Have I damaged anything?!?

This morning I started up my 80LE and got distracted and kept it running/idling for 15-20 mins before I rushed and took it off and pulled out the ignition key. At which point to rocked and tumbled for over 30-40secs (seems like) before it actually switched off, and the temp guage was on RED! Is that normal to get so hot when left running, (I've noticed this too after 35 min city runs). Should I flush and add new coolant? The oil pressure was low too from the hot, thin oil I imagine.
Could I have damaged anything, how will I know?
Thanks!

Mine rocks and tumbles after a good run. Sometimes it deiesls to a stop other times its cause by the alternator sending voltage back through the ignition system.

When it was running with the key out was the ignition warning lamp on? If so there is a good article in the library about fixing it.

Thats all the advice I can give you. I'm sure someone will give you answers to your other problems.

David

You haven't damaged anything that wasn't already broken.

However, you may have just discovered a few issues that need attention.

My B's will get pretty hot if I let them idle that long or get stuck in slow traffic.

I'm not familiar with the rubber bumper Bs, but there are plenty of posts on this site that address some of the common run on problems.

You should find out what "Hot/In the Red" is for your car. You can pick up an infrared thermometer and find out what the block,head, radiator temps are easily.

B's don't seem to have a problem running around 200 degrees. 220+ no longer scares me on hot days with steep hills and slow traffic. That's not optimum, but it is unavaidable sometimes. Not uncommon for B's to get that hot sitting still in traffic.

It would be a good idea to flush your cooling system if you have not done so already since you got the car.

Other things can affect engine temp too-fuel mixture is one.

Keith,

Seeing RED is never a good thing for engine temps but maybe you caught it in time. Have you tried starting the car since this happened? Running on was probably caused by detonation of unburnt fuel in the somewhat overheated engine.

Are we to assume your fans were functioning and that all fluid levels were proper? Did any coolant escape?

If it were mine, I would first check the oil for any contamination such as antifreeze or water. I would also check the cooling system for oil. If those check out good, then check the coolant and oil levels for proper fill.

At this point, I would fire it up and watch for any leaks and listen for any strange noises. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge while letting it warm up.

If the temperature gauge climbs again, you will need to address the cooling system. If a GOOD flushing does not work, then you probably want to have the radiator serviced at a professional shop. It is possible that your water pump could be bad too.

These are just places to start off the top of my head. Hopefully, nothing mechanical was damaged so I will not even get in to those items at this time.

Cheers,

Rob

I have heard that overheating will ruin the T-stat, so consider replacing the one in there with a new one.

Here in Florida, if I am in stopped in a traffic jam for a long period of time, my Temp needle climbs significantly. Once I get moving again, it drops to a hair below the "N" mark. My system is fresh, clean, and circulating well. I don't know how hot the air temp was when you did this, but it seems to me that idling for a long time will heat up the engine quite rapidly--at least it always does in my case.

Your car didn't "overheat" did it? The Temp guage in the red doesn't mean you damaged anything but a cooling system flush and fresh coolant would at least give you some peace of mind that it's in good shape from that perspective. Also, using a new radiator cap might also be a good preventative measure to be sure it is correctly functioning.

rbucchino Wrote:

Running on of the engine just never seemed to be a good thing to me. If you let the clutch out with it in gear after you turn the key off you can get the engine to stop right away. most mg's do this by the way. mike

I flick my lights on and off and the engine stops. It sends the extra power to the lights instead of the ignition system.

in the absence of information to the contrary, i am assuming you have the stock thermostatically controlled electronic fans. if your fluids are filled, the radiator not gummed up and the fans functioning, this should not happen. a b should be able to idle 15-20 minutes without overhearting. something is not right. check all the mentioned. oil and coolant should be checked for breakdown and prob replaced.

robgeskey Wrote:

Mine can idle for long periods of time without excessively heating. Check the radiator for cold spots. Make sure the fans are working. How old is the water pump? Old pumps may have worn vanes restricting the flow of coolant. Check the thermostat to make sure it is fully opening and closing. What is the condition of the radiator hoses? Old soft hoses can collapse, restricting the flow of coolant. Make sure the fins in the radiator are clean and free of debri/bugs, anything that would restrict the flow of air. Check the coolant level.

the effectiveness of water wetter is diminished if not completely negated when combined with glycol. check their website:

http://www.redlineoil.com/whitePaper/17.pdf

as this shows, glycol raises boiling and lowers freezing temp but is not as effective a coolant as plain water or watter with ww
in your area, area neither glycol or ww should be necesary. but water s/b distilled. the rest is up to you. ymmv (temp, too)

One more thing that you may look at is the condition of the radiator cap. While the engine is cool and shut down, remove the cap and thoroughly clean all of the road grim and crude that may or may not be present both inside the cap opening as well as where the cap seals down to the radiator. Inspect the cap's seal for any 'memory' indentations that are usually apparent on caps that have some age on them. Replace the cap with a new one if the seal is worn. Some of the other things that have been mentioned are more probable causes to your cooling problems but this one factor gets overlooked quite a bit.

The coolant level was low, in fact dry in the overflow-fans are coming on. I hosed/cleaned the rad fins and filled up the overflow and drove her around the block a few times, looks and sounds fine, but trmp guage goes to 3/4, not sure that is normal for this car or not, seems abnormal for a cool California evening though. Oil psi was about 60. I will check coolant level in the am.
Maybe the fans are'nt coming on fast or long enaough?

As mentioned above, what it looks like you have done is find out you have a cooling problem. But as for doing any "damage" in that short amount of time, I doubt it unless there was an issue to begin with.

I run my car on the race track and even in Winter here we can have days up to 100 degrees and you should see how hot the car gets after a few laps hitting 6500 revs at those temperatures.

Even if it is just over 80 degrees like the other weekend my last lap was done with the temperature gauge trying to get to 100lbs (yes, trying to break into the oil pressure part of the dual gauge). I used to "bail out" when the temp got anywhere near there but after seeing this before no catastrophic outcome I am more casual about it (and I hate "lifting the foot" at the best of times). As soon as you cross the finish line and drop the revs the thing starts to cool down. Then after a cool down lap she is almost back to normal.

In my case this indicates I need to free-up the cooling system - bigger/better radiator etc. or whatever. That will be done over the Summer break but my point is that these old iron lumps are pretty hard to break and one overheating episode for a few minutes shouldn't cause too much pain.

Change your oil. It tends to break down after being heated like that. I change mine after each day at the track - and it normally looks pretty black when I do so.

Probably too late to post, but first, your electric fans should start well before the red zone. Second, do you have a functional anti-run on valve? That should have stopped the dieseling. If it isn't working, fix it.

You must have a fault with the cooling system, as my 79 B could idle all day here, currently 31 degrees C during the day, if I let it. It never goes over the N no matter where or how hard it is driven, so your cooling system is either not moving the heat to the radiator, or the radiator is R.S.
Matthew

GERONIMO Wrote: