Hey peoples, it's been a while since I've been on here, but I have an issue and need some advice/suggestions.

Last night, I hit a possum on my way home. About 12 minutes later (give or take a few minutes), I'm on the highway and my car shuts off, completely overheated, the smell of burning antifreeze and plumes of smoke coming from under the hood (fortunately I was already at the exit I was taking and made it down the off ramp).

Anyway, I haven't taken a look under the hood yet, but could a possum, or raccoon sized animal break anything anything under the hood if run over? (please note I didn't want to hit the animal, but I really didn't have much choice).

I had called AAA, but they take forever. The temp went down enough to where I could make it home (was only about 3 miles away at this point), but it kept stalling when it was at a low idle, which never happened before either, so now it's also idling low.

When I got home, I looked up the R18 issues in regards to this, and my car is at around 110,000 miles, so maybe it's a coincidence that this happened? Anything I should look for under the hood aside from some obvious things? (I'm not much of a gear head as I was 10 years ago, so I'm not sure what to look for besides checking the radiator for cracks, as well as hoses - basically very basic troubleshooting these days).

Any help would be appreciated! Trying to get as much info as quickly this morning so I can determine which mechanic to bring it to, or if I have to get a new engine.

Thanks everyone!

 

This has nothing to do with how much mileage you have on your car first of all.

It's really hard to tell what could be the problem. Have you just pocked around under your hood to check and see how it looks? It could be a connector that is disconnected or broken or could be something else. Only one way to find out bud!

 

Not yet I'll be doing that in just a few minutes though. I read the R18 engines have a problem with the bottom end cracking at around that mileage, though I can't see this being a coincidence and that happening, but that's why I mentioned it.

 

Yup, head gasket is done. Sucks, but there's not much else I can do.