Massive Overheating Incident

[ntron1]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

Hope the car is back in working order soon!

On a side note, what the hell do they make the cones out of in CA? Titanium?

Or it could be the balsa wood used for the front grille

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by ntron1

Or it could be the balsa wood used for the front grille

Hey, need to save weight, right?

Kidding aside, a cone puncturing the grille and still having enough force to puncture the radiator too is pretty shocking.

[Accurate Race Shop]

Originally Posted by mitosis

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better
How did you do that pressure test? I've used the kind before where it's like a pump that attaches in place of the radiator cap and has a pressure gauge on it so you just look to see if the pressure drops after pumping it up. It's been a long time since I used one though, so I don't know if that's still considered the right tool for the job or if there's a better way to do it now. If that is the right tool then what pressure should I pump it to and how long should I let it hold at that pressure?

I did a cylinder pressure test on the block to make sure that the head gaskets are not leaking. Unfortunately Subaru does not have a great history with head gaskets and I just had to change them in my Legacy. But the pressure test will tell you if you blew the head gasket or warped a head as it will leak.

[insertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Accurate Race Shop

I did a cylinder pressure test on the block to make sure that the head gaskets are not leaking. Unfortunately Subaru does not have a great history with head gaskets and I just had to change them in my Legacy. But the pressure test will tell you if you blew the head gasket or warped a head as it will leak.

Given that you need to lift the engine to change the spark plugs on a BRZ/FR-S (by the manual), would it be practical to do a pressure test?

[Accurate Race Shop]

Originally Posted by insertnamehere

Given that you need to lift the engine to change the spark plugs on a BRZ/FR-S (by the manual), would it be practical to do a pressure test?

Most shops will do them for cheap or free because if your head gasket is blown you are going to spend a bunch of money. I didn't pay anything for mine and it only took a couple hours. It's a way better idea to get it tested than to drive it with a leaking head gasket.

[smbstyle]

250 oil temp is nothing, Im in the 280's on track with a great OUA afterwards.

However, with that being said, 240+ water temp is high; highest water temp I've ever seen was 217 I think on track in July - even under track conditions my water temp is around 207-212. Better get it checked out just to be safe.

[Mikem53]

Originally Posted by humfrz

hmmmm.......that's too bad .....

I figure that if, after the radiator is replaced, the system holds coolant without leaking and doesn't overheat ..... you may be good to go.

Heck, back in the day, cars overheated lots of times .... and some duct tape and water from a creek fixed them up just fine .... till ya got a new hose.....

humfrz

Ah.. The good ole days... But they didn't have aluminum heads that are easy to warp when things overheat..
But in this case... Sounds like the OP will be fine.. Nothing seemed too excessive..

[lickitysplit]

Originally Posted by Mikem53

Ah.. The good ole days... But they didn't have aluminum heads that are easy to warp when things overheat..
But in this case... Sounds like the OP will be fine.. Nothing seemed too excessive..

Was going to say the same thing, this is an all aluminum block, not cast iron. But like everyone else is saying the only thing you can do now is repair the damage, get the car running again and see what happens.

[King Tut]

If you lost all the water then that temp sensor was probably reading air temp and not water temp at that point. When I lost a radiator hose on my SpecE30 and didn't realize it till I was down on power on the straight away, I managed to damage the rings and compression in the back two cylinders. That is why I now have my oil pressure idiot light installed in my water jacket so if I lose water pressure I will know immediately and shut her down. My advice would be to do a compression and leak down test prior to pulling things apart, but if you lost all the water and ran the car for 8 minutes you have probably damaged things in the motor.

[celica73]

Even if the engine is toast, this should be covered by your auto insurance. Road debris damaged the car, you drove it to a safe place and it didn't survive. This shouldn't be your bill to pay (except the deductible). Document everything.

[mitosis]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

248F for coolant is hot enough to warp the heads/block for extended time periods. Did you boil the coolant or did it all leak out?

I think it all pretty much dumped out immediately, by the time I stopped there was maybe a half gallon left that continued to leak out onto the ground.

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

what the hell do they make the cones out of in CA? Titanium?

Actually they're made from recycled surf boards, hemp, and organic tomatoes... with an unobtanium base.

Originally Posted by Accurate Race Shop

I did a cylinder pressure test on the block to make sure that the head gaskets are not leaking. Unfortunately Subaru does not have a great history with head gaskets and I just had to change them in my Legacy. But the pressure test will tell you if you blew the head gasket or warped a head as it will leak.

Originally Posted by King Tut

My advice would be to do a compression and leak down test prior to pulling things apart, but if you lost all the water and ran the car for 8 minutes you have probably damaged things in the motor.

The dealer has been given the go-ahead from the insurance company to start repairs as of yesterday, so I went over there to talk to the service manager in the afternoon and he said the parts for what they could see in their preliminary inspection were already ordered and would be there today.

I pointed out the notoriety of Subaru head gaskets and asked him about doing a compression and leak-down test and he said that first they've got to get the coolant system repaired so they can drive the car and evaluate it further. He said they'd be able to check the ECU to see what kind of temperatures were present for how long and at what speed I was travelling and that they'd be able to tell if there was any heat damage from that. He also said that the ECU will throw an error code if there are compression problems so they'll know more after driving the car for a while and seeing if it has any drivability issues or error codes.

The service manager who's taking care of me is a really nice guy and he completely understands my desire to be as thorough as possible and he even said something like "yeah it's a brand-new car, so you shouldn't have to even miss a beat" and seemed to be on board with the whole concept of it being a sports car that should be able to handle being driven like a sports car and not have to worry about any future problems because of some stupid flying cone.

He said if there are any issues that crop up down the road that he'd be able to help me prove to the insurance company that the issues were caused by this incident so I would be able to re-open the claim and have the further repairs covered by this insurance claim.

With any luck everything will check out OK and I'll be getting my car back this afternoon. Then I've just gotta get it over to my body shop for a new bumper, grill, and bottom dust cover.

[Muskokan]

BRZ grilles are uglier, but i hope they protect better!