The other day I was driving home on 128 when my check gauges light came on and then my temp soared past overheating and I had no idea why! then a few minutes later my low coolant light came on and then I was like uh-oh.. Then I started to smell antifreeze really bad and started to see white smoke when I realized I was losing coolant somehow. so I drove another 5 miles to get home and the whole time I'm praying and pleading with my car to not sieze!! I get home and immediately shut her down and pop the hood when I saw it.. the stupid coolant return line for that dumb mod came off and let ALL my coolant out of the engine. I ran in the house and started to get a lot of hot water to fill her back up and proceeded to pour it into the radiator. It was like a geyser because when I started to pour it in it would steam like crazy and try to boil out of the radiator. I must have filled this thing for like 3 minutes and it kept taking the water. I bled the system and disconnected the MAF so the fans would stay on. I let her run for about 5 minutes until the temp reached normal again and then shut her down. I checked the oil and no antifreeze got in it!! I was scared because I thought I was going to warp my aluminum heads for sure but she was ok!! The coolant spilled all over my opti and that is ok as well though at first it was misfiring until it dried. That must have been the scariest thing in my car ever man. If I was in my 76 camaro or my vette I know it would have been blown but this car stood the test of faith.. Anyone ever have this happen to them?

 

You are very lucky. I have never tried to fill an engine that hot with anything.

I guess my blowing a gasoline line off the back of my engine a few weeks back and not blowing up at 2:00am on 495 counts as lucky however.

 

Had similar things happen to my 94 Z28, those LT1's are tough engines. Can't say the same about the optispark though, I went through 3 in 3 years. You're very lucky that didn't go out. But yeah, I've driven my car with no coolant flow for over 10 miles to get home. Did you know as long as you stay above 45mph there's enough airflow to keep the car from overheating? It'll stay right around 210 but it won't overheat, it's only when you slow down that it gets hot

 

You are DAMN lucky!!! My only experience with a gas line leak(back about 10 years ago with my first hot rod) resulted in the arrival of 2 fire trucks... Needless to say that was pretty much the end for that car...

 

Nice save, I would have freaked out and just pulled over on the highway.

 

In both instances I would have pulled over but I had no idea what was wrong at first and I was only a few miles from my house so I started praying to the chevy gods that she would make it home and she did. (please no religous bashing it's a phrase)

 

the chevy gods! lol...I also own a ford truck ( i know i know) and those gods aren't as forgiving as the chevy gods, thats for sure.

 

I talked with a few of my mechanic buddies about it and they told me the ford engines overheat for more then 2 minutes they are toast!! I guess the ford gods have one up their sleeve!!