I noticed driving about 45-50 MPH last night that my temp gauge was reading very high, it did not go into the red and I didn’t get any engine lights
This morning when i checked the engine coolant it appears that it has all leaked out, just wondering what the problem might be
Perhaps a Leak?
Well, at least that’s how the problem started. Now that you’ve driven all those miles with the temp gage reading hogh and no coolant the problem is probably a worped head and a blown headgasket. And you still have the leak.
Seriously, you need to have the car towed to a shop where they’ll perform a cooling system pressure test, diagnose why all your coolant disappeared, and if there’s cause to suspect a headgasket failure they’ll probably do a compression leakdown test.
Thanks for the reply. Would it matter if I only drove about 10 miles
An overheated engine can sustain damage within a surprising short period of time.
For your sake, I really hope that no damage is found, other than whatever failure led to the coolant leak. However, don’t be too surprised if one or both cylinder heads are now warped and/or the head gaskets have been breached.
Next time that you notice an abnormally high temperature reading, don’t wait for additional warnings from the instrument panel. Pull over, allow the engine to cool down fully, check the coolant level, and call for a tow if necessary. Failure to exercise caution in this manner can get very expensive, very fast.
It might. Even if you were to refill the cooling system and did not have a massive leak, at this point you might have a blown headgasket, it could involve the oil passages, and coolant getting into the oil could be devastating to the engine.
I’d strongly recommend that you have it towed. The cost of the additional damage that might be done is many, many, many times the cost of a tow.
I also vote for the tow.
…especially since it has been 7 months since the car suffered that overheating incident!
;-))