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Oh shiznit - there is no fluid in my radiator, and I drove it around........

Ryan

Ryan

Lifer
I deliver pizzas as a part time job. Tonight, I came back from a delivery, and there was a trail of some water by tire. I didn't think anything of it since it rained all day yesterday, so I just thought I drove through a puddle. Well, I went on my next delivery, drove about two miles, then noticed that my temp guage was all the way up. I pulled over at a gas station, opened up my radiator cap with my hand (it wasn't hot), and there was no visible fluid in my radiator. I asked the manager of the store if I could leave it parked behind her store for the night, and she said I could.

Do you think I could have caused any damage to the engine? :disgust:

BTW - it's an 89 Maxima.

 
Sounds like you noticed it right away so you probably only added the equivalent of a couple hundred miles wear to the engine.
 
Originally posted by: PipBoy
Sounds like you noticed it right away so you probably only added the equivalent of a couple hundred miles wear to the engine.
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ONLY! 🙁
 
Originally posted by: rbloedow
...opened up my radiator cap with my hand...
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NEVER, EVER, EVER DO THAT!

Had the radiator still been 1/2 full, the cap still may have been cool, but the water in there is superheated and compressed. It will squirt out of there as if you were sprayed with a hose, only the water will be over 200 degrees. it CAN and WILL burn the skin off your face.
 
Originally posted by: RossMAN
So how's your 95 Honda Civic hunt going so far?
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Not good, I drove it, and something was seriously wrong with that car (bumper cracked, the trunk panels didn't line up correctly, etc) :Q

Then, a few days ago I test drove a '96 Honda Accord EX coupe that wasn't that bad, but something didn't feel right about it. It just didn't feel like it was accelerating like it should - not to mention that the dealership was trying to rip me off (they had an add in the paper for $7500, and they were telling me $8500).

So, as of know, I'm just looking for a honda that has been well taken care of 😉
 
Originally posted by: notfred
Originally posted by: rbloedow
...opened up my radiator cap with my hand...
Click to expand...

NEVER, EVER, EVER DO THAT!

Had the radiator still been 1/2 full, the cap still may have been cool, but the water in there is superheated and compressed. It will squirt out of there as if you were sprayed with a hose, only the water will be over 200 degrees. it CAN and WILL burn the skin off your face.
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what he said, trust me it isnt fun
 
That same thing happened to me over the summer, doing the exact same job. I took a delivery up to some person's apartment building and when I came back, there was this green trail of liquid running from my car a few feet away from the car. I was like, "Uh oh."

Then there was the day that I killed two cars... That was bad. My alternator died in the morning and my mom brought my brother's car over and I drove that around for a bit. Later that evening, his battery died (it was about to go, anyway, it just happened to be me that was driving it at the time). My dad brought his car over after that, but when I went back to the store in his car while he waited for the tow truck to come jump my brother's car, I just told them that I was tired of working for the day and wanted to leave. After killing two cars, they didn't have a problem with that. Hehehe.
 
Dang.... that sucks. I hope that you didn't crack your block. And what notfred said. That is super super dangerous to open the radiator up.....One day you are gonna see.......
 
Originally posted by: SuperCommando
That same thing happened to me over the summer, doing the exact same job. I took a delivery up to some person's apartment building and when I came back, there was this green trail of liquid running from my car a few feet away from the car. I was like, "Uh oh." Then there was the day that I killed two cars... That was bad. My alternator died in the morning and my mom brought my brother's car over and I drove that around for a bit. Later that evening, his battery died (it was about to go, anyway, it just happened to be me that was driving it at the time). My dad brought his car over after that, but when I went back to the store in his car while he waited for the tow truck to come jump my brother's car, I just told them that I was tired of working for the day and wanted to leave. After killing two cars, they didn't have a problem with that. Hehehe.
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Delivering pizzas definitly has it's downsides 🙁 I just wrote my boss a letter that I'll just have to make pizzas until I can get it fixed (I am the most trained person in out store - I can do anything better than everyone else (seriously)) 😉 🙁
 
My dad did exactly what notfred did and wound up burning half his forehead off.

Naturally I said "Dad, what were you thinking?"

I was 7 at the time.

-PAB
 
You'll know if you cracked your block if the car runs a lot hotter and there could be liquid leaking under your car (after you check your lower radiator hose to see if it is the culprit for your leaking fluid.)
 
Originally posted by: rbloedow
How woudl I know if I cracked the block?
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OIl leaking through the side of the motor, coolant leaking through the side of the motor, oil in the coolant or vice versa, loss of compression, stuff like that...
 
I'm going to fill it up wiht some cheap antifreeze tomorrow, and then drive it to the Nissan Dealership (I was just their today getting my tires aligned :| ) I'm just hopeing that I won't have to replace the radiator 🙁 Well, good night - I need to cry a little about my car 🙁
 
Originally posted by: rbloedow
I'm going to fill it up wiht some cheap antifreeze tomorrow, and then drive it to the Nissan Dealership (I was just their today getting my tires aligned :| ) I'm just hopeing that I won't have to replace the radiator 🙁 Well, good night - I need to cry a little about my car 🙁
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half water, half antifreeze.

Oh, and you're more likely to need to replace the water pump than the radiator. And you're more likely to have blown a head gasket than cracked the block.
 
open teh oil filler cap and see if you got any white goop on the oil filler cap. If so you have blown a head gasket or head. If your loosing coolant it could be due to several reasons.. anyway I hope you didnt blow the head gasket due to overheating.

Those older maxima's have a tendency of going bad really fast after an overheat.
 
Don't sweat it, you didn't crack your block.
You more likely blew a head gasket 😉

Here's what you do ;

(1)Fill the vehicle with a mixture of 50/50 antifreeze and water.

(2)Start vehicle and immediately look for leaks.

(3)If it does not leak immediately, carefully drive home.(If it starts overheating again,stop before it hits the red mark and let it cool down)

(4)Check your oil, if it looks like a chocolate milk shake you either have a blown headgasket or cracked cyclinder head.
Also look for steam coming from your tail pipe, this is also an indication of a blown headgasket.

PM me if you have any additional questions.
 
The exact same thing happened to me this summer. It happened in the middle of Helsinki (the Finnish capital), what fun!
My car is toyota corolla 96, and it has some electronics that stop the engine when it overheats, so no major damage was done.
The engine stopped when the temperature was only little bit over 2/3 of the scale. All of the coolant had leaked out before
it stopped though.
After the engine had cooled some, I put some water in the radiator. Started the car, and the water flew some 2 or 3 yards from
a quite big hole in the radiator. I had driven some 100 miles coming to Helsinki and I guess some rock had hit the radiator
and it emptied in the city.
I quess I was quite lucky that the only thing that had to be replaced was the radiator (and the insurance paid the towing
to the shop).
 
Roger covered it nicely. One thing you can do is check your oil before driving around, if its milky shake shake, you got problems. How bad depends....

Also, you can remove the radiator cap when its hot, just put a rag or towel over it. Its what i do, and GENTLY remove it. Now, honestly, you SHOULD let it cool down, but I'm an impatient kinda guy....

However!! AND THIS IS IMPORTANT! If you do remove the cap and decide to add water to your overhated engine...DO NOT USE COLD WATER! If you use cold water, soon as it works into the block theres a very good chance you'll seize the block up (block shrinks right onto the piston....)

Yes, it has happened before.....No, dont ask......
 
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