924Board.org

[cathy]

Commiserate with me please.

I was coming home up Route 81 from the shopping megaplex. $300 worth of groceries and a new chainsaw in the hatch. Suddenly, I see white billowing smoke? steam? behind my car... then I see my temp gauge is in the red. I pull over fast. I let the car cool down. I note no leakage from radiator or hoses connected thereto. I open up radiator too soon and get hot antifreeze all over my hand. I wait some more, my husband walks up a nasty hill to find a house, brings back two gallons of water. Puts in about 3/4 gallon to replace antifreeze that came out when I opened it too soon. Start driving again, heater on full blast. Go about two miles, it starts to overheat again. Pulled over, husband hikes over hill and dale to find a phone. Gets a flatbed (by the way, AAA Plus is a godsend). Call a friend to come get us and our groceries.

So now my baby is at my trusted mechanic's place. I talked to him this morning, he is going to find out what is wrong. I am on needles and pins. He said "head gasket" briefly. I was thinking thermostat or water pump. Any possibilities spring to mind about this? Anyone ever have this experience? I am so sad and miserable. I love my car so much it's probably unhealthy... even my husband thinks I'm bizarre when it comes to my car. I have been a crying idiot since Saturday.

Anyhow, just wanted to vent. Maybe here because I think some of you guys might feel the same way I do about my car. (It's really making me upset because I have been saving up for interior and paint work... and I guess I kind of know that's not going to get done anytime soon).

I trust my mechanic, by the way. He is honest and does great work. He always keeps my car inside at night, and lets me bring him parts (instead of finding them and charging me exorbitant amounts for the service). Even his labor isn't too much (by the way, he's Donnie at Allen's Garage in New Milford, PA... in case you're ever in the neighborhood and need work done).

Alright... I'm done ranting. I would love to hear some feedback. Hope all your cars are running good. And if things really are terribly wrong with my car and it's a goner: it's an 82 924 and I have put a lot of money into it. I'll let you know if I now have a parts car (or if I am being a freakish, over-reacting girlie about the whole thing).

[Rick MacLaren]

Head gasket sounds possible.

After the pain is over, try getting a low temp thermostat and thermofan switch. Then check all your wiring and check any grounds and insulate your power line from the battery to starter and all hot wiring.

[AppleBit]

Cathy,

it does sound like a head gasket. It is only $50 to replace, but the labor to take the head off does cost a little bit.

I have my head off my Porsche right now. To do it yourself and never done it before I still think it is okey to do- about 5 hours worth of work. I do it in about 2 hours.

I would recommend this Cathy. I love my Porsche and treasure it greatly. I found the best way to keep the engine cool for a small amount of money is to go to your local auto-parts store and pick up an electronic cooling fan for the radiator. I bought a 14" for my car and I just picked one up for my dad's MG B yesterday. It costs almost $100 but the difference in size of the fan is incredible. The $100 fan is 2 inches thick and does all the work of both fans-- actually it does the work of about 5 or 6 fans! I have felt on a non-breezy day the air blowing all the way to the back of the car!

This is one of the most incredible changes to the cooling system you can do. There are too many benefits to not go with this...

Now, you think you might do this?


_________________
Classic British Sports Car Restoration v6 + v8 Engine Conversion Swaps

Porsche 924 Wide Body LS1 Corvette 500 Horsepower Engine

[924RACR]

Sure could be a headgasket. There certainly are few other things that can cause a sudden and catastrophic overheat like that. The one other would be a flung waterpump/alternator belt, but then the battery charge light comes on immediately before the temp climbs... ask me how I know! LOL

Look on the bright side, you didn't spend $300+ on race entry fees and accomodations and crew food, tow the car across the state, and drag in friends and family to watch you fling the belt and overheat 5 turns into the first lap of a 20 lap race so you can drive it in and park it, and recieve no credit for racing and a DNF.

Things could be worse

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[eturbo924]

Cathy So what is the latest? Definately sounds like head gasket. Nothing else would make the car do everything that you noted. Overheat and steam coming out of exhaust. Of course you need to determine if there was some thing else that caused the head gasket to fail. Warped head, bad water pump, clocked lines not cooling the head properly....

Good luck

Eric

[Smoothie]

I had an overheating problem a few years ago. In my case it was a gone water pump. Besides the high reading temp gauge and volumes of white smoke coming from the engine compartment, another clue was signs of leakage from a small hole that you should find on front of the water pump below the bearing area. Not wanting to replace my water pump in the parking lot next to Dunkin Donuts, I just let it cool down real good, filled it up with water and was able to drive and just make it the 1.25 miles home. This was smoke only from the engine compartment - if you have smoke from the tailpipe, it's likely the head gasket.

[wdb]

the 924 requires retorqueing of the head every 5000 miles, if your mechanic has not disasembled it yet ask him to torque the head bolts ,do a compression test and if the engine holds the compression, take it for a drive and see if it was just the head gasket leaking and the piston drawing in water and draining you radiator.

[924RACR]

Also consider that a previous overheating can make the head gasket weak and susceptible to blowing. BTDT.

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[teo]

Hey electro-guys,

is there a way to wire-up a warning light when the temp reaches the bottom of the red section? I know the temp gauge should provide this information, but you don't keep looking at it unless you know you have some problem, and with a big red light coming on in time, it would help to prevent doing more damage.

[Smoothie]

Vaughan - I can usually figure out the abbreviations on these forums, but; you got me this time, buddy. If you don't mind, what's BTDT?

[wdb]

Been There Done That.

[wdb]

[Smoothie]

Thanks - I was way off, thinking maybe "Build-Torque-Drive-Torque".

[Roger Hall]

has to be the head gasket retourqing might fix the problem but on a 20 year old engine i would just have it replaced i know i need to check the headbolts but on the 82 haynes says to do it every 30k

[Richard]

Cathy, the only mistake you made is not having your husband open up the radiator and get burned. It is the males solomn duty to receive pain at the whim of our autos. Head gaskets do just let go sometimes, but I would also ask these questions if it turns out that is the cause. 1) Is the engine running to hot (where does the temp. gauge sit)? 2) Is the ignition timing too advanced or retarded? 3) Was the head perodically checked for correct torque of head bolts? 4) Are you running the wrong grade of gas 5) I may have missed it, but is this a Turbo? If so, they have their own share of problems.6) I'm sure your mechanic knows this, but it is important to make sure the head has not warped due to excess heat. If so, only bring it to a head repair shop that oven relaxes and then straightens the head. Do not have it "milled down" on some barbaric head cutting table. This could raise compression ratio to a point that even high octane gas will not work, meaning you'll have to retatrd the ignition and lose power.7) Use this opportunity to check your valve guides, valve seals and valve seats for wear. Also clean out the tube that delievers oil to the cam and have your mechanic replace the little plastic elbow that connect the tube to the head. If this elbow ever breaks, no oil to cam and more problems. Keep us posted.