bled the bubbles. It's still over heating. Any ideas? Here is the display on the dash as far as temperature [ H o o ==X=========o C ]

[xraven]

Its acutally running hotter now than it did before with the old thermostat. And the old thermostat didn't even open until 200f. How hot should the block be? Can I touch it at certain places?Is there a good way I can check to see if the water pump is working without removing it?

[xraven]

Oya forgot to mention - I inadvertently took the car to around 5k rpm - while parked, now the car has since not started. Yay. I killed my car >.<

[s14_240sx]

I'm pretty sure you can blow a headgasket by over heating. as for the 5k, that shouldn't have killed the car, was the car already overheating when you did this? It perfectly normal to rev the engine while in park, it shouldn't do any damage.

[xraven]

Judging by how it's not turning over now, well it turns over but doesn't start its pretty well pointing towards I jumped the timing chain. I am getting way too high compression with one of the cylinders when I try to turn it over. Its covered in snow as of yesterday. I won't be working on it much at all for now.

[xraven]

I am an ID10T - it works now
Modified by xraven at 10:36 PM 1/13/2007