1989 Caprice Overheated

My son's 1989 Caprice (146,000 miles) overheated when he was stuck in stand-still traffic for over an hour ... running the A/C :frown: .

As far as I know, he has never had an over-heating problem before. AFter he turned it off and tried to turn it back on, it wouldn't start and we had to have it towed home.

My husband had to replace the starter motor and positive battery cable. The insulation on the cable was melted in numerous places for the full length of the cable.

After replacing each of these things, the car starts better than it has in years. (This was the original starter.)

However, my son said that after he drove a few miles and made a stop, when he started the car back up again, he smelled what he described as "burning oil."

What additional issues does my husband need to address when he gets a chance to look it over again today?

Check for oil leaks, around the valve covers. Sometimes, if it gets hot enough, the valve cover gaskets can burn in the area above the middle two exhaust ports, as well as the 'heat riser port' in the middle top of the cylinder head (under the intake manifold).

Change the oil in it NOW! Don't wait. This could be the difference between no harm, no foul and a dead engine.

Next time, if he plans on idling it for so long, have him shut it off. Even the owners' manual instructs to not let it idle for more than 5 minutes.

That's way too long to idle a car with the AC on. If you must keep it running, kill the AC, open all the windows. Most of these cars have idiot lights and you don't know when it is close to the melt down state.

When I was in doubt, I'd run the heater off and on. I got stuck last month crossing the Bronx in my wife's Merc and that managed to run cool for me just keeping the AC off. That car has a temp gage at least.

You may want to get your cooling system pressure checked, also have them do the cap and make sure the clutch fan is working.

Bob

Thank you both for your suggestions.

My husband has reviewed proper overheating precautions with him even though we thought he already knew them.

There is no longer any "oil smell" that causes concern and there does not appear to be any oil leaks. The car was due for an oil change already, and my son should be doing that today.

I'm still trying to imagine him running the heater in 90+ degree weather. Maybe the hours he sat in the hot sun waiting for assistance will motivate him to do so next time (or to avoid voluntarily finding himself in this type of traffic when it's miserably hot outside.) :eek:

The oil smell can diminish when it gains back some viscosity upon cooling. At that point, you were wise to change it. Hopefully no internal damage was done, but go easy on the car for a while and hope nothing else pops up.

I was coming back on a trip some years back with my '82 Caprice and got stuck in hot July traffic in Maryland. Putting the heater on was the only thing that saved it from boiling over. My temp gage was hovering around 260, the heater got it down to 220.

As long as I was moving it was ok. That hot trip did cause some permanent damage to the motor. It developed a miss at that point and when I got home one of the spark plugs has the insulator burned off it.

Lessons learned, never take a piece of crap car to Florida in July. The radiator was not up to the task either, I should have replaced it before the trip.

Bob

I was coming back on a trip some years back with my '82 Caprice and got stuck in hot July traffic in Maryland.
Bob

Lol gotta love the traffic in this area really puts a cramp in peoples road trips or just your trip to the store. I'm guessing either out of VA around Woodrow Wilson Bridge or around 95 north toward Baltimore.

I think it was 95 north of Baltimore. Stopped just over the NJ border at a rest stop to pour some water over the radiator before making the final run for home.

Bob