capndar

How long can a 944 run without coolant?...yes, I know, until it stops running....rather, how long can you run it without coolant without damaging the engine. Or even more importantly - how can you tell if there was significant damage?<p> I experienced a coolant loss yesterday evening after a collision - I didn't note the high temp gauge immediately, but when I did , I pulled over...engine was running fine when shut down. How can I make sure the engine wasn't damaged badly so that 3 months down the road I am fixing the engine rather than my insurance co. helping me out.

Dave951M

You're probably ok if you didn't go far or let it get too high and keep on driving. But that depends on how high it got. How high would you say it got on the gauge and when did you shut it off?

sharky47

I would be more worried about the waterpump being damaged and if it seizes up, there goes your timing belt!

kinda5150

i second the head, but aluminum is pretty forgiving so you may be ok.

jc22

Plus, you're not getting an accurate reading on the temp. gauge when there is no coolant. The temp. gauge shows the coolant temp. and if you don't have any coolant.... well you know.

Only way I know to check is to pull it apart.

My mom drove home 40 miles after killing a deer and never stopping. That was 5 years ago and it still runs like a champ. Of course it's a Toyota, but it is possible that there was no real damage.

ERAU-944

possible(even most likely) that there's no damage to the head (i think its cyl. head temp rather than coolant, and that the coolant temp switch controls the fans), but i'd keep a hawk-eye on that water pump.

-Michael-

Mike C.

Usually, a car that is doing serious overheating will smell unusual - like burning rubber/oil/anti freeze smell/etc. If this wasn't the case and it sounded normal when you shut down, it's probably fine.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

I know of a 951 that went 1 mile, (2 minutes, tops) nearly at idle, after a hose broke. The headgasket was toasted. The car was running hard on-track when it popped. The design of our engines with the water jacket surrounding the cyl walls 360 degrees makes them extremely prone to damage when the coolant is no longer present. Great advice is if you see white smoke (steam) behind you, shut it off IMMEDIATELY!

Fishey

Another small advantage of the S2 block (better Water jacket design)

Peckster

What happened in the collision? Was the front of your car damaged?

How much of your coolant is missing? There can still be a lot in the system when the overflow is empty.

I'd be concerned about possible damage to the rings and cylinder walls, if they got hot enough for the oil to lose effectiveness.

capndar

The collision damaged the right front, hit hard and appears to have moved the radiator to be able to pop off the hose....and dump the coolant...it ran for no more than 2 minutes...in its favor(?) the head has already been re done using the different studs(?) So is there a way to tell other than a tear down? Should I insist on a new water pump?

judd944

If you turn in engine damage to the insurance Co. you will lose the car you just got. totaled. I think you should be fine. I blew my HG on my 86 2 years ago driving for 30 min kind of fast after loosing my coolant. (expensive mistake)

ERAU-944

yeah only two minutes, you're good to go. just fix it up and you'll be fine.

-Michael-

Peckster

If the other guy's insurance is paying, just take it to the best shop you can find and tell them to make sure everything's fixed.

Two minutes isn't very long.

Red1

I hesitate to tell the story because it reveals just how much of a dim bulb I was at one time, but here goes:

Just after I bought my 85.5, I was on the other side of town when I came out of a shop to see a big puddle of coolant under the car. I wasn't sure of what failed, but knew it came from my car. I'd just bought it like two days before.

I figure I have to get it home to fix it, so I get in and take off. It's late July in Houston. It was something like 97 degrees, and I'm in stop-and-go rush hour traffic. As I'm driving the temp gauge tickles the red zone, and the "!" light flickers a bit. I drove almost 25 miles back to my father-in-law's house. I get there and of course all traces of coolant are long gone. A radiator hose had a hole in it.

We replaced the hose and refilled the coolant. I drove it back to my house and changed the oil. The very first thing I'd done when I bought it was do an oil change with Mobil 1, so the oil had been fresh. I put over 35K miles on that car after that with no incidents whatsoever. The next owner didn't have any problems either. The owner after that yanked the motor to do a V8 conversion.

I've been a big believer in Mobil 1 ever since. I'm not saying my luck was typical, but strange things happen sometimes. By all rights the head should have been warped like a pretzel.