I'm in central NJ for the holidays, and just bought a '944T from a guy who claimed it overheated. The car is exceptionally clean otherwise, so I bought it for a steal with the intent of putting another engine in it.

Got the car home and started to look it over. I found where the coolant was leaking. But when I attemped to start the engine, I get no signs the engine is attempting to start. Having never worked on an over heated engine before, I am checking to make sure no other dumb failure has disabled the engine. This is what I know, tested, etc.

The P.O.'s son was driving it a couple weeks ago when it started bucking. He pulled over where the engine stalled, and noticed the temp gauge was in the hot zone. They put some water in the resv. and noticed it dripping on the ground. (May have been just spilled water) Their mechanic indicated the head is probably toasted, and who knows what else. Hence my ability to buy the car for a cheap song.

The engine is not frozen, maybe a little stiff, but not bad. After all it is cold out.

Put gas in the tank since the gas gauge read empty. I can hear the fuel pump running. No signs of the engine attempting to fire.

Checked the ignition final stage amp. with one from my '87 745T, (same part number). No problem here. The unit is working just fine.

Did the "pull a plug wire and test for spark with a screw driver". We have spark. Pulled the plugs and dried the gas off of them. Still no firing.

The timing belt is intact and rotating the cam shaft.

The coolant resv. is empty, but there is liquid in the lower rad hose. (Gave it the squeeze test and could hear liquid sloshing in the hose.)

SO, is there anything else to check for? It may be true the engine overheated, but I do not know if it really got toasted. I would think the engine would start after cooling down. It may sound bad if things are warped and stuck, but I would think it would at least try to start. Hence, I am wondering if something else failed, and the low coolant was the thing they observed. Obviously I would like to avoid pulling an engine if the engine is okay.

Any thoughts and other things to check for would be appreciated. Is it reasonable to expect a previously overheated engine that is not forzen up to start? I am leaving for home (upstate NY) tomorrow morning (Sunday) and will have a final chance to trouble shoot before I leave.

Thanks in advance for the information.

Gary D
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Gary D

Thanks for the suggestions on how to evaluate the engine in the 940 I recently bought.

I ran a couple more tests yesterday before returning home. At the suggestion of someone who owns a large engine repair shop, I slowly drained some of the oil out of the crankcase. The idea was to see if any coolant had gotten into the oil due to a warped head. Well, I drained better than two cups of water before I had an oil come out.

I then ran a compression test. I only checked the middle two cylinders. in both cylinders, the needle just jiggled a little. No pressure build up at all. Did not bother with the other cylinders, or doing a wet test.

From what I can see, the coolant lead was a slow one. The P.O. was not mechanically experienced. Hence, he probably did not keep a close eye on the fluid levels like many of us. My guess is the engine was overheating for a fairly long time in different parts of the engine. Yet, there was enough coolant to keep the location around the temp sensor cool enough to not raise alarm.

Bottom line, it looks like the engine is toast. Since I bought the car figuring the engine was toast, I am no farther behind than what was expected at purchase time. It would have been nice if only some simple repairs were all that was necessary to get it running again. Oh, well. I already have a line on an engine from a Volvo only salvage yard with about 85K on the clock. (the car has 127K on it)

In a few weeks, I will do the engine swap.

Thanks for all your input.

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Gary D

By the way, if you haven't found the leak yet, check the coolant hoses to the turbo. Happened to me. Sudden failure in the mall parking lot. Dropped the vast majority of the coolant, fast. Got it turned off quickley enough to save the engine but it could have gotten ugly fast had I been on the road. Could be what happened to yours. Definitely check the compression, could be anything from a stuck valve to a warped head but with no firing at all, I lean toward the more serious possibilities. Sorry.
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Bob Kraushaar '94 945T, '91 940T, '88 240, '94 F-150, '89 560 SL, '68 Shelby GT-500 KR

If you have spark & fuel, you might have lost compression, as the others say.

Squirt a tablespoon, or so, of clean engine oil in each cylinder, reinstall the plugs, and try again. You have nothing to lose by trying this except 10 minutes and a little oil.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

first thing, do a compression test. Easy to do, and quick, and it will tell you lots of info. While you do this, check each plug and note it's condition. Even if you don't have the compression gauge, it's worth it to go and buy one for a few bucks.

Greg

The last one I bought with a badly overheated engine would only start without water in its cooling system. The head was so badly warped the coolant got into the cylinders when you filled it up. Took it to pieces, skimmed the head and it still runs fine to this day. Don't run it for long like this though, less than a minute should be OK.


Regards


Pete

pull a injector, place in jar, crank car see if you get fuel...

if you do and it still wont start put a compression tester over the cylinders (you may have no compression)

remember ignition = compression + spark + fuel..

if you have compression + fuel + spark and no ignition its pretty much timing...

Provided an engine that has overheated only ran hot for a little while and was shut of, then it should start up fine. If one the other hand, the engine runs hot for several miles before the person driving realises that its hot, then things can seize and prevent the engine from running. That would mean a new engine. I had a very similar story with a Saab 9000 and I must say, I would never again buy a car that does not run.

George
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1987 745 GLE Turbodiesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46) 190k and 1988 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46) 290k