overheat on the highway - is my motor dead
 

Hello everyone,

I feel down today. I was at the halfway of a two ours trip when a heater hose came to failure .And as my harness is completly dead, I saw no light flashing out the danger. I could see a lot of steam coming in te car, as I removed the shift gaiter to fix an overdrive wire the day before. But I could not stop safely at this moment. I had to drive for about 8 miles before being able to stop safely. The engine didnt make funny noise and was still working OK when I stopped.

I had the opportunity to drive a 130k D24 and I smoked it. I feel so shameful. The car sat for 10 years and I buy a cruise control, without even bothering to change the stupid hoses. What a dumbass.

My car is at the garage, and the garagist does not want to start the car before I find the original hose. But still, Can I afford myself to dream to ride my volvo again or not? I heard that if the head is not even anymore, the motor is good for junk.

thanks for your sharing your opinions.

Let's try not to guilt trip ourselves. It's not healthy.

You have been trying to improve and repair your car for some time, to the best of your ability. Most people lack the motivation or interest to do that.

Your recent experience shows the importance of probably the number one advice we give: Maintain and monitor the coolant hoses and monitor the engine temperatures.

Is your engine damaged beyond repair? Depends on several factors:

1. How much coolant was lost?

2. How hard/how long was it run with the coolant below waterpump level?

3. What were the localized temperatures?

You probably can only answer #1. How big was the leak? Oftentimes a pinhole leak can produce visible steam, but takes a while to leak to a dangerous level.

The greenbook gives specs and instructions for measuring cylinder head warpage.

Fix the hose(s) (AND the temperature gauge!), fill with fresh coolant, test the engine. Watch for leaks (oil and/or coolant) at the head gasket, especially in the middle, under the vacuum pump.

You might be able to get away with a cylinder head gasket R/R.

Running excessive overtemps for longer times can cause additional problems, like piston rings losing tension, piston damage, bearing damage, etc.

thank you ngoma!

I lost almost all the coolant. When I opened up the hood, I could see some in the expansion tank though. , I had to drive a bit less than 10km before stopping the car. well less than 10 minutes for sure. It was a hot day : around 35°

Can you post a picture of the damaged hose? Seeing what the failure looks like may help us guess whether the engine could have survived the 10 minutes of driving after the leak began without long term damage.

You could also take the thermostat out and see how much coolant drains from the block when you do that. That would help tell you whether the engine still had some coolant to circulate, or a little, or ran completely dry.

Ultimately, as was stated above, only way to really know what the outcome was is to get coolant back into it once the hose is fixed and see how things go from there. You can do the "bubble test" to check head gasket condition once it's running with coolant in it again. We will cross our fingers for you! :)

A functional temperature gauge -- and an operator who is accustomed to carefully and frequently watching it -- is essential on any engine and all the more so on a D24. You can get away with a lot more neglect under the hood (old hoses, clogged radiators, etc) IF you have the ability to keep eyes on what is going on. Old equipment and no monitoring ability is definitely a recipe for trouble. At least now you know and hopefully if your engine turns out OK, no doubt fixing the temp gauge will be first on your list before using the car again. Some of us have even explored adding warning systems to alert the operator of coolant loss, such as many modern vehicles provide.

thanks for the positive vibes!!

here is a pic of the damaged hose ( cursed be it!)

https://i.imgur.com/2eYVAT7.jpg

?? :confused:

I meant "cursed be the hose" but maybe I shouldnt venture to use phrases I remember from highschool !

I will know more about the condition of the motor monday or tuesday. A friend of my father proposed to help me as he has to sell his 740, but it's gasoline powered. Gasoline is 40% more expensive than gasoil here, and all the redblocks look to be prone to high fuel consumption. with my 240, cruising at 90/ 100 km/H is really good for fuel economy. I couldnt tell exactly what was the MPG but it was not shameful.

At least you are in france buddy. I have seen all the gates coolant hoses on ebay reduced as old stock on ebay UK. This is a harsh reminder for me to fix our temp gauge too. I check my water and oil every time i drive the car at the moment but without instruments, failures take longer to spot.

Hope she is healthy and there no warping, I have spoken to a man recently who has a d24 cylinder head for sale and a forum member has just acquired a car for spares i know. Im sure one way or another lessons can be learned and well get you going again if you willing to do what it takes.

Remember this engine is a special beast and needs a mechanic who knows how to work on it properly.

Mick

hahaha , yes , France still is one of the best countries to get a good D24.

You re 100% right, lessons can be learned from every situation.

About having a good mechanic working on the car : the guy who's working at the garage where the car currenty sit told me one minute ago he quit the idea of doing anything on my poor volvo.

He was about to start the car when he noticed smoke getting out of the hood.
doesn't want to see his garage set on fire he said, which I can understand. We're in the middle of august and he has something else to do than trying to help out a guy with is junk car.

Now, I dont want to start an arson. What happened? You know my harness is in very poor condition. Did the steam corrode the wires? What can I do to avoid a fire, clean all the wire, disconnect everything apart from the starter and the pump solenoid?

This is getting complicated :o

But I have to run the HG test....

Not a good sign...
So he just left it smolder and didn't disconnect the battery? :confused:

Not enough info provided to even make a guess, sorry. :confused:

You will have to investigate further, and if you encounter shorted wiring, then yes you will have to rewire.

Don't forget the glowplugs. ;)