Picked up a friend last night and I noticed the car was running a little hotter then normal, did not pay much attention to it until I dropped him off, when I noticed the gauge was in the red. I don't know for how long I had driven that way.

When I opened the radiator cap the fluid came out with such a force it blew at least 8 feet in to the air, covering me and the car with hot coolant. Luckily only my arm was burned a bit, pretty stupid

I turned the heater on to relieve the heat. When the engine was cooled down a bit, out of the red, I started the engine again; I big puff of white clean smoke came out of the tail pipe. Engine sounded and ran fine.

I did let the engine cool of more, back to normal temperature, refilled the radiator in the hope I could drive back home (3 miles). But after driving less
then 100 yards the gauge would peak back to the red. Stopped and let the heater run, after a while there was no hot air coming out of the heater vents, hot coolant is not circulating?

Called AAA and had it towed to my house.

This morning I noticed that the radiator was dry and that there is most likely a leak somewhere in the radiator, but could not find the leak yet. Filled the radiator and started the engine, runs fine not more smoke then usual at a cold start up.

Let it run for a while, the gauge was going up fast but the engine and all the hoses where still cold. Within five minutes of idling the gauge went pass normal operating temperature rapidly, now the engine felt warm but not hot!

Now the thing that really worries me, a little bit of smoke came out of the radiator filler, radiator was filled up and the coolant was still cold. I didn't find any oil in the coolant. The smoke lookes like blowby.

Did I blew the head gasket?

Tnx

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Check the oil and see if its milky and check the coolant resevoir for any oil

Didn't find any oil yet in the coolant, but it was only the new coolant that didn't go pass the engine yet.

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

you are probably ok. 617 engines are so tough. with a 601/2/3 you would be in trouble, but in this car you probably just burnt off some of the carbon in the engine. i would fix whatever the problem was (radiator? thermostat? waterpump, or all of them) and then change the oil. i burst the lower engine hose once on my 1985 300D and their was that steam fountain that you describe and it had gone into the red (after going stop and go for 1hour after driving fast on highway)....in any case, after fixing stuff, it ran better than ever. extreme version of Italian tune-up...just don't do it often
good luck

__________________
1974 240D, 125K mi, B100 now, SOLD
1980 300TD, 115K mi, 4-speed stick, roll-up windows, greasecar with two tank conversion (daily driver)
1985 300D, 220K miles, greasecar with two tank conversion, SOLD
1993 300D 2.5turbo, 158K miles, green/tan, B20-B50

Sounds like your water pump is not working....the coolant doesn't seem to be circulating. Don't run your engine if it is not cooling properly - test the entire cooling system first. Overheating will probably blow the head gasket eventually if it hasn't already. My parents had a Peugeot diesel - plagued with various cooling system problems its whole life...it not only eventually killed the head gasket but lead to the eventual death of the engine entirely before 200K miles (from what I heard, fortunately it was after we sold it).

__________________
1976 240D "Katja"

How do I check the water pump?

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

fill with coolant,leave cap loose or off,have some one start the engine,if it looks like old faithful u got a head gasket blown at the mininum.
larry perkins

Larry, what do you mean with "if it looks like old faithful"?

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Im going to guess water bubbling in the resevoir

lol,sorry,it will spew out water like crazy,work out a hand signal with the operator to shut her down.
larry

An easy way to check the water pump is to start the car, pinch the top radiator hose, hold it and release it to see if you can feel the pressure of the water circulating through it.

__________________
"There are a lot of pebbles on the beach, but there's a Little Rock in Arkansas."

Logan

1983 300D Turbodiesel
1976 300D Rustdiesel

Coolant sits flat in the radiator when the engine is running, no bubbles. Guess that's a good sign. Tnx

__________________
1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Could be as simple as a stuck thermostat not allowing the coolant in the engine to circulate through the radiator. It's the first thing I would check if there are no visible leaks. You should see circulation through the radiator once the engine is warmed up. It could be a failed water pump but a total failure like that is very unusual in my experience. However, a stuck thermostat is not unusual at all.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

If no indication of coolant in the oil, then would bet tstat.

However, anything weird between oil and coolant, and it's the head gasket.

__________________
George Stephenson
1991 350 SDL (200K and she ain't bent, yet)
former 2002 E320 4Matic Wagon - good car
former 1985 300 CD - great car
former 1981 300 TD - good car
former 1972 280 SEL - not so good car
a couple of those diesel Rabbits ...40-45 mpg

Somewhat related story:

My parents' Volvo 240DL gasser originally came from Alaska (they bought it used), so it had a block heater installed (will become relevant later ). After having the car for about eight years, one day the temp gauge started climbing rapidly into the red. Noticing this a while after it had hit the red zone, they pulled over and idled with the heater on for a while, all the while burning oil smoke was coming from the engine. Called the mechanic, who told them to shut down and have it towed in. Fearing the engine was toast, they started looking at used cars that evening. Next day the mechanic calls up and says that the lower radiator hose had come off, because the block heater which was installed between the hose and the block had corroded away and fallen out. They attempted to start it after reattaching the hose, filling with new coolant and changing the oil, and it started right up like nothing had happened. Head and gasket were fine, lower end of the engine was fine, and it's still running just as well today (despite burning a bit more oil). That was about five years ago.

Those old 4-cyl gasser engines in the 240's are rock solid...the gasser equivalent of our 616/617 engines.

__________________
Dale

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...MG_2277sig.jpg

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo -155k
2000 E430 - 103k
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel 4x4 - 11k
2014 VW Passat TDI SE - 7k Bro's Diesel
2006 E320 CDI - 128k Pop's Benz

Pre-glow - A moment of silence in honor of Rudolph Diesel