Thread: HELP!! My GP died on the interstate after overheating!!

So I was on my way back from Arkansas after having a great weekend and gettin my windows tinted. It's a 2-hour drive. Well I'd been cruising for about an 1hour and half at 80mph and was approaching the AR/TN border when I had some trucks jump over. Well, I pushed the pedal down to gain my speed back and it kicked down to maybe 2nd or 3rd and then I got to about 70-75ish and it shifted so I assumed it was in overdrive and re-set my cruise. Well I looked down and the RMPs were around 4-5K so I cancelled it and eased up off the gas a little and it shifted back into overdrive. Well, when it did that I started losing power QUICKLY and it started overheating REALLY QUICKLY!
I waited until it got a little above 210* and I got off the road and when I let off the gas coasting on the shoulder it died. It was steaming and bubbling but no apparent busted hoses or major leaks. I let it cool then filled it with antifreeze (took just a little bit) and managed to get it to crank. It had a noisy, rough idle. I tried to make it to the next exit as I was on the shoulder of I-40 but it died again. There were NO high temperatures at that point, NO SES lights, nothing everything seemed cool. It was just running crappy.

Now that I had my dad tow me home and out of the dark interstate,
What do you guys think might be the problem?

Any ideas on what to check or try?

Thanks guys!

Your story is confusing. How does it quickly overheat when you say it only got to 210*?

Clearly you lost coolant, the question is where. Did you UIM finally crack internally, did you coolant elbow let go, did your hoses leak or pop?

The extent of the damage is dependent on how far you pushed it overheating it. Steam coming out is a clear sign that it got very hot. You may not have noticed if there wasn't enough coolant in the LIM to show on the temp gauge.

Fill it up and see how bad it is.

I checked my plugs, wires, fluids this morning and everything appeared okay. No hoses broken or anything.
I got it to crank up and it sounds awful. It's a knocking sound coming from the engine. And it sounded at first like the belt was squelching or something.
Anyways, I made two vids. I apologize for the footage but I was focused on you guys hearing the sound. Pay attention to it running and that knocking sound.

In the first video, the first part sounds like the alternator or something I'm not sure. But then around 13 seconds and at 20 seconds you can really hear the knocking sound.
Here it is:

And the second video is more of the overall sound not up close:


Please guys if you have any clue what's going on just chime in. Thanks a lot

I think I remember you just getting this car. How did the oil look when you first changed it? Does it look okay now? How is oil pressure? Still not throwing any codes? Any extra smoke or liquid from the exhaust? Have you let the car idle long enough to warm up and get the coolant flowing again? Even compression in all cylinders? Plugs all firing? Did the car shudder and jump when you gave it gas or just bog down?

Pull of the valve covers and have a look. Maybe a busted spring or lifter failure. Keep an eye out for ANY coolant loss. Could be UIM or LIM gasket failure which caused overheating and fried a bearing.
No codes, clean oil, and no loss of coolant are good signs that it may be a reasonable fix.
I have no answers but the experts will probably speak up soon. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Rust

I think I remember you just getting this car. How did the oil look when you first changed it? Does it look okay now? How is oil pressure? Still not throwing any codes? Any extra smoke or liquid from the exhaust? Have you let the car idle long enough to warm up and get the coolant flowing again? Even compression in all cylinders? Plugs all firing? Did the car shudder and jump when you gave it gas or just bog down?

Pull of the valve covers and have a look. Maybe a busted spring or lifter failure. Keep an eye out for ANY coolant loss. Could be UIM or LIM gasket failure which caused overheating and fried a bearing.
No codes, clean oil, and no loss of coolant are good signs that it may be a reasonable fix.
I have no answers but the experts will probably speak up soon. Good luck.

thank you for that! yes, i did just get it i've been driving it everyday for a month with no problems. it does leak coolant but its just a tiny spot through the radiator that i will fix later down the road. i didn't run it long this morning i was so scared something would mess up because of how bad it sounds.
from what i gathered this morning it would still idle up it was just really rough.
the oil each and every time during and after the LIM change was acceptable and clean. i mean, last night i didn't even let it get hot enough to overheat before i pulled it off the road but it died due to missing pretty bad.
im really leaning towards a busted spring or lifter failure because it kicked down and the engine roared and as soon as that happened it just went to crap. started heating up and steaming and losing power.
its not even smoking at all, so does that 100% rule out head gasket?

ill have my dad check under the valve covers i think thats a good start.

Sounds like you spun a bearing. IIRC Nicks car when the engine took a **** spun up to 5k and then died.

Originally Posted by 01GTP

Sounds like you spun a bearing. IIRC Nicks car when the engine took a **** spun up to 5k and then died.

Hm I really hope not. It still cranks up and runs still..
But it's my fault it ran up to 5k, i kicked it down on the highway to gain speed and pass the trucks.

Do you have an oil pressure gauge?

Originally Posted by 01GTP

Do you have an oil pressure gauge?

no i don't

Originally Posted by BlownBigBlock

With the way it sounded in the first video and the fact your not losing coolant etc... Any chance that the water pump took a dump, to the point that maybe the propeller is actually damaged and causing it to lock, that would cause the belt squeak... Just a thought...

that's a damn good possibility! i will definitely check into that. dad said he would take the belt off tomorrow and run it and see what we find out.

Rent an oil pressure gauge and check it

Take another vid...but this time rev the engine a couple of times. Not high, but say 1500-2000 for a second and let off. Hear marbles and issues in the bottom end?

Originally Posted by scottydoggs

I've spun a few bearings in my day, and i never heard one squeak, it seems to get louder when u put the cam close to the front of the engine, water pump could be seized up or another accessory, i'd pull the belts and hand spin every pulley on the engine, and the revving it up to 1500 to 2000 grand and letting off vid would help for bottom end noise, or just hold it to 3 grand, if its a bearing u will hear a hard knock, try taking a long screw driver, and put one end on every thing u can on the front of the engine, (while its running) with your ear to the handle, do this on the valve covers and the exhaust manifolds where they meet the head, u wont believe what u can hear.

alrighty. thanku for that! im really leaning towards water pump because its awfully noisy around the belt area. but also when you're around the front valve cover it sounds like lifters ticking. hopefully its just the water pump bein a noisy whore.

Bad news guys: got dad up to the house and he took off the serpentine belt and checked all my pulleys. Alternator is squealing, water pump appears okay it only wobbles slightly but no real problems; but we cranked it without the belt on and got some realllllly bad news. Check out the video. We're speculating that it has either spun a bearing and has a rod knocking OR just simply has a rod knocking.
Sooooo..yea. I made a vid (PLEASE excuse my stepmother and I talking; my dad was under the car listening at the oil pan).

For the video, I held the camera right over the rear valve cover and the UIM Plenum; towards the end you will tell the difference in sounds. But either way that engine is knocking somethin furious! THIS IS WITH NO BELT ON. ALL SCREECHING AND KNOCKING IS ALL THE ENGINE
Check it out guys give me some advice.
We have assumed it would be better to just get another motor, block and all. Dad, once again, has his eye on a L67 so I guess I'll let him put in the supercharged one this time. Anyways, just tell me what you think guys we haven't made any sure decisons yet.

Lkq on ebay... got a l26 that I topswapped for 500 shipped.

Well I can't top swap; apparently I need the whole engine. Can you put a L26 in the 97-03s pretty easily?

i'd yank the valve covers and check for a busted spring or bent push rod, hope its not the bottom end, but then again a super charged engines a nice upgrade. still i've never heard a bearing squeak, they all start out as a light tap that rises and falls with the rpm's, as u drive it, it just gets louder and louder, i spun a rod bearing in my old 77 gmc pick up, and it got to be so loud it sounded like someone was under my hood hitting the engine with a BFH! it never let lose and i had a spare engine to swap it out with so i ran it till i couldn't take it no more ( about a month lol)

Well dad said it sounds like the right rear push rod knocking on the bottom end. That's about all I know and that it's noisy as hell. My grandad and my dad were saying that to fix it he'd have to re-build it and that he might as well just stick in another engine (and dad recommends a super charged engine).

But it is not even drivable. When it messed up on the interstate that night it severely lost power. And tonight when I revved it up it idled back down and it died so it's clearly not stable. And plus even if I did drive it it's only going to break down soon from throwing a rod and need somebody to tow me in.