overheated motor?

Question

i have a 1991 buick with a 3.8L 3800 motor and i severly overheated (drove for about 15-20 mins with no coolant) the motor. i have not fixed the leak yet but i can restart it and it makes no bad noises (i only run it for a few seconds)
it has now been sitting for about a year since it overheated
do you think i did any damage to the motor ??
as i said it makes no bad noises when i start it

Answer 1

Most likely, however, you might be very, very lucky.

Change the oil, fix the leak, add some coolant and fire it up to see how it runs.

How much damage depends on how hot it got, if it didn't have any coolant and you ran it for 20min from cold, it's totally possible that there was little to no damage, however, 20 min at highway speeds with no coolant can easily warp your heads.

Answer 2

If the motor turns over and runs, at least you have not seized it. I would still have it thoroughly checked out at the same time they fix your cooling system. Chances are there will be some damage. Also, those 3.8 engines have a serious intake manifold design flaw - some of them have used plastic intakes and were/are notorious to fail. This may have happened with yours.

Answer 3

My concern would be is if the headgasket has popped or the head is warped due to driving with no coolant. have a compression and leak down test done to make sure that these have not happened.

i bet the intake gasket is your leak.

Answer 4

You probably messed it up.Fill it with water ,run it 5minutes.see if water runs out tailpipe,shut it off ,check oil and water.

Answer 5

Fill it up, and drive it.

Answer 6

fire it up and let it run.... it will tell you