How bad will the damage be?

hairchopper1, Sep 7, 3:45am
Step son damaged the bottom of radiator, lost water and drove 7kms till car konked out. Car turns over but won't start. How bad do you think damage will be? Cheap old car so not really worth spending much on.

tatts2, Sep 7, 3:48am
Red cars cost more.

tamarillo, Sep 7, 3:57am
Translation . What kind of car, some may be more susceptible than others.

hairchopper1, Sep 7, 3:59am
91 Honda concerto

franc123, Sep 7, 4:03am
Doesn't matter what it is, if you are stupid enough to drive something long enough with a bad coolant leak to the point where its lost enough compression to not run then its not gong to be a cheap fix. A badly blown head gasket would be the absolute best you could hope for but the head is probably bent or gone soft too. New car accompanied by an injection of common sense time.
Edit; It'll be dead.

tgray, Sep 7, 4:07am
Come on, he's just a kid and didn't know better. Not all people are car people.
Just get it check out and don't be too hard on the boy.

hairchopper1, Sep 7, 4:11am
So, probably warped head if it's turning over but not starting aye? If it was a head gasket would it probably fire? Yes, common sense was missing that day.

m16d, Sep 7, 4:32am
If he drove it til it stopped,then it's probably rooted.

ml6989, Sep 7, 5:56am
I would suggest that it has "come to the end of it's economic life".

lusty9, Sep 7, 6:01am
Hard lesson learned, usually the temperature gauge fluctuates as the engine overheats telling the driver 'Hey I'm desperately hot! Then if the driver doesn't take the hint - The car gives up which its saying 'Dummy I'm dead!

intrade, Sep 7, 6:01am
I am with poster 9 the engine sure seems to anyhow

mrfxit, Sep 7, 6:01am
You "MIGHT" be lucky . or not.

Either way, it's going to have a very good chance of having a very limited life span if you can get it going ok again with out any mechanical repairs done.

Most engines HATE being overheated & the later the model, the more they hate it.

kazbanz, Sep 7, 3:04pm
I would be very VERY surprised if that engine isn't totally goosed.
So think $1000 plus engine plus fixing the original issue that caused the leak

fordcrzy, Sep 8, 12:55am
i find it really amazing that they have beepers to tell you your lights are on or your door is open or you are indicating BUT no warning beeper to tell you your oil pressure is gone or your engine is about to go thermo nuclear.

mrfxit, Sep 8, 5:47am
It does happen . >
mate from long ago cooked his 186 holden so bad that it burnt the paint off the head.
New head gasket later & it was fine again till he sold it a few years later
Same dude (yea not too bright or lucky) cooked his Marina a few years later to about the same stage as the Holden.
Same repair & it was fine for the next 3 years that I knew of him owning it.

I modestly overheated my 105 Angila many years ago . >> it was poked

sw20, Sep 9, 2:33am
You would hope the needle firmly above the red would give it away as you glanced at your dash every few moments.

2sheddies, Sep 9, 5:28am
Amazing how many people hardly, if ever look at the dash lights/instruments, or understand how to interpret them.

alfred011, Sep 9, 5:51am
If it ground to a stop, motor heat seized pistons and rings will be damaged beyond repair ,temp guage wont work when there is no water around the sender unit .

hondalova, Sep 9, 6:08am
i cooked a 2litre engine in my old skyline, to the point where it heat seised, let it cool then filled with water and drove another 15minutes until it got hot again. replaced the radiator (top tank split which caused the overheating)ran fine the whole time i had it. covered about 7000km with no issue, apart from cooking the valve stem seals. gave it death every day i drove it.

richardmayes, Sep 9, 6:22am
I drove my 2.5 PI down the southern motorway with the temp gauge a little higher than usual. Over the Bombay hill no problem, got all the way through to Gordonton and then temp gauge suddenly went thru the roof and steam blew up everywhere.

Went to get water from the farmer, filled her back up, (she took a LOT of water, must have boiled completely dry!) removed the thermostat, then started up and carried on my way just fine.

Thermostat turned out to be completely dead, but apparently the Triumph engine block is its own natural heat sink good enough for up to 100km/h driving in the cool of the evening, no radiator required.

But apparently these new-fangled aluminium alloy engines are "better". ?!?

piperguy, Jul 13, 9:06pm
I am sure my mate with a 3 series Beemer had his water pump die and when the car sensed it was overheating it shut down on him before it could cook. Or so he told me.