i was driving home last nite and the clamp on the top radiator hose broke and the hose came off and well, once i got home she was smoking pretty good. I drove about 5 blocks but im not sure when or where the hose actually came off at. Do you guys think there was any damage to the motor or do you think i got really lucky and my 302 is stll good. Thanks, Chris unger

 

Well fix the hose fill it up with water and see if it runs good. I had a lincoln with a 302 that the heater hose went bad on and I overheated it and it was fine. also a freind of mine had a 87 cougar with a 302 that had a bad water pump and he overheated it many times. So you should be ok

 

I think you're okay. Remember to turn the heater on if it happens again. If you did have the heater on when it happened this time, I'm positive you're okay. Only five blocks, piece of cake.

Oh, if you live in a cold climate, please fill it up with antifreeze, not water.

 

i talked to my dad today and he told me the engines fine as well, the heater was on, and i have antifreeze to put back in it.

 

Just a quick question about having the heater on when i thought i had overheated my truck. What is having the heater on helping? Thanks, Chris Unger

 

The heater pulls heat off your engine coolant system. Pulling the heat off/out helps keep the engine 'cooler', not by a huge amount I admit, but it helps in times of overheating events. It's just something that 'helps'. Having the heater on surely won't prevent damage if you go too long without coolant however.

 

Now that just depends on how quick the coolant loss is. Once the water pump can't pull anything out of the radiator, with the t-stat open, heater on ain't gonna do diddly for him. When the water pump gets on air, better get it put on the shoulder ASAP. Temperature is gonna skyrocket, and since no coolant is going through the aluminum intake where the temperature sending unit is, it's gonna be too late when the temp gauge pegs.

Based on the top radiator hose letting go, I'd say the coolant loss was gonna be very quick. 302's are tough buggers, though, and there's still come cooling from the oil, albeit not much. The self destruction comes when the oil cooks and solidifies, or a gasket has a melt-down and creates a leak where a leak shouln't be. When the oil loses it's lubricating quality, parts with tight tolerances don't slide so good. 5 blocks isn't very far, as long as the RPM was kept down and it was pampered to get home, and that also depends on how big the city blocks are.

I lost ALL the coolant in a 1976 Mercury Monarch with a 302 going up I-81 in Virginia. Even though we were freezing in the car, the temp light blinked at me, so I pulled over to check. Seal was shot on the water pump, so my coolant was probably evenly distributed between Tuscaloosa, AL and Bristol, VA. Fortunately for me, the weather was cooperating with me with outside temperatures around 5 degrees F. Just the air being pumed through the engine was keeping it cool enough to prevent meltdown. New water pump went on the next day in Schenectady, NY in -3 degree snowing weather after limping the rest of the way with several jugs of water in the trunk, and stopping every 200 miles or so. I could tell it was getting low while driving because the temperature would drop inside the car when no more coolant was going through the heater core. In addition, no matter the setting on the heater, coolant flow is ALWAYS going through the heater core on these trucks. There is no shut-off valve in the coolant lines to the heater. The only thing that will stop coolant flow to the heater core is a plugged up heater core or missing heater hose. Cab air temperature control is done by diverting air through or around the core.

 

i traced my steps last nite to see exactly where i lost the antifreeze and it appears i got lucky again, i didn't start losing coolant till i was driving down my road and then once i hit the driveway(a lil bump before the driveway) there was a nice puddle. then all the way up the driveway. So it appears that i got lucky. Found out the cause of the hose coming off, it was loose. That would have been my fault. But atleast nothing was lost, drove her around today and things seem to be fine, she still has her power(or lack there of)