• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

New car overheat - potential damage

R

RedTauren

Junior Member
Have a 2-week old Acura RDX, 250 miles on the engine. Engine temp suddenly starts moving to the H-Hot (came very close to the top of the heat gauge) pulled over to let it cool, luckily I shut the engine before the 'engine is melting' warning sign came on, white smoke/steam coming out the hood. Long story short, I get it towed to the dealer.

Service found that the "hose for the heater core have come loose" The service manger said that the clamp was not properly attached from the factory. Said they ran tests to make sure engine had no leaks etc...

Well could have there been any damage? I'm just concerned that this screwed up my engine in the long-run. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
You probably saved the engine by shutting it off when you did, though it might have a feature where it does that itself once a higher temp is reached.

It is "probably" fine but I would take it to a 3rd party, trusted mechanic and explain the situation and have him/her look it over with a fine tooth comb.

I would also change the oil now, overheating is not good for it.
 
Unless your engine is particularly fickle, you're probably alright given you shut it down as soon as things got serious.

I have an Oldsmobile Intrigue that at one point shattered its dreaded plastic coolant elbow, emptying the car of coolant at a rapid rate and left me stranded about 80 miles from home. That stated, by the time I got off the highway and got pulled into my destination parking lot, the pressure cap on the Radiator released just as I was pulling in to the parking lot.

Got it shut shut off, let my wife go do important appointment while I worked on the car.

Long story short, the elbow was replaced with the aluminum alternative, and pressure / oil tests did not point to any damaged gaskets or warped heads. The car has many problems, but that never ended up being a problem for the rest of the time I've had it (hopefully only another week).

All that is to say that if the oil is clean, and you aren't smelling / seeing white smoke from the engine, no new clacking or other signs of damaged top end, you're probably alright.
 
You might still see a little white smoke off the engine if there is still coolant pooled somewhere, once the engine heats up enough to boil it off.
 
Thanks for the reply guys.
Unfortunately I do not know any reliably 3rd party mechanic...hmm maybe I'll bring it to another dealer and have them check it out.
 
^ That is specifically what I would not do, not take it to a dealer who may have some political interest in declaring your vehicle "fine" because it has no specific fault yet.

Dealers have been known to declare a vehicle fine even if an owner brings it in for a specific new problem like engine noise. "It's normal" is too commonly used, even if the vehicle has a known fault but they don't have authorization or parts to fix it. Very dirty business, those dealer shops.

Try Angie's list or whatever local review resources you have in your area to find a highly rated, non-dealer shop. Call and ask them specifically if they have an Acura or Honda tech.
 
I've been hearing a lot of bad things about new Acura's lately. Probably just coincidence but I would have normally considered them a top brand for reliability.
 
I thought every new car had fail safe cooling? My 02 F150 had it, and my 14 F150 has it as well. I assumed this was a standard feature on all new cars.
 
mindless1 said:
^ That is specifically what I would not do, not take it to a dealer who may have some political interest in declaring your vehicle "fine" because it has no specific fault yet.

Dealers have been known to declare a vehicle fine even if an owner brings it in for a specific new problem like engine noise. "It's normal" is too commonly used, even if the vehicle has a known fault but they don't have authorization or parts to fix it. Very dirty business, those dealer shops.

Try Angie's list or whatever local review resources you have in your area to find a highly rated, non-dealer shop. Call and ask them specifically if they have an Acura or Honda tech.
Click to expand...
It might be worth bringing it to a dealer since it should be covered under some sort of warranty with it being so new. Yeah, the dealer may try to push you around, but push back and don't leave until the problem is fixed.
 
^ I do think that any damage arising should be covered under a warranty and work done by a dealer, but that it may take an unbiased 3rd party to determine whether there is anything worthy of pursuing.

Say for example that the engine has significant oil sludge now. If it runs okay a dealer is probably just going to state nothing is wrong and won't be able to get authorization to replace the engine.

There's the rub, would mechanical stress or oil sludge just cause accelerated wear, so the engine still runs past the warranty period but has a reduced lifespan.

In the same vein, would you want to buy a used vehicle with 40K mi on it, where the owner never changed the oil? It may run fine still at that point.
 
Greenman said:
I thought every new car had fail safe cooling? My 02 F150 had it, and my 14 F150 has it as well. I assumed this was a standard feature on all new cars.
Click to expand...

do you mean a fail open thermostat? old ones sometimes failed closed. new ones are fail open.

"fail safe cooling"?

position of thermostat does not matter if the car pumps all the coolant out the heater hose. heater is usually a bypass circuit around the thermostat anyway.
 
herm0016 said:
do you mean a fail open thermostat? old ones sometimes failed closed. new ones are fail open.

"fail safe cooling"?

position of thermostat does not matter if the car pumps all the coolant out the heater hose. heater is usually a bypass circuit around the thermostat anyway.
Click to expand...

Ford's Failsafe Cooling system goes beyond that. It's a feature of some of their lines (like their gas pickups) where if really high temperatures or high coolant temps are experienced, the engine goes into "limp mode", where the vehicle alternates which half of the cylinders fire, while the other half pump air to cool itself. This is a very low power state, and the engine runs like crap, but in this mode it can essentially run as an air cooled engine. You can still damage the engine of course, but you get a lot more wiggle room to limp yourself to wherever you were trying to get to.

It is not a feature pervasive in the automotive industry. Lots of vehicles out three will still drive right into catastrophic damage in the event of high temps or coolant loss.
 
The first dealership has nothing to lose by not taking care of their customer. It's obviously a factory defect and the factory (warranty) will pay for anything and everything related to this defect. Don't waste your time searching for problems. The defect has been noted and should there be any problem in the future, you have a record of what happened.
 
herm0016 said:
do you mean a fail open thermostat? old ones sometimes failed closed. new ones are fail open.

"fail safe cooling"?

position of thermostat does not matter if the car pumps all the coolant out the heater hose. heater is usually a bypass circuit around the thermostat anyway.
Click to expand...
Fail safe, as in will run for fifty miles without a drop of coolant in it. The engine fires every other cycle, and the computer sets the AFR rich. Turning the V8 into a poor running 4 cylinder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top