Quote:
Originally Posted by Sebring Studios
Here's what happened:
Driving my full-size Dodge van down the freeway today. (Vegas - Heavy traffic - 110 in the shade)
Radiator temp guage shows hot but not in the danger zone. Oil pressure guage is fine. Turn off AC to cool down engine. A few minutes later truck loses power. Barely make it to the shoulder. Oil pressure guage now showing zero pressure/red light on. Stop engine immediately. No smoke or odors of burning anything.
Call AAA, they tow back to my house - Let it cool for a few hours and tried it. Starts like a new car. Test drove it, drives great as always. So I'm wondering...
Could it be that either the engine oil, transmission fluid or engine coolant overheated to the poitn where the system shut down? Are there safety thermostats in auto engines that shut the car down to keep it from burning up?
Something must have overheated, doesn't seem to be any permanant damage. All fluid levels are fine.
Any ideas what happened? Thanks in advance for opinions.
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Once the engine stalls there is no oil pressure if it's an automatic transmission, so naturally the oil gauge will show 0 if your engine stalled.
What year van is it? Is it carbureted or fuel injected?
As explained above the elec ignition module can get hot and shut off the engine, then work again when cooled. Quite common with Fords in the late 70's and early 80's. You can test it by cooling it with a water hose if you can duplicate the problem again.
Another intermittent problem could be a fuel line vapor lock. This usually happens with hot temps, and or if the gas cap or tank is not venting properly.
If you blew a head gasket more than likely you will have water in the oil as well as white smoke coming out the tailpipe. white smoke = water, blue smoke = oil, black smoke = fuel