Oil Damage from Overheating?

[MagneticMeerkat]

Hopeful quick one this.

Yesterday my car overheated! Caused by the water pump springing a random leak and squirting out much of the coolant in a short period. Anyway, that's easy enough to fix. The only problem was this happened on a busy road, so I was forced to drive for 5-10 mins with a red hot engine. I pulled into a handy service area and was towed home.

I'm not particularly worried about engine damage, it's an iron block and head Ford pushrod unit and seems to have come out unharmed. I've tried running it since and it's all fine, apparently.

My concern is the oil got terrifyingly hot as, for a time, it was the only thing circulating. There's no oil cooler on the car. Is it worth changing as a precaution? As far as I know it was done recently. Will the oil break up, or lose effectiveness following a brief trip to the furnace?

Edited by MagneticMeerkat on Sunday 19th October 19:50

[t400ble]

Should be fine. It cannot of got that hot really.

But for the sake of £20, you may wish to change it

[Lowtimer]

How long is "a short period"? Two minutes? 10? 20?

I would drop the oil if more than 10 mins.

[MagneticMeerkat]

Lowtimer said:

How long is "a short period"? Two minutes? 10? 20?

I would drop the oil if more than 10 mins.

I've just realised that! Original has been edited but no more than ten minutes. Well that was ten minutes with the gauge in the red.

Of course iron engines can take higher temperatures, but they also stay hotter for longer afterwards.

[TooMany2cvs]

Oil wouldn't be my big worry. I'd run it up to temp then cool it a couple of times, and make sure everything was staying where it should do, THEN change the oil/filter.

[theshrew]

How hot have you ran the car for the 'short' 5-10 min ?

If it's just a bit above normal temp you will be ok. If you have run it going off the gauge type of thing it's possible the engine could blow the head gasket or start to pick up.

[MagneticMeerkat]

theshrew said:

How hot have you ran the car for the 'short' 5-10 min ?

If it's just a bit above normal temp you will be ok. If you have run it going off the gauge type of thing it's possible the engine could blow the head gasket or start to pick up.

It was off the gauge! Couldn't have picked a better engine to do it to though - Ford Valencia 1.3. It seems fine and there's no indication of head gasket damage. Luckily it's an iron block and head lump so both parts can withstand a fair amount of heat. Was worrying for a short time, and got a bit toasty in the cabin though!!

I've had the same happen to an old Citroen, 1.9 turbo diesel thingy, and that lived on fine once the cooling system was repaired. I don't know what it is with me and water pumps?

[morgrp]

If the head survived it's prob worth changing the oil, then again, the Valencia lump sounds like a cement mixer full of gravel anyway

[JakeT]

morgrp said:

If the head survived it's prob worth changing the oil, then again, the Valencia lump sounds like a cement mixer full of gravel anyway

Sounds like the engine ate a spoon