drove 15 miles in an overheated engine with no coolant, is engine dead?

[andylawcc]

so drove to work as usual this morning, engine suddenly stutters with fuel intermittently shuts off, i thought it was low on gas so i coast to a gas station. Fills up, and drove off again just to find out it's stuttering again. Looked at the dash just to find out the temp gauge needle is wayyyy above the H mark. Pulls over to the side of freeway, pour 3 bottles of water, waited an hour till temp is back down to C. Drove off nervously as temp needle rises but stabilized midway. Got back to office, poured more water, and it's still not full, so I reckon the radiator was bone dry.

now, question is, is my engine dead or gonna die? I pulled the spark plug BOOT out and see no oil or water. Car is 1999 nissan sentra, engine is GA16DE.
From home to first stuttering was 10 miles. Between the gas fill-up till the second stuttering/finally realized it's overheating is another 5 miles. All freeway.

 

[skyking]

No idea, Andy. I'd fill it with water and run it, look for where the water went. It is really the only choice now unless you like dancing around doing a bunch of other crap to pinpoint the conditions.
Check the oil to see if that is OK and not foamy. Then go run it.

 

[andylawcc]

thanks skyking. i don't remember the last time checking the coolant level, so i am guessing it's a slow leak somewhere, and not a sudden sploosh.

 

[eng2d2]

No smoke or smell at all?

 

[andylawcc]

No smoke or smell at all?

no smoke nor smell. only slight amount of steam when i pop the hood.

 

[eng2d2]

you just have to wait and see. Best way to do this is when you leave early in the morning or whenever you start your day make sure check all fluids. Monitor gauges and the car while on the road. When you get to destination check again. Just keep checking until you feel confident that nothing is wrong. If you find something in between then you found your problem.

 

[tweakmonkey]

Could be a blown head gasket, which is common for Nissan Sentras.

Word of advice.. if you ever have issues with a car again, check the gauges/codes immediately. If the temperature is pegged on the gauge or you have abnormal sounds coming from the engine, shut it down and call a tow truck. You'll risk making a much more expensive repair by driving it that last few feet/miles etc.

I wouldn't drive this car another foot without checking into it. Cars don't lose coolant for no apparent reason.

 

[andylawcc]

Could be a blown head gasket, which is common for Nissan Sentras.

to check for blown head gasket, other than foamy motor oil, is to look at the spark plug and see if there's any oil/water on the plug's thread right?

 

[NutBucket]

Seriously, how could it lose all its coolant.

 

[andylawcc]

beats me... the engine does leak oil though. like 1 quarter per month or two.

 

[skyking]

to check for blown head gasket, other than foamy motor oil, is to look at the spark plug and see if there's any oil/water on the plug's thread right?

Not really.
Blown head gaskets come in several flavors.
1) Some put coolant in the oil = foamy milkshake mess on the dipstick. Look for that now. Those same leaks will put oil in your radiator too.
2) external leak. Look for steam and/or coolant near the headgasket when hot.
3) burning the coolant. It only leaks when good and hot, and by some grace of luck never gets down into the oil. It just goes out the tail pipe.

 

[andylawcc]

3) burning the coolant. It only leaks when good and hot, and by some grace of luck never gets down into the oil. It just goes out the tail pipe.

you mean the coolants somehow gets in the combustion chamber and comes out of the exhaust? (can coolant survive the heat?)

 

[skyking]

steam baby steam. I can smell it myself.

 

[andylawcc]

haha, okay thx, me derp

 

[CurseTheSky]

I'm sure you're kicking yourself now, and I don't mean to rub salt into the wound, but ALWAYS check your gauges / warning lights if something sounds or feels off. Heck, I even occasionally check my gauges on a brand new car. You never know when something is going to go wrong, and I'd rather see a temp gauge hanging above normal than see it when it finally overheats. It still wish most vehicles came with oil pressure gauges and ammeters than just warning lights.

 

[LTC8K6]

Has the water pump ever been replaced? Perhaps it has begun to leak at the weep hole? It's a small hole designed to let you know the WP has failed by letting a little coolant out onto the ground.

If the engine is okay, remember to put the correct mix of coolant and water into the system.

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm sure you're kicking yourself now, and I don't mean to rub salt into the wound, but ALWAYS check your gauges / warning lights if something sounds or feels off. Heck, I even occasionally check my gauges on a brand new car. You never know when something is going to go wrong, and I'd rather see a temp gauge hanging above normal than see it when it finally overheats. It still wish most vehicles came with oil pressure gauges and ammeters than just warning lights.

Well, he probably would have seen a red light on the dash.

http://www.courtesyparts.com/pdf/1999-nissan-sentra.pdf

OP, The manual says the cooling system capacity is 6 quarts.

How much do you think you added when you got the temperature to come back down?

 

[andylawcc]

LTC8K6:

no light came on at all. and i guess i am spoiled by all my previous cars (a civic and a celica, which is a corolla engine) as they been so reliable I rarely have to keep an eye at the gauge.

anyways, and i poured roughly about 4 quarts of water in and it seems like I could pour more. Over the weekend i will drain it out and pour 50/50 mix antifreeze back in.
Actually I will look into the Weep Hole thing since i highly doubt the water pump was ever changed.

 

[LTC8K6]

LTC8K6:

no light came on at all. and i guess i am spoiled by all my previous cars (a civic and a celica, which is a corolla engine) as they been so reliable I rarely have to keep an eye at the gauge.

anyways, and i poured roughly about 4 quarts of water in and it seems like I could pour more. Over the weekend i will drain it out and pour 50/50 mix antifreeze back in.
Actually I will look into the Weep Hole thing since i highly doubt the water pump was ever changed.

I meant it might have been better if you had a light instead of a gauge, because you might have noticed the red light on the dash.

You only have the gauge, as far as I can tell.

You will have to be on the lookout for leaks and closely monitor the coolant level.

After you fill it with the 50/50 mix, if the coolant is coming out the exhaust, you can often smell it as sort of a sweet smell with white smoke.

 

[lsd]

If you don't find the cause immediately after filling up and starting the engine make sure you properly bleed the coolant system while you do your check.

 

[andylawcc]

I meant it might have been better if you had a light instead of a gauge, because you might have noticed the red light on the dash.
You only have the gauge, as far as I can tell.

correct and correct. a light would been easier to spot and sentra doesn't have it.

and yeah, i will bleed/flush the system over the weekend

 

[BUTCH1]

LTC8K6:

no light came on at all. and i guess i am spoiled by all my previous cars (a civic and a celica, which is a corolla engine) as they been so reliable I rarely have to keep an eye at the gauge.

anyways, and i poured roughly about 4 quarts of water in and it seems like I could pour more. Over the weekend i will drain it out and pour 50/50 mix antifreeze back in.
Actually I will look into the Weep Hole thing since i highly doubt the water pump was ever changed.

Yea, Honda and Toyota are known for excellent engine design but ANY car can have a coolant loss issue, a rock hitting the radiator or an old, worn-out hose can happen and start to leak. I would concentrate on finding out where the coolant went and fixing that before adding in expensive coolant only to see it leak right back out. Also you might want to consider doing an oil change since the oil in there now might be compromised with the car running without coolant for that long.

 

[boomhower]

I did the same thing once and it warped the head. Had to mill the head down to get it back right.

 

[Meghan54]

I meant it might have been better if you had a light instead of a gauge, because you might have noticed the red light on the dash.

I've always been the opposite in preferring gauges to just having idiot lights. You can see things as they happen, such as increasing water temps. or dropping oil pressure or voltage dropping, before an idiot light comes on saying "You're car done f'd up."

Hate vehicles without gauges.

 

[LTC8K6]

I've always been the opposite in preferring gauges to just having idiot lights. You can see things as they happen, such as increasing water temps. or dropping oil pressure or voltage dropping, before an idiot light comes on saying "You're car done f'd up."

Hate vehicles without gauges.

I do prefer gauges. For people who aren't car people, lights are probably better.

Most cars these days have both gauges and some other sort of malfunction indication.

I had a GM car that had a "check gauges" red light. :biggrin: