Well my water pump finally died yesterday on my 99 C2 (been delaying the inevitable) while driving on the freeway. I couldn't pull over on the shoulder immediately and the temperature rose to 250 degrees and flashed for just a minute or two. Just wondering, should I be concerned about permanent engine damage due to the heat?

 

Depends. If you did not lose coolant, chances are that there was no damage as 250F coolant is not dangerous to engine componants. If you also lost coolant, then the odds of damage go up as you may have left vital parts of the engine dry, which means the temperature in that area may have exceeded safe levels.

My guess is you will be perfectly fine. Just throw in a new pump and be on your way.

 

My belt tensioner roller failed over the summer and my car overheated badly just like yours. I limped to the side of the road. I had the same concerns. My water pump failed a couple months after, not sure if it's related. That was the only thing that happened. I recently did a 0-60 blast in 4.6 seconds with the passenger seat out so I think I am still running strong as ever. The new water pump seems to keep the car slightly cooler as well. Could have something to do with new coolant too.

However I would probably get the oil changed sooner since you may have cooked it a little. Check the color when you check the oil level to see if it's more black than usual. This was my experience and your results may be different.

 

in my '02 Boxster.

Hit some road debris -- 'detroit alligator' -- and busted driver's side radiator.

This while driving around 65mph down dark and lonely highway 50 just west of Strong City KS.

Coolant ran out of broken radiator connection (at bottom of radiator).

At first, immediately after hitting debris, no signs of distress. No oil pressure, water temperature lights on.

After a moment checked rear view mirror. Noticed a cloud of what was coolant/water vapor behind car.

Starting looking for a shoulder to pull over onto when coolant light came on, then started flashing.

Pushed in clutch. Shifted to neutral and left car coast maybe quarter of mile until almost stopped. On this highway, this time of night, no traffic.

Pulled over and wished I had a cell phone with me.

Anyhow, finally managed to get car into Wichita Ks Porsche service department (next morning) and after new radiator, some brackets, and a fresh fill of coolant/water, engine no worse for wear.

I let engine idle and coast to help remove as much heat from engine's internals as could be removed with steadily dropping coolant level.

As soon as pulled over I shut engine off.

Only started it next morning when I drove it across street -- where flat bed tow truck operator had dropped it off on gas station's parking lot -- from dealership into service area: Total engine running time sans coolant: less than 30 seconds.

One thing you want to be sure of is that cooling system properly refilled/charged with coolant. This Porsche service used reservior that mounted to coolant reservior and allowed tech to pull a vacuum in engine cooling system: Enough so that coolant hosed collapsed.

Then tech closed vacuum valve and opened valve that allowed coolant to be pulled into cooling system.

Nice. No air bubbles. No voids in cooling system.

When I picked up car later that day, I drove it around in town to check for any signs of overheating: This in KS just after July 4th holiday, it was hot!

No overheating.

Hit the road back to CA and made it back safe and sound. Since then, and the accident happened a year ago *last* July, car has been in some very hot ambient temperatures and coolant temperature has been under control.

Engine shows no signs of any ill-effects from losing coolant, but I like to think my prompt action to help engine shed heat load immediately after radiator busted is part of the reason.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Uh oh.... I did lose coolant, after I pulled over, a pool of it well up beneath the car. Scared the $#^%! out of me as I thought it was oil. Funny thing is, the low oil light flashed instead of the coolant light- really thought I had a blown engine. I'm waiting to hear from the techs. Any guesstimates of what specific parts might have been damaged?

 

After it's fixed,you should put a 3rd radiator,It will run much cooler.

 

probaly just a water pump, ive seen a lot fail and people drive them in and never had to replace an engiine over a water pump yet. You have to over heat it pretty bad to hirt anything

 

Just replaced my water pump/thermostat last week. Drove 15 miles to home, no problem. Driving this morning, spirited 85 mph and the lower hose let go. Toasted the coolant, temp to 250 by the time I had a chance to stop on the highway. Cooked the oil, but seems after flushing the system, little to no damage. Should I have any additional diagnostics to verify before driving much more?

 

Probably not unless you have a 2000-2001 which have thin cast heads & most likely would have cracked. Watch your oil & coolant levels every time you drive it. Thanks for searching!