Ok, so I have a 1997 3.8 liter ford mustang. I was driving home from work the other day, when temp gauge started to go up. I brought it to mechanic, and he said it was a bad water pump, due to bad antifreeze. So I am getting a new pump, and an antifreeze flush. My question is that since it overheated, will there be any damage to the engine? The temperature gauge never hit the red, and smoke never came out. I had to drive it for approx 15-20 miles when it started to overheat, and the temp gauge was bouncing from hot to normal.
Depending on how long you overheated your car and how hot it was.
The temp gauge prob bounced from hot and normal because the water pump worked intermittently and if you didnt drive the car in the red zone and was working when you brought it to the mechanic theres nothing wrong with it
If its starts, runs and drives its probably ok. Sometimes the engine block can crack--- if so you might notice that you are loosing oil or antifreeze---- and/or they are mixing together inside the engine. Also, if you see a lot of white smoke coming from the tailpipe then you have a problem. Otherwise, even if it was overheated it should be fine as long as it wasn't driven for extended periods, over and over. Often what really causes damage to overheated vehicles is when people add cold water to an overheated engine, which can cause it to crack as well. The spark plugs probably got the worst of it... Change the spark plugs and your oil. Good luck and best regards.
All kidding aside, the 3.8 Ford engine was discontinued for a mountain of reasons. When the temperature indicator went into the red zone, you should have shut the motor off and parked the car just like it tells you to do in the glove compartment manual. Lets have a little primer on tour temperature gauge and why the needle was bouncing around: The electrical temperature sensor in one of the cylinder heads is a contact sensor. This means unless it has to touch the coolant all the time it will not send the heat information to the gauge reader on the dash accurately. When the electrical sensor in the cylinder head HAS NO COOLANT TO TOUCH, the dash gauge reads ZERO. In other words the hottest part of the engine was not being cooled all the time. Never drive anything anywhere unless the radiator is filled to the top when the engine is stone cold and the plastic coolant recovery reservoir is at least 3/4 filled when the motor is stone cold.. If the cooling system is leaking as fast as you fill it, TOW the car do not DRIVE IT. Cross your fingers and hope that the valve seats didn't fall out of the cylinder heads.
Overheating your engine is never good , but are you certain it was actually overheated or just a loose wire, faulty thermostat or other giving erratic readings.. If the Engine did not SMELL hot, if the engine performance did not change, if it did not overheat to the extreme...and quickly, it was probably NOT the water pump. Too, it probably did not damage the engine if it was overheated only to the degree that you say. I would wonder about the water pump scenario. Is it possible that you were in extended stop and go traffic in hot weather, and/or your radiator fluid was low and basically getting air in the system.? I hope your mechanic is competent and honest, and the problem was as he said. Usually there is NO Question in the symptoms that the Engine is overheated (regardless of gauge reading). The OIL would get very thin and HOT as well. Just wondering. Good luck.. P.S. I just read Avatar Country Boy's response after I submitted mine. He has some good advice too. I would add that if the engine ever overheats and loses water (or needs water) DONT EVER POUR WATER INTO A HOT OVERHEATED ENGINE !!!!! If you got the radiator cap off in the first place without getting scalded or WORSE, if you try to add water it WILL essentially EXPLODE back in your face as it hits super heated cooling system parts, and most likely crack your engine block, and/or warp your engine heads...serious engine damage. Instead, let it cool completely Again...Good luck..
