Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

My car overheated today pretty badly. I drove it while it overheated. I didn't realize that I was leaking coolant. I pulled over immediately, the reservoir had coolant in it so I though it was a malfunctioning thermostat. The fans weren't coming on either so I jumpered the wire on the thermo housing. Then I drove home.

I don't think there was any engine damage, at least I hope not. The car still runs and fires on all 4 cylinders, and I don't see any coolant in the oil. Do you think I damage it? If so what happened?

My concern now is how to fix this leaky pipe. I think I damaged it while trying to take off the old hose. It was when I wedged a flat blade screw driver at the top I am pretty sure I punctured it.

Can I jb weld it? Thing is there's this gasket that's in the way and I can't get it off.



https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...35585441_n.jpg

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

The leaky hose was fixed, wasn't tight enough, no leak in the pipe thank God.

Now I am dealing with another separate issue. While I was doing a compression test to see if the overheating damaged the engine, something unusual happened. See these pics.

(Btw the compression test was good 190, 195, 195, and 200 psi).


One of the adapter bits from my compression tester got stuck in the spark plug. I went to re test tube #1 when I found this,

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...47168623_n.jpg


I discovered one of the compression tester bits had come off into the plug well,

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...29771069_n.jpg


I don't understand how that would have done that to the spark plug though, its wierd. Another pic. This is the compressoin te ster with the plug,

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...93041788_n.jpg




I put red loctite on the compressoin tester end and screwed it into the well. I am not wondering how long I need to wait for it to cure before I try to extract the bit. The engine was hot when I added the loctite.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I just tried to extract the bit with the compression hose and it just kept spinning. I just ended up taking the hose off. Not buying one of these cheap testers again.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

you unscrewed a spark plug and screwed in a compression tester while an aluminum head was hot?:ugh:

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

So the car should be warm not hot? I didn't know there was a difference.


Anyways why did my spark plug get damaged like that?

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

Thats how you warp things and pull the spark plug threads in the head by removing it when it's hot. Everything expands when hot. It's recommended that you wait til everything is cool before removing.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

Why do you think people let cars cool down before pulling heads, doing valve adjustments, working on the block, etc? The turbo-auto all makes sense now..

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I just heard that the car should be warm or hot when you do a compression test. I didn't think there was a difference between "hot" and "warm".

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

wow!!! you overheated the car so bad you actually melted the spark plug!!! i have only seen once case like this in the years of being a mechanic. that is amazing.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

warm. operating temperature. you were suppose to let the car idle until the fans turn on at least 3 times.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

you never take plugs out of anything but a dead cold aluminum head, unless you like doing helicoils, personally if I was doing headwork, I would helicoil the plug holes anyway

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I didn't melt it it looks like contact was made somewhere. Check out my other thread here,

http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthre...57#post3131057

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

Then how do you take a compression test when you need the engine to be warm?


Its too late now. No damage was done by having it warm/hot when I removed them. In fact it was very easy to remove them.


I'm really more concerned about that spark plug, not many wanted to tell me about that.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I'm almost certain I know what happened because this happened to me the very first time I did a compression test.

The kit you bought has adapter pieces. You do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES need to use the adapter pieces at all. You take the tester and you gently hand thread it into the spark plug holes. When it finally bottoms out, you're completely done and ready to test.

What you need to do now is to get a pair of really skinny needle nose, the long ones and try to get that thing out. It took me about an hour to finally get it out after buying a long pair of needle nose.

I'm trying to decipher what is going on in the first pic of the second post you made. I can't figure out what it is I'm seeing.

As long as your spark plugs aren't over 50k or so you shouldn't really have a problem taking them out even with the head hot imo. They only need to be gently tight enough in the first place so that they don't back out. I think the issue people have is that they overtorque them. Yes, with the head hot perhaps you can have a problem.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I hear what you're saying and its good info, gonna take heed to it. but I'm starting to get real concerned about the overheating that happened. I drove the car when the needle above the red line for 5 about minutes.

After that I checked the rad. cap and found no water in it so I added water. I then found the leak and fixed it. Then I took it for a test drive and it drove and performed like it did before. I found no coolant in the oil and no oil in the coolant. Then I compression tested it and the numbers were 190, 195, 195, and 200.

I should have known better than to drive it like that though. At least now I know, I am newb... It is a newly rebuilt engine with about 20,000 miles in it. New rings, pistons. The head was milled and it has a new head gasket and head bolts. Maybe that will be the deciding factor as to why there was no head warpage or engine damage. I think its older car parts that are more easily damaged, don't you think?


What do you think?

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I'm still lost. I guess you were able to do a compression test after all which means you were able to get the adapter out. I just don't really know exactly what you are describing has occurred.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

1. Engine overheated, that is what this thread is about

2. Unforeseen problems with the compression tester/spark plug AFTER the overheat.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

How did your spark plug get damaged ?

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

Got it out thank God. It was smashed by the adapter when I tried to tighten it in. This adapter was stuck in the bore for 4 months,



https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...11142988_n.jpg


Took a center punch, needle nose pliers and a flat head to get the compression tester bit out. This was stuck on top of the adapter inside the spark plug well. I had loctited it together with the hose attached (goes on the nipple) hoping it would twist out but it just kept spinning.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...99878248_n.jpg

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

what the heck kind of compression tester is that? I've never heard of having to have a plug on it, engines haven't changed that much, they work the same basic way

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

Why is there a spark plug attached to your compression tester adapter(which you shouldn't be using anyhow)?

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

:thud: I was making it clear how the spark plug got smashed. It was when I tightened it down on the adapter while it was in the bore.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

why did you screw a spark plug into the adapter in the first place

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

I didn't know it was in there.

Re: Leaky heater pipe, car overheated
 

oh ok, didnt it seem like it was sticking up pretty far? and taking plugs out of a hot aluminum head is playing with fire, I've always been taught to do the test stone cold, it's not going to change much, and you are mainly comparing readings, if all the cylinders read slightly low, yet are close to each other, it's no big deal, it's when you see one or two way off, you know you have an issue, especially if they are right next to each other