My 1998 Acura Integra turns 10 yrs old on June 21

[hellokeith]

Rapidly overheated while I was on the highway. I commute a long distance and was in the middle of nowhereland when I noticed the Temp needle about 3/4 way to H. I made it to North Dallas and pulled over at a gas station, let the thing idle for a few minutes with the heater on but temp still rising. Headed on into work, by the time I got in the parking garage and parked on the top level (parking is very crowded at our business), the needle was sitting on H. Let it run another minute with heater on full blast, but temp still rising and boiling into the overflow. Shut it off. At lunch time I drove it down to the auto parts store and filled it back up with fluid & water. Let it run for a few minutes with AC on, front fans working ok, but temp starting to rise again. By the time I made it back to the parking garage top level and parked, it was 4/5 way to H and boiling into the overflow again.

Had it towed to the dealership and find out that the head gasket it shot, which is causing the exhaust gases to boil the radiator fluid. They aren't positive about the initial cause of the overheat since visual examination doesn't look like the radiator is cracked anywhere. Man I sure hope the radiator is ok, because the head gasket repair is already gonna be freakin expen$ive!

I asked the service manager how come I never got a red check engine light, and he said that only comes on with a loss of oil pressure. Lame.

 

[evident]

man a blown head gasket sucks. normally its cheaper to replace the engine! 98 teg is a great looking car too

 

[iamwiz82]

You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

 

[ayabe]

Looks like it's time for a B18C.

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: ayabe
Looks like it's time for a B18C5.

Fixed

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

No kidding! You've just learned an expensive lesson. Temperature gauge is serious business.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

HAP-py Birthday!

 

[hellokeith]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

This isn't cut and dried as you make it sound. In some situations sitting at idle, letting the fluid flow, is much better than turning off the engine which means no fluid flow.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: hellokeith

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

This isn't cut and dried as you make it sound. In some situations sitting at idle, letting the fluid flow, is much better than turning off the engine which means no fluid flow.

You are telling me it's bettter to let it peg at idle versus shutting the engine down the minnute you noticed it was overheating?

 

[ballmode]

My 1995 has 127k on it and I've babied it for the past 50k miles, I hope this doesn't happen to me

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

If it's it's an aluminum head, I can just about garrentee the head is warped, happened to me in my TR7 and had to get the head straitened and resurfaced. took it over to a shop in FT Worth that specialized in aluminum heads, when i lived there.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: ayabe
Looks like it's time for a B18C5.

Fixed

use this as an opportunity to get one of these you'll have a sleeper, especially ify ou dont have all those type arrrrrr stickers all over

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: hellokeith

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

This isn't cut and dried as you make it sound. In some situations sitting at idle, letting the fluid flow, is much better than turning off the engine which means no fluid flow.

You are telling me it's bettter to let it peg at idle versus shutting the engine down the minnute you noticed it was overheating?

Pegging it isn't good for more than about a minute, or it will warp the head. Just be glad this didn't happen during a cold winter, you'd never know until the spring.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: hellokeith

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
You continued to idle it while the needle was rising? You let it peg the needle? You had better start hoping you didn't warp the head.

This isn't cut and dried as you make it sound. In some situations sitting at idle, letting the fluid flow, is much better than turning off the engine which means no fluid flow.

I'd love to know what the situation would be that it's better to let it keep running and overheating.

Yes, it's cut and dried....if the engine is overheating and you have no idea why, you TURN IT OFF.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: hellokeith
I asked the service manager how come I never got a red check engine light, and he said that only comes on with a loss of oil pressure. Lame.

It didn't come on because there's a friggin' temp gauge on the dashboard. An extra light is completely un-necessary. Also, the "Check Engine" light does not come on for low oil pressure. There is a separate oil pressure light for that.

Originally posted by: hellokeith
In some situations sitting at idle, letting the fluid flow, is much better than turning off the engine which means no fluid flow.

You're misinformed. If your engine is overheating and cranking the heat full blast has no effect, you need to shut the car off NOW. You will be incredibly lucky if the head has not warped from this mistreatment.

ZV

 

[dawp]

seeing how long he drove it for, I wouldn't be surprized if either the head, block or both are cracked.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: ayabe
Looks like it's time for a B18C5.

Fixed

use this as an opportunity to get one of these you'll have a sleeper, especially ify ou dont have all those type arrrrrr stickers all over

Why pay a premium for a red valve cover? You can pick up cams, get them installed and have basically the same motor and about $1000 left in the bank.

Anyways, I digress.

 

[AMCRambler]

Well despite all the grief you're getting for not shutting the car off, I give you props for a funny ass thread title. I lol'ed.

 

[spaceman]

if its a '98 wasnt it manufactured in '97 making it an 11 year old car.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: evident
man a blown head gasket sucks. normally its cheaper to replace the engine! 98 teg is a great looking car too

Not really, have the head redone at machine shop $175-250, gasket kit-40-60 and do it
yourself labor.Like others have said, a lot depends on if the head was mauled by the
overheating...

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: clowntard
if its a '98 wasnt it manufactured in '97 making it an 11 year old car.

not necessarily, but likely. they can be manufactured in the first few month of the year.

 

[batmang]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: ayabe
Looks like it's time for a B18C5.

Fixed

Looks like it's time to pay $3-4k for a B18C5 that will definitely get stolen.

FIXED.