Any overheating is harmful overheating. Thats why its OVERheating.
The coolant turns to steam, expands 6x (or more I don't really remember) and
breaks things.
Anyway should this happen in the future remember that with just a dead
alternator you're actually in pretty good shape. A few years ago the waterpump
siezed in my Dodge Dakota and I managed to drive another 15 miles (took hours)
to safety.
The trick is to shut the car off before it gets too hot. I'd run my truck up a
hill, kill the engine and coast down the other side. Of course sometimes I
didn't get all the way up the hill so I'd kill it in motion and roll until it
stopped, then let it cool and continue.
That was 6 years (and about 100,000 miles) ago and I've seen no ill effects.
But I made sure the temp never even nudged the red...
-Curt
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:56:02 -0700
From: "Zoltan Finks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [MBZ] What constitutes harmful overheating? 87 190D
To: mercedes@okiebenz.com
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I must say that I am very thankful that this breakdown has been on par
with about every one I have ever had in terms of fortuitousness.
I looked down and noticed several of the dummy lights glowing. I then
saw the engine temperature rising shockingly fast.
I threw it in neutral and shut it off as I coasted at around 45 - 50
mph down a long hill. Then started it again to get up a hill, and
watched the temp approach the 120 mark and the little red mark.
I may have been unwise, but I wanted to get it off the highway and to
a safe place.
By the time I shut the thing off and rolled to a stop, the gauge was
just about touching that top temp reading (120, right?). But I did not
let it run for any length of time at that temp.
So how bad is what I've done? I mean really, not idealistically.
I know that these engines are at least somewhat prone to head gasket
failures, aren't they? But I would imagine that like any engine, it
can take being badly overheated several times throughout its life.
Brian
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