1974 Lincoln Mark IV, 65k miles. Last time I drove it, my radiator leaked lots of coolant out the bottom- pretty sure it was all of it or close to it. I need to get it out of my underground parking stall and up on the street for a tow truck to take it to the shop. It’s a very short distance- the car would be running for 5 min. at the very most. Is this OK to do? Could I permanently ruin the engine? Any advice GREATLY appreciated!
Buy 4 gallons of water and dump that in and go for it…If it’s not been started in a long time, it probably will not start, so be prepared for that…There is no reason for a “dry run”. Have the water ready to go before you try and start it. If it starts, dump the water in and go…
I agree with Caddyman and the engine should not be hurt at all on such a short time span.
The old cast iron engines would take some serious abuse.
Make mine another vote that if you top off the cooling system with water before starting you should be fine. Or at least you’ll have no more damage than you had when you parked it with an empty system.
I guess I’m suggesting that as well as getting the leak(s) fixed you may want to do a pressure leakdown test, just in case it suffered heat damage during its last drive.
It may be a good idea to have the tow truck there when you do this, just in case the car dies on the ramp.