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I did something slightly retarded. My car is LS2 powered and the heater control valve had failed, so as a temporary fix I just used one of the existing coolant hoses and made a loop from the input to output of the heater circuit on the water pump. During the processes a fair but not huge amount of coolant came out the hose and onto the floor through the engine bay and eventually stopped. After the fix I had to run the car for a few seconds to back it up, but somehow in the space of like 30 seconds I somehow loving forgot that I hadn't topped it back up and left it idling for approx 5 minutes. The temp gauge started off low and as I gently revved it suddenly hopped up to a couple of marks higher than usual (but nowhere near red or the end of the scale). After that "oh poo poo" moment I realised what had happened and duly topped it up. After that it was running like absolutely nothing had happened. I took it for a quick drive and it held temperature fine and drove perfectly. After the incident I shut the car down the engine bay didn't seem weirdly hot and there weren't any weird smells. Is there any chance I've ruined anything, or am I just being paranoid?
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Jun 6, 2014 20:51
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 11:22 |
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You're likely fine, just keep an eye on the coolant and oil to make sure they don't wind up mixing up a nice milkshake.
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Jun 6, 2014 21:02
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PissWhisk posted:I did something slightly retarded. My car is LS2 powered and the heater control valve had failed, so as a temporary fix I just used one of the existing coolant hoses and made a loop from the input to output of the heater circuit on the water pump. There's a remote possibility that the high spots of the engine (the heads, basically) had air pockets and weren't getting cooled effectively, and could have warped. Like I said, though, it's a remote possibility. If you were starting from a fully cold engine, the heads didn't have warm coolant flowing through them and so were only being heated by the top of the combustion chamber, so they might not have ever gotten up to temp, let lone dangerously hot. I'd still keep an eye on things; look for further overheating (though your temp gauge is probably a glorified idiot light so don't rely on that), coolant loss, oil loss, or coolant mixing into oil (check these every week or so right after driving, the last one will show up as oil that looks like cappuccino.) Watch for a month or two, and if none of those show up you should be fine. DO make certain that you burp it very well after refilling the coolant. Elevate the front end and let it run with the radiator cap (or reservoir cap if it doesn't have the former) open so any air pockets can bubble out. A good rule-of-thumb is that the level in the radiator shouldn't drop if you give the engine a rev, if it does there's air in the system that's getting compressed; if your car has an electronic throttle you may need a second pair of hands for that. You can stick the neck of a funnel into the opening so the funnel contains any coolant from spilling onto the ground.
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Jun 6, 2014 21:03
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If it didn't peg or boil over and theres no sign of anything off now, I think you're fine.
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Jun 6, 2014 21:04
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Thanks all, I will keep an eye on coolant and oil to ensure nothing is untoward. I am very much a novice at this sort of thing so I attempted the fix gingerly and carefully only to be let down by a moment of absent mindedness  I can't remember the exact amount of time I had it running but it might not have even been 5 minutes. I will do as Fucknag suggested and raise the front end of the car and make sure any air bubbles are removed. I'm in the UK so it's not quite as easy to get LS parts as the states but by no means impossible so it's probably a waste of energy to worry too much! Having an LS2 in the UK is rad though 
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Jun 6, 2014 22:09
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Fucknag posted:
Oh, I forgot to say, yes the engine was started from stone cold.
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Jun 6, 2014 22:10
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Yeah, unless you were romping on it the entire time, you're absolutely fine. Even if you were it's probably fine. It may be the performance version of it, but it's by and large the same engine that millions of idiots abuse every day in trucks over here. I'm sure a lot of them get run harder with less coolant, with no real ill effect.
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Jun 6, 2014 22:25
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I've pegged the temp gauge on a car and am still driving on it nearly 10 years later. You're fine.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:30
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I think that both the block and head are aluminum on an LS2. You have to worry about the headgasket after overheating a lot more on engines that use different metals for the block and head, as they'll expand at different rates.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:55
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 11:22 |
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IOwnCalculus posted:Yeah, unless you were romping on it the entire time, you're absolutely fine. Even if you were it's probably fine. Indeed, I've seen all the guys with heavily boosted LM7/LQ4 etc setups too, they seem to be practically indestructible! I wish we were less scared of displacement in this country - our pickup trucks get lumbered with piddly 2.5L turbo diesels, they always sound laboured, even with the truck empty. A surprising percentage of our cars are diesel too which is biting us in the rear end because of particulates suffocating everyone in big cities.  carbon footprint I did as was suggested and ran the car with the radiator cap off and watched for bubbles, there was nothing appreciable and the car seems oblivious as to what happened so I probably didn't mess up as much as I thought. Will still keep an eye on coolant and oil, though.
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Jun 7, 2014 16:40
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