X-VWGLX

I changed coolant the other day. either i grossle underfilled it or a piece of crud blocked the thermostat, but the H20 guage went up to the red mark, and probably stayed there for a couple minutes before i noticed it. i got out, popped the hood, and felt the top hose and radiator. both cold. after the car stated to cool down (20 min later) i heard all the air and fluid swishing around in the engine, and it sucked the overflow tank empty. i have topped it off since then.
Question : do you think any permanent damage could have occured. runs "fine" now. i use Mobil 1 and no warning lights went off (i dont think the WRX has one)

RoadSpike

More than likely no.

Check your oil. Is it black yet?

It worries me that your radiator was cold. It almost sounds like a blocked thermostat. Under filled or not it should have been pretty hot if it was boiling. I suppose its not the case since its running fine now.

I would think if your not running the engine hard at high temps it should be ok for a few minutes of high temps. At the point it would have done damage i've seen other cars start to idle rough before real damage occurs.

BlingBlingBlue

If you're vehicle is running fine now, more than likely no catastrophic damage was done. Check for signs of a blown head gasket - ie, it the engine oil foamy, are you blowing smoke out the tail pipe?

No idea why the radiator would be cold, unless the thermostat was malfunctioning.

meilers

I've actually had this same problem! I drained and refilled my coolant, carefully not allowing air into the radiator and "burping" the excess air out. However, for no good reason, the thermostat would not unlock and refused to do so for several minutes. After idling the car in the driveway for a few minutes, I turned it off and let it sit... A few minutes later I started it again, and heard the "woosh" as the coolant drained out of the resevoir and filled the radiator, and everything was fine.

As for whether you damaged your engine, it's not that likely; you've got an aluminum block, it sheds heat faster than steel. I used to have an old beater station wagon that I coaxed through the Colorado mountains, and it "blew its top" (overheated and vented steam out of the radiator) about five times a day for the entire six-day trip; it went on to live another 40,000 miles after that (as a pizza delivery vehicle, I believe). Obviously the first fail point in a seriously overheated engine would be your gaskets (cam and head) and tubing (anything not metal) and then injectors, piston rings and heads.

thebankman

iTrader: (7)

When I swapped out the coolant hoses on my car for silicone, a lot of the coolant drained out and was refilled. I topped off the fluid in the reservoir and started the vehicle for a few minutes. I drove about a mile and the temp guage went up like you experienced. I parked the vehicle for several minutes and allowed the engine to cool down. I drove back to my home going very slowly, topped off the reservoir again as it had used much coolant, and allowed the engine to idle for a long time. After a year there are no problems, engine is very strong, and the cooling system uses a modest amount of coolant every six months.

X-VWGLX

thanks for the encouraging words. i think the block probably is fine, but unfortunately I (sir dumbass) was spooling the turbo during said incident. i think as long as the oil didnt get overheated, the turbo should be good too, but a little coking may have occured. Mobil1 dont fail me now...

RoadSpike

Just dump your oil if you think you've cooked it and replace.

If anything you've just worn out your oil more than normal.

bpang1

iTrader: (25)

I'm reviving this thread to throw in something that we should ALL KNOW about changing your radiator fluid.

Basically, the service manual backs me up on this, the mo fo fluid in the colling system in our cars is not as easy as regular cars to change. What you have to do is empty as much as you can...you gotta wait a lot longer than normal...then fill it as much as you can...then run the car for about 5 minutes to build pressure...then let it cool off...then you open the radiator cap (must be cool) and fill it again as it will have dropped a lot because the stuff that you thought was topped off was pushed to the bottom and the air was forced to the top.

You may have to repeat all that once or twice to fully fill the sucker.

X-VWGLX

it has been a year now. i have been to the track 4 times and added a Cobb Stage 1 power package. the engine hasnt blown up.....yet. i would caution everyone changing fluid to heed the above instructions. for some reason, this engine is finicky about coolant changes.
run it 5 min. stop it , cool it, fill it some more.