So I went to the races out here in Vegas last night for my first time...I ran REALLY crappy times by the way. But this morning I had to drive up to Utah and I noticed that my coolant overflow bottle was full and had spewed in the engine compartment. My temp was running a little hot but not too bad, a little over half way up the temp guage when it's usually a little below half way. I ran a 50 shot of nitrous last night and I'm wondering if I screwed something up really bad...a head gasket or something. How can I tell, I know it's a bad sign when the coolant is spewing. My oil is about a half quart low right now, it's a little dark. I run Mobil 1 Synthetic....how can I tell if I screwed something up????

UPDATE: I was just letting my car idle to see if it would spew the coolant again...and I went and looked in the car and my temp guage was pegged all the way up...what did I screw up????

 

Do a compression test to confirm the headgasket isn't an issue. Then bleed the coolant system to remove any bubbles from the system that may be causing the overheating.

 

I'll need to get a compression tester somewhere...i'm stuck in small town Utah where it's all 75 Fords and 86 Chevys...i just replaced the thermostat in hopes of getting lucky...the reason i did is because my fans weren't kickin on...and the fan sensors are right in the thermostat housing....so i'm letting it idle right now and we'll see what the verdict is

 

ya know, i just replaced the thermostat and so far so good, it's sitting there at idle after i just drove it pretty hard to get it hot and it's not heating back up...

anyone ever heard of a thermostat going bad after nitrous use??

 

nope never heard of a thermostat going bad after a nos use. did you run a dry shot or a wet shot.

 

ya know, everything really seems to be fine now....i've taken the car out and driven it to heat it up and then let it sit there at idle with the hood closed....the main problems before i replaced the thermostat were that my car heated up and pegged the temp gauge when at idle, i had spewed coolant everywhere on my trip to Utah, and my fans wouldn't kick in.....now my temp isn't rising...i haven't spewed coolant yet.....and my fans kick in before the temp gauge even gets to half way up....

my dad and i just figured since the fan sensor is in the thermostat housing and the fans weren't kicking on....that the thermostat wasnt opening...causing the coolant to spew out the reservoir and since the coolant wasn't flowing the fan sensor wasn't reading properly...

last night after i raced everything seemed to be fine...the problem happened today after my 3 hour drive to Utah

so hopefully this fixed it...if this doesn't sound right to anyone i'd appreciate any more info you have....

 

forgot to answer your question...i was using a wet shot

 

well, I just took it out for another test run and hit the "juice" a bit and it spewed coolant again...so it looks to be the head gasket....

so here's the next step of advice i need....

i still have some extended warranty from an aftermarket company....if i dump all my stock i/h/e back into the car...and pull off my VAFCII...and make it look as if I never ran nitrous...is there a way the warranty company can find to deny my claim???

i'm pretty much stuck in small town Utah...i grew up here and know all the mechanics at the shop i always take my car to so i'm sure they'll help me pull it out in anyway they can, i'm not sure if they can do warranty work or not....how does this whole warranty thing work??

 

a head gasket is 80 bucks plus labor. you broke it you fix it.

 

You tell me how to fix it or where a DIY is and I'll get it done ...the problem is i'm stuck in small town Utah with not many resources...I doubt they'd even have a head gasket here....