I had forgot to mention, earlier in the day I had checked the oil before this happened. It was full. After this mishap, I checked the oil and there was no reading on the stick. I didn’t see any sign of coolant on the stick either. I’ll try this block check product. Also, the temp gauge is all part of the instrument cluster, it’s unfortunately all one unit with all the other gauges including the speedo and tach. I was looking for a used replacement in a junkyard, but found out that 91s and 92s are the only years interchangable. I never found one for those two years. Thank you for all your help.
No oil on the dipstick and the engine was severely overheated?
Stick a fork in it. The engine’s done.
Tester
I expect you are looking at a replacement engine. On a 91? You might just want to call it a day. But if you want to keep your car on the road, first ask you local mechanic to do the tests necessary to confirm the engine is toast or not. If it is toast, ask you local auto recycler if they subscribe to the used parts network. Most do. It’s a nationwide network of junkyards basically. Everybody posts what they have into a big database. There may be the engine you want sitting in a junkyard in Maine somewhere. If you can spring for the price, they’ll be happy to ship it to you.
Once caution: Folks doing engine replacements here have often noted problems with incompatibility between the replacement engine devices and the engine computer (ECM). The result is a check engine light that won’t go out, or worse. This is especially a problem when installing an engine made for a different make/model/or year car. If you are deviating at all from the make/model/or year of the engine vs the car, do a little research first maybe.
Perhaps it’s too late but most temperature gauge problems on those cars were caused by a loose connector on the sending unit in the cylinder head next to the distributor. The next possibility is broken copper strands in the wiring next to the connector.
These old 2.2/2.5 L engines are pretty tough, if it did over heat but the pistons are ok I wouldn’t be afraid to just replace the cylinder head. This is if you are attached to the car, is this a convertible?