Is my car engine blown?

Question

My car over heated and the temp is bottoming out, it sounds a little rough. They said its blow at a shop and a friend of mine whom works on cars said they are full of it! He is only going by what I told him. How do I know if its blown? What are the signs? Please help me?

Answer 1

Nearly every time you overheat an engine, it destroys the thermostat and the engine will not heat up. Replace the thermostat, and if the radiator is not losing coolant, change the oil and filter and go from there. If you know why it overheated in the first place, fix that first. You don't say what kind of car or motor, but if it has aluminum heads, they may be warped and need worked on. You will find that out when you put in a new thermostat and the engine heats up and begins leaking coolant into the cylinders, or leaking compression blows all the coolant out of the radiator. If low temp and a little rough is all the problem, a new thermostat will heat the engine and maybe get rid of some of the roughness, because they don't run well when not up to temp. Computer control, you know.
This is the cheapest route to fixing your car, and if it works, OK. If it don't you are not out a lot of money unnecessarily because someone thinks you need an overhaul.

Answer 2

Define blown engine to me, well first of all if you overheated your car due to driving without a proper amount of coolant you may have a blown head gasket which can be repaired, which is what it sounds like what has happened i would only say a engine is blown is when you actually blow the block apart or the heads off the engine or detonate a piston in a cylinder and it destroys the piston, all of these can be fixed with some time and money, i would say to have a professional mechanic look at your vehicle and determine what the damge is and give you a written estimate of what it will cost for repairing the engine

Answer 3

You should have stopped when the car first overheated. As far as "blown", this isn't really a good diagnosis. It's possible that you've "blown" a head gasket; that is, that the engine heated enough that things warped and the gasket between the head and the top of the cylinders no longer seals like it should. It may have cracked a small leak, and so one cylinder may be acting a bit lame. The solution is usually to have the head gasket replaced, and they'll machine the head flat. If you have a friend with tools, replacing a head gasket is an afternoon job and you can save the $500 shop bill. Machining the head is recommended, but you can get away without it in most cases.

Answer 4

how long did you let the car overheat for? If you left it like that for an extended period of time you could have caused extensive engine damage!!! Basically, the excessive heat in the engine could have warped the head or cracked it. Another thing to worry about is blowing the head gasket when overheating. Does the car blow out white smoke? If it does blow out white smoke that means that you either blew the head gasket or caused serious engine damage (crack in head).

Basically, put coolant back in the car and do a compression test for every cylinder. This will give you a good idea of the condition of each individual cylinder. If the compression is close to spec for each cylinder then you're golden!! However, if the #'s are way off then you might have to look into either tearing the engine apart, buying a new engine, etc.

Answer 5

well an overheated engine probobly wont blow so to speak but it will lock up if it gets to hot. In most cases these days with the new aluminum heads the heads just warp. Then it will "blow" your head gasket not the engine. Head gaskets are cheap but the labor is the killer. As far as your temp guage that is a cracked temp sensor from overheating the car. you will need to replace that when you get a new head gasket put on. Also for your benifit ask them to plane the head so it will true again. I hope I helped and thank your freind for saving you a little money in the long run. I really dont think you need a new engine from what you explained here.

Answer 6

first thing check the oil and see what color it is on a white cloththen check the radiator and do the same if you have water in the oil or coolant it will become milky if you have oil in the coolant it will change color and have a rainbow color on top!! if good check the head gasket by taking the radiator cap off and then start the engine if collant blows out the head gasket might be blown!! get in touch with me and i'll try to help futher but you have to check these things to see whats next!!!

Answer 7

Why not have your car towed to another mechanic and get a second opinion. Sure it will cost to tow it but it would be cheaper then a new engine if it's not blown. Just don't tell them what this place said, just tell them what it's doing or not doing and go from there.

Answer 8

If you have a cracked block the symptoms could be varied. Car continuously over heats, leaks oil, leaks antifreeze, runs rough, loss of compression which may be why it runs rough. My suggestion is to take it to another shop and see what response you get. Don't tell them anything that you SUSPECT it to be or what the other shop said. You are likely to get an automatic same response. What make, model, year is it.

Answer 9

check the oil if the oil looks like milk it is blown,another thing to be checked is the head gasket if that is bad that can cause your problem.

Answer 10

sounds like the thermostat went out or perhaps a coolant leak.