Was driving up the interstate today when I get a battery generator malfunction error. I continue driving the next 5 minutes thinking it was a glitch. Car was running perfectly fine. Five minutes pass and I get another error "engine overheat" and to pull over. I look at my oil temp gauge which jumped to around 260-270 and my coolant/radiator red light came on and the needle at the max. Lost power steering as well. Pull into a gas station and call roadside assist. When I opened the rear decklid, the engine was hissing and steam coming from some area and the coolant cyclinder was bubbling. After letting the car rest for 30 miniutes, turned back on again and after a few minutes oil temp and coolant temp move above normal range. Power steering remains lost. Anyone experience something like this before? Any ideas what this can be? After turning engine on, I confirmed that the fan in the rear decklid is working fine as I can hear it spinning so definitely not that.

Thanks

 

Could be half a dozen underlying problems. The only one that matters is the bottom line. Don't start it again and get it to a dealer by flat bed.

The last time that happened to me, a head gasket was blown so that ignition gases were making their way into the coolant. That created astonishing swings in the measured coolant temperature while the oil temperature rose more slowly.

Same bottom line: I broke the lump. Come get me.

 

Sorry to hear that. I wish your car a speedy recovery. Please do not restart the car and risk further damage.

 

+1. Could be a variety of things, so towing it to the dealer is the smart play.

 

actually your symptoms are common for a lost pulley or belt...the alternator warning was from the alternator no longer turning..and the overheat was from loss of the water pump...no power steering from no belt...so check the pulley and belt...don't drive it and flatbed it to your service of choice...if you have a lwfw it is even more common to lose the pulley

 

Agreed...exactly what happened to me when I lost a BELT!
Don't drive it,call a tow truck.
But don't worry.....easy fix!

When it happened to me the dash LIT up like a Christmas tree...scared the CRAP out of me!


Stacy

 

There you go, Spudz. A diagnosis that sounds extremely likely. Same conclusion though: don't start it. Save that engine.

Uh... Chuck? A question. lwfw=Light Weight Flywheel? Best guess I can come up with.

Gary

 

yep...many 997 owners that have gone to the lwfw without changing the front pulley to the RS pulley had similar failures on track

 

What is different about the pulley?

Deeper outer lip to retain the belt?

Stacy

 

changing the dual mass flywheel to a lighter single mass version upsets the balance of the rotating mass...this apparently can cause the front pully to vibrate loose...replacing the front pulley with the RS pulley at the same time as installing the lwfw seems to provide better balance to the system and the front pulley remains in place

 

Did you check the serpentine belt?

 

I run a garage and I feel I should mention that one should never just assume a light on the dash is a glitch.

Newer cars have sensors all over the place and are programed to let certain things ('glitches') slip by and not trigger a light. If it gives you a light it's because it wants attention.

 

How many miles are on the car since it was repaired from the rain event?

 

thanks for the input guys, this board and its members are so valuable.

there are about 2500 miles since my "rain event". hopefully non related

 

I don't know how much was taken apart to repair the car and the belt suggestion Chuck made makes a lot of sense. sometimes in a big repair if the smallest thing is out of place a snag can occur later on.

If you need a referral in Miami PM me . If not and you take it to Champion .. you are in good hands there too. Good luck.