Here's the background...my 17 yr old son checked the water (it was full) and forgot to put the cap back on. The car shut off on the road and he saw steam. He basically ran it hot. After it cooled down for a few hours it was able to start and drive up on the trailer to get it home. There is not any water in the oil. I've refilled the water and am going to bleed the air from the system. I haven't really worked on cars in the past, always just watched and listened. How am I going to know if he did permanent damage to the engine? Will it be evident pretty quickly? Thanks!

 

You are gonna just keep an eye on it... Some of us get very fortunate while others don't... Make sure you bleed system well ...

 

While bleeding the system the water in the radiator was not clear. It almost had a rust color to it. Does that sound like oil in the water? Is that possible? If so, I don't think it is a good sign...

 

i have seen water have that color even without a bad head gasket or anything...
has the car been smoking? manily white smoke...
yes it is possible that one of the signs for a blown headgasket.

honda engines can be very forgiving, and depending on how long he drove it hot and how hot it really got, flush the coolent and bleed it, and just keep an eye on it when its warming up, and if you more of the rust color you may need a new head gasket, or it if gets hot faster then it normally does.

 

Make sure you use coolant instead of water... dont be cheap.

 

Thanks for the tips and info. As for smoking, I haven't seen any smoke at all. Before he ran it hot it did use some oil. The engine has well over 100k miles on it though and we bought it used so I don't know it's history. He ran it hot enough for it to cut off while he was driving it and he coasted off of the road. I would say it got pretty hot.

I've read it should be a 50/50 mix of coolant and water. Sinced we're getting close to winter should I just do straight coolant?

Sorry to ask such simple questions...I just want to make sure I do it right. I'm still learning.

 

buy another single cam engine theyre only 650 the most and it will come eith a tranny as well

 

No stay the 50/50 coolant/water and just have your son watch the temp gauge and pay attention for any smoking or funny noises. Check the water level in the mornings too, most honda's are truly very for forgiving in overheating conditions but if it did damage it will let you know. If worse case a new engine isn't very exspensive as alex22 has said.

 

You want to use 50/50 or like 60/40 if your in really cold place. Coolant has better cooling properties than water as it takes a higher temp to boil. You should also keep in mind that your water pump was designed for a certain density of liquid, so running different liquid can cause pre-mature failure(not common but possible).

 

like everybody said watch the temp. if it is constantly blowing smoke that smeels kinda sweet a head gasket is toast, and maybe a cracked head. u wont always see water in the oil with a bad gasket, also when checking the oil if it looks murky (mud like) that is a sign water is getting in the oil in case u were actually looking for water. good luck, if its bad try -h motors online- all one word, good prices and reasonable shipping on used jdm engines.