overheated tonight, what to look for

[ciffer]

first off, i am not trying to figure out what caused overheating, but rather what damage i need to watch out for. this happened with my '88 suburban, half ton, 4x4, 350ci engine.

i changed my radiator hoses today and filled with clean coolant. after i go the new hoses on, i loosened the hose clamp on my upper radiator hose at the radiator so i could pour coolant down into the engine. i put the hose back on the radiator but must not have tightened the hose clamp, cause the hose to come off while driving. when i was driving home from my friend's farm, i was watching the temp gauge the whole way. i drove about 1 mile after the temp gauge went past 210, which is usually where the thermostat opens and the temp drops. the temp got to approx 230 on the gauge. i got off the road and shut down the engine. i popped the hood, saw the hose was off and the radiator was basically empty. i had everything i needed to put the hose back on and tighten the clamp, and enough water and coolant to fill up the radiator again.

the engine never stalled, it was running until i shut it off, the engine fired up fine afterwards, idled as good as ever, still runs strong.

is there anything i need to look for as far as engine damage? the vehicle has 150k on it, the engine ran like a top beforehand, i haven't noticed any change.

 

[4X4HIGH]

If you caught it that quickly there shouldn't be any damage. If you've already put the hose back on and refilled the radiator and have run the engine and all seems to be good then you are lucky you were paying attention to your gauge.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Other then pulling it apart to check not really, leaky head gaskets are about all you can look for externally, except for a rod sticking out the side

 

[ciffer]

just ran outside and checked the oil, still looks the same, no signs of coolant. i think i might have dodged a bullet on this one.

 

[4xcrazy]

IMO, 230 is alittle warm, but managable, mine used to run at that all day when i had the old 3 core radiator and ran the A/C out here in Phoenix, never had any issues, heck there were times it would hit upwards of nearly 250, the motor and myself didn't like it, but everything still ran fine.

Finally got tired of that and bought a new 4 core rad,


then the A/C compressor quit

 

[BILTIT]

Anything over 250 is trouble, under that should be fine.

 

[wasted wages]

I ran a 350 in a company truck so hot one time it almost seized when I shut it off.
I hose blew on the freeway at 3 am and tried to make to the next off ramp.

when I lifted the hood the entire engine was smoking....I let it cool for 2 hours
while someone brought me a hose, filled it back up, cranked it up and drove it for another year or so before we sold it.

I doubt you hurt yours if you were right on top of it...



something funny ...

The other morning on the way to work I came up behind a car (some front wheel drive POS ) that was totally engulfed in flames under the hood and the guy was still doing 55 MPH,,,it looked like something you would see in the movies !!!!!

 

[4xcrazy]

Anything over 250 is trouble, under that should be fine.

you can bet, when mine was nearing that 250 mark, i had my eyes glued to the gauge, usually it would only do that when the A/C was on, and runnin around town in stop & go traffic, if it got up about that 250 mark, i was killin the A/C. This was again with the old 3 core rad, and even had an aux electric fan plus a heavy duty fan clutch.

bought the 4 core, and never gets higher than the 200 area( 195 t-stat), then again, i don't have A/C now, so i don't know how it does at the moment when that is going.

 

[BILTIT]

I have had my old 400 pontiac up to 260 a couple times, never did any noticable damage. I pulled it apart just to be sure and found nothing.

 

[Blue85]

230 is no big deal for a short duration. All iron SBC is pretty tough.

 

[ciffer]

thanks for all the input everyone.