I drove my 1985 300D at 90 mph at 5 am this morning on the way to work, up the Turnpike with a Maxed Out Temp Guage and no water pump for almost 45 miles!!
I saw the Temp Guage Max out, but I ignored it, because I just worked on the cluster Sunday and it had some broken circuit paths which I resoldered.
Prior to that the needle flickered all the time anyway. Since last nite I retimed the pump, I figured everything was Fine and kept on driving.
When I went to turn I dsicovered the mistake!! My crankshift pulley had sheared at the Hex bolts, so I had no Water Pump@!!!!No wonder the dash was hissing!!!
I shut her down and AAA'd it home. There is no coolant in the reservoir now though when I stopped the car, the bottle was maxed out.
IS THIS ENGINE TOAST? I now you can max it out for maybe 15 to 20 minutes , but 45 minutes????

...a common mistake of mine.. I am overworked, I put 48,000 miles on three cars, all of which I bought for less than 2100 last year, and all of which had major surgery------------

Well, like they say proof is in the pudding, replace the shear pin, see if it runs, then do a compression and leakdown test if it does. Just so you know how bad.

OH and keep both your fingers crossed.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Good thing you didn't do that on your 87. I agree with the good doctor, fix what is broken and try to fire it up. At this point you aren't going to hurt it any more. I also second the finger crossing, but would add that a stop at a church after work may also be a good idea.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

I don't understand how you could have not noticed a problem, because the alternator light should have come on and the car should have been a ***** to steer with no power steering.


Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

I AM CURIOUS AS TO WHAT EXACTLY COULD BE DAMAGED...

Cylinder Head gasket?
Valve Seals?
Radiator?

I love this car (85 300D). At the least would a cylinder head job be required?
Also a simpler test might just be to fix it and Fire it up and run it at 90 mph, no comp test or leakdown. My sister in law once drove a Corolla for 30 minutes with no water pump and did no engine damage--that car has an aluminum head. Also another guy drove his 87 300D with a cracked head 500 miles once....

I ignored the dash lights because I had just worked on the Cluster,and several of the printed circuit paths were cracked and had to be jumpered by wire ( car has 400K) ; the last few weeks all my lights were inaccurate after I let my nephew hook up the Big Round Keyed Plug on the rear---he hooked it up 2 or 3 pins out of rotation , broked the key,and smoked my cluster, breaking the paths.

On the turnpike you just drive straight

Well you could have blown gasket, warped head, distorted bores, same issues with crank and cam, Basicly it all depends on just how hot it really got.

THats why I made my earlier suggestion. If it runs and passes compression and leakdown test I wouldn't worry.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

This reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago of a Captain running a 55ft Hat to the Bahamas, the oil pressure guage read 0 but the engine was running fine. He ran it like that for a few hours then right when he got to the inlet the engine stopped. Turns out the guage was right on and he had just trashed a 12V-92TI! If you shut the engine down and it does crank it could be fine. Is this the same motor that ran out of oil last year?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

One thing is for sure. I would never buy a used car from you. Every one of your threads concerns some insane emergency situation caused by you trying to fix something that wasn't broken. Funny stuff. Don't quit your day job.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

One thing is for sure. I would never buy a used car from you. Every one of your threads concerns some insane emergency situation caused by you trying to fix something that wasn't broken. Funny stuff. Don't quit your day job.

Being from NJ where everyone is nasty, I should say something equally nasty in return, but honestly you are right and I appreciate your being honest.
Just be thankful my regular job isnt being a Plastic Surgeon....
I am overworked and underslept and this is the last year I will work on cars, I am buying a new car next week.
Money was tight, and I got 327,000 miles on two cars that cost me less than 1500 total..of course I spent 32,000 dollars on parts and tools..
On the serious side. I had 2 family members to care for, a feisty teenager, coached football as unpaid assistant for the high school, and I drive 2.5 hours a day to work to boot and I was sleeping 4 hrs a night...And you are right, this isnt helping my job performance at all..
This is going to be one of my last posts...by next month I will be History!!!!

I am giving one to the kid down the street and donating the other to Goodwill

I heard a story a couple of years ago about some teenagers taking a fishing boat out for a joy ride. They didn't turn the engine cooling on (separate lever in big boats) and it cost the parents $250,000 for a pair of big marine diesels

Whoa dude. I apologize. I was only playin'. But- you should try and take it easy. You will die early if you don't.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

Yes, Carrameow, don't feel too bad.

The mechanic at the ferry company where I was a captain in my former life changed the oil in three 12V71TI's. Apparently he did not seat the canister against the o-ring properly on one of the filters. So, upon start up by the captain, the engine begins to dump its 12 gallons into the bilge. But, not very fast mind you. The boat runs at 600 rpm for five minutes to get out of the marina. The alarms are all off at this point because the setpoint for the alarm is above idle pressure. The captain is responsible to turn on the alarms after he leaves the marina.

So, this captain leaves the marina, and does not turn the alarm on immediately. The engines are brought up to normal cruise, 1800 rpm, and in about five minutes, the starboard engine just shuts itself down. Goes from 1800 to 0 in about four seconds. He is told to leave it off and run the boat on the other two engines.

I happen to be there when he returns and we go to start it. Believe it or not, it actually starts, but it hunts up and down from 300 to 600 or so. Sounds terrible. He toasted all the bearings and scored all the pistons and liners. Took two mechanics four days to rebuild it in the boat (4 1/2 foot headroom )