I had a 3rd radiator installed.

When doing so we lost A LOT of coolant.

So after we added coolant and left it.

Today on a drive all the sudden my coolant light came on warning me that coolant was low, so I turned around and went home.

2 miles later the engine temp jumped from 175 to 225+, and a few seconds later a warning light came on telling me ENGINE TOO HOT!

I immediately pulled over and turned the engine off.

I had a friend bring me my extra gallon of coolant, added the coolant and drove it home with the water temp stable at 175 and oil temp stable

COULD MY ENGINE GOT DAMAGED BY OPERATING AT THAT HIGH OF A TEMP, EVEN IF ONLY FOR A FEW SECONDS ????

Should I take it to the dealer tomorrow?

 

I would say 'NO' damage occured.
You stopped right away...nice move!
I would make sure that you have no air-locks in the coolant lines though!
Hang tight,one of these professional mechanics will come on here and make you feel a ton better!

Stacy

 

Thanks Stacy.

The engine temp was hot for maybe 30 seconds at stop and i went no faster than 10 mph.

I think i do have air in my coolant and might have a coolant leak.

 

I am no professional but there has to be some degree of safety incorporated into cars.Now if you drove for a long time,definately damage would occur.
If you have a coolant leak then you may want a mechanic to look at it!

Stacy

 

Sorry to hear man....let us know what you find out...

Jason

 

I would have your coolant system pressurized by a Porsche dealer to remove air pockets and check leaks.

 

Your engine may have been hotter than that, for longer than that. That's the problem with overheating due to insufficient coolant. Your temp didn't "jump". Water that was heated by the engine but not initially touching the sensor, finally touched the sensor. It could have been running hotter than your temp gauge ever registered. It is possible that the engine was operated above normal temps for a significant period of time. Think about how long it usually takes to warm up. It probably took a little less due to the insufficient coolant. How long after that normal time, did you run it in total?

However, it's also possible the engine itself never exceeded a safe temp at all, and merely the facts that there was insufficient coolant volume along with a likely inability to properly flow through the radiator resulted in the WATER exceeding safe limits while the actual engine was never any hotter than it would be under completely proper cooling conditions. This is more likely if it wasn't driven very long before the warning was displayed, and under cool, light load conditions.

 

I did notice that the oil temp was rising and high as well when the warning light came on ( ABOVE 300º)

It was probably due to the engine oil temp getter hotter due to the lack of cooling.

In total I picked up the car and drove it 6 miles before this happened and i was never driving the car over 4K rpm and never got faster than 30 mph.

If the engine did get TOO HOT, what damage could have been done?

If the engine oil got that hot, should I change the oil???

 

Take it to the dealer TODAY. Get some piece of mind.

 

I agree get it checked out, but i would not worry. I ran my old S4 on track with oil temps up to 300 (hot summers at Thunderhill) and it was fine. Same with the coolant, for that amount of time, I would not worry.

Engines do need water to stay cool, but they can run without it for some amount of time. Oil is far more important, hot or not, as long as it's in there. To answer your question though, running the motor with no coolant (or coolant that's not staying cool) would eventually let loose. You'd likely blow a coolant hose from the pressure (and see the subsequent steam coming out), or worse the head gaskets would leak, and worst case would be warping the heads.

As for changing oil, if it's been 5k miles or 6 months, why not change it just to be safe. If it's brand new oil, I'd leave it in if it was my car.

But I wouldn't worry, you should be fine.

 

You should probably change that oil. I'm not aware of any gasoline engines designed to run with the oil OVER 300F. That's hot for motor oil. In fact, that's VERY hot and surprising for starting a cold engine and driving six easy miles, even without coolant.

What can hot oil or overheated engine damage?

The most likely result of this is no damage given the info you've shared.

As a poster above described, you could burst a hose/seal due to rapid expansion causing excessive pressure. You could also damage essentially any internal component of your engine - one of the more likely is to warp the heads' machined surfaces, resulting in blown head gaskets (a separate but potentially very serious problem - it's easy to detect though). If the engine was under significant load, you could lose lubrication and spin bearings or score cylinder walls but that is almost unworthy of mention in this circumstance.

 

Im taking it to my mechanic to get the coolant pressurized and the oil changed.

This way I will have peace of mind.

After the change im going to take it for a spirited drive and see if anything happens.

I think im worry about nothing, but I plan on keeping this car for a long time.

Plus I have my 2 years of CPO still left on the warranty so I guess if something does happen, i will have a warranty to fall back on.

 

Sorry to dig up and a very old thread I was in the similar situation, OP was your car fine in the end?