[HELP] [EMERGENCY] currently sitting on the side of the road because my engine coolant temperature light came on...

If you have the car off did you at least pop the hood?

I didn't, I let it sit for 20-25 min with the hood down and the temp read 1/2 way up the gauge once I started it back up, climbed to 3/4 gauge now

Made it about a half mile and temperature reached H (far end) of gauge so I've pulled over again. I can drive really slowly now home so maybe we can make it. Stay tuned

Buddy it takes a lot longer than 15 mins to cool off your engine. In fact, it's probably even hotter than you started at the 15 minute mark. Give it a solid 45, hood open, and pour some water on that bitch

...did you check your radiator??

>pour some water on that bitch
don't do this

You are just making the problem worse, instead of maybe a dodgy thermostat, you have now warped the head by pushing it.

Nice one. Enjoy your massive repair bill.

Why not

Is there coolant in it?

Seems like you know quite a bit based off some pretty vague details. I'll just disregard your opinion

Had you read my replies you would know this didn't happen. Plus from my limited knowledge
of car detailing I reckon I could crack the engine if the water was cold enough, so no thanks.

No

Yes, perhaps it is leaking but I didn't see any liquid under the car when I pulled over. I'll check if I make it home

it sounds like a good idea, right up until you fuck up the ignition system and the car won't start

cool it down, carefully open radiator, as long as your car has coolant, its probably a faulty thermostat, drive home, good luck

How exactly is water on your engine going to affect the ignition

I actually just had the thermostat replaced about a year ago because I couldn't get heat to blow (I know wtf why cant it just pump in the engine heat but apparently it cant). If this is the case there must be another problem causing my thermostats to go bad (first replacement fixed the problem).

Driving slowly for the sake of it won't help, it's just less air over the radiator. concentrate on driving smoothly, accelerating gently, and keeping the engine RPMs low.

If you idle the car with the heat on full blast, does the temp come down? Does the heat stay hot? if you don't have coolant circulating then you should get a tow.

I will wait for your headgasket/warped head thread.

My car currently won't blow hot air consistently. I left the air set to hot for a few minutes to try and get the heat out of the engine, but the air quickly started blowing lukewarm/chilly like normal so its hard to tell.

>I don't know anything about modern cars
electronics are everywhere user. IIRC, the 3.7L Cyclone V6 uses coil on plug ignition, which puts the ignition coils on top of the cylinder head right up on top. The last thing you want to do is fuck the ignition system or computer

that's air in the cooling system doing that......

see

Yeah motorcycles break daily from riding in the rain

No way.
You'll be quick cooling steel... steel cracks.
OP will crack his block and warp his heads if they haven't warped already.

the 3.7L Cyclone V6 OP has is all aluminum...

This happened to me one day Otw to class halfway. Normally it's a 30 min ride at 60mph
I had to pull over and wait for like an hour for 2 min of driving.

OP here. Made the remaning drive at 30mph while the temp stayed around 4/5 to High. Fuck the haters desu desu catch me in the endzone senpai

Even better.
I would like to see the results of an overheated all aluminum engine cooled by pouring water on it.

wait till you gotta use the car again.....

Try not to be so pessimistic about stuff senpai

>my engine coolant temperature light came on.

I had a similar problem. I limped to the dealer by driving at low RPMs and when the temp got to midpoint, I would stop and open the hood. I thought it was the thermostat, but when I had it repaired (after limping to dealer because it was still daytime and dealer was open), the dealer said it was both thermostant and waterpump. So I had both replaced since I had no choice but to trust the dealer saying I needed a new waterpump. But at least that fixed the problem at a stiff cost.

While limping along, I remembered the normal position of the temperature guage, and didn't push the car beyond that setting. When the needle got to the midpoint (which was before the normal position), I would stop the car in as good a spot as I could find that didn't attract attention. I was embarrassed you see. Ahh hubris.

In some cars, turning on the A/C turns on the additional A/C fan and there is more net cooling effect than the loading head of the compressor puts upon the engine. It's up to you to experiment if there is net cooling effect. But as others said, don't let it get all the way hot because of heat soak. If you are not at risk of spics or niggers of the night robbing you, then limping slowly is acceptable. Keep that cellphone charging while driving too.

Or he is running the AC too

Thanks for the write up, I acted similarily and made it home.

it's not pessimism, it's experience replacing heads/gaskets/engines after the owner had the optimism that the overheating will just stop and everything will be fine.

I never reckoned the overheating would stop, only that it wasn't severe enough that a ten minute easy drive would cause significant damage. Appreciate you posting tho

which will cause the ac fan to come on, and the valve to stop hot water circulating fully, so now instead of the flow cooling effect, you are dependent on the fan and compressor, which in turn loads the engine, sending even hotter water around the engine.

i'm glad you made it back, but I bet cold hard cash on the fact you have done more damage that a tow would have cost.

Time will tell, hopefully not. If thats the case I'll smack myself in the head for you V8 style

in any case, don't drive it again until the problem is fixed.

Glad you made it back.

Before you drive it tomorrow, check the oil to make sure the level is right and there is no coolant on it. Probably none would stick on the dipstick anyways unless it was churned up as bubbles, so that's not a reliable way to check for coolant if the engine has been sitting. I guess you have your preference of a shop that is cheaper than a dealer. Or you'll check on your own if the waterpump is working and replace it on your own.

I have one of those new cars. There's so many pipes and wires I have given up trying to service it.

barump