Overheating

[sil80drifter]

I accidentally left my car idling with the electrial fans disconnected. The needle of the stock temp gauge went all the way up when I got back (idled for about 15-20 mins total). I immediatly turned on the fans and the heater to full blast. Temp went back to normal (middle of gauge).

Now I sometimes have coolant boiling in the coolant tank when I park my car, I can hear it, and it's boiling/coming out. It doesn't always happen, and now that I've added more coolant (50/50 mix with distilled water), it hasn't happened again.

Could I have damaged the headgasket just by overheating on idling? It was pretty cold out that night, around 40 degrees. I know that usually cars overheat when under big loads and then If the headgasket is blown white smoke is the first sign of water leaking into the cylinders. So far I've had no white smoke or funny smell of coolant in my exhaust. Are there any other signs? Also, for some reason I think my thermostat may be getting stuck, because the temperature swings are somewhat irregular, in the way the car warms up from cold. Could that be a result of the overheating?What else may have gotten damaged?

Anyone with experiendce of overheating please respond so I can mayeb relate to some of your case to see if and how I messed up my car.

Thanks,

sil80

[NISTECH]

if when you added fluid to it everything seemed ok I think you are ok. but definitly change you t-stat and feel all your hoses for soft spots. otherwise i think you'll be ok.

[Scott McLellan]

How much fluid did you initially have to add after that overheating event? I think if your coolant began to boil, your radiator cap is designed to release the pressure created and this would occur before your head gasket would blow. My guess is that you were just low on coolant, but I don't know.

[Nismo_Freak]

When you boil coolant it will lose some of it's properties just like brake fluid.

Whenever you completly overheat a car you wanna flush the coolant and and put new coolant in.

[sil80drifter]

Thanks a lot guys, I will flush and change my coolant as soon as I get a chance. On another note, now having an overheating-phobia of a sort, I was wondering if maybe I should add RedLine Water Wetter to my coolant, as I am planning to turbo the car in the next few months, and since the turbo will be water cooled, it will add an additional strain on the cooling system. Right now I cannot afford an aftermarket radiator, so this seems like a good idea. On the other hand, the website says that it will reduce coolant temperatures by up to 30 degrees, and perhaps it's not the best thing to do int he winter (I know an engine can run too cold). Or does a 30degree drop not mean much to normal running engine temps?

RedLines Website:http://www.redlineoil.com/redlineoil/wwti.htm

"Red Line WaterWetter® can reduce cooling system temperatures compared to glycol solutions and even plain water. Water has excellent heat transfer properties in its liquid state, but very high surface tension makes it difficult to release water vapor from the metal surface. Under heavy load conditions, much of the heat in the cylinder head is transferred by localized boiling at hot spots, even though the bulk of the cooling solution is below the boiling point. Red Line's unique WaterWetter® reduces the surface tension of water by a factor of two, which means that much smaller vapor bubbles will be formed. Vapor bubbles on the metal surface create an insulating layer which impedes heat transfer. Releasing these vapor bubbles from the metal surface can improve the heat transfer properties in this localized boiling region by as much as 15%..."

And they also mention overboiling, perhaps thisis something I have experienced?:

"Because of the doubling of the ability of the radiator to transfer heat, boilover using Red Line treated water is not a problem as long as the engine is circulating coolant through the head and the fan is circulating air. Sudden shutdown after very hard driving may cause boilover."

If anyone wants to give their opinion on WaterWetter or anything else that is cooling related, please go ahead.

sil80