Engine is dead, any solutions?

[ting]

I was driving my saab and i felt the engine has no power at all and temperature is high; I pulled over and white smoke came out of the engine. The coolant leaked out and engine was overheat. Then I found the leak and sealed it.
I think I made a mistake, I start refilling water when the engine is still very hot.
Then I drive my car to a motel and left my car over night. The 2nd morning, the engine can't start anymore. Fuel and battery are good. The weird thing is that coolant start to flow out from the coolant reservoir (not sure what it is called, where the coolant is added into the engine) when I turned the key.
I asked a mechanics about it. He said the headgasket is burned and I have coolant end up in the cylinder; the engine is dead even if I replace the headgasket because the heat may have deformed the engine.
This car broke down about 200KM from my home, and it is expensive to tow it back home. Does an operation on HG will save the car? If it does, I will try to tow it back and fix it in my garage. Otherwise I have to dispose it.
Can anyone help me on this?

[TooMany2cvs]

Originally Posted by ting

Can anyone help me on this?

Sounds like the HG for sure - but your mechanic's wrong about the engine being dead-dead. It's a common problem, and there's plenty of DIY threads here covering HG changes.

[ludichris001]

Originally Posted by ting

I think I made a mistake, I start refilling water when the engine is still very hot.

yep. a very bad and potentially costly mistake...
NEVER fill a hot engine with cold coolant.
the change in temperature (cold coolant flowing into a hot cylinder head), will cause the head to warp and crack.

i have had friends do this to their cars, cracked the heads every time and no matter how many times i tell them not to, they still do it.

there is a very high chance (99.9999%) that the head on your car is warped and probably cracked

sorry mate..

chris

[ting]

After refilling the coolant, I started the engine and drove about 20km down hill. Does that mean cracking is not a possibility? The mechanics mentioned that there was not enough of compression to start the engine.
If the head is damaged, i think i have to give up.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by ludichris001

yep. a very bad and potentially costly mistake...
NEVER fill a hot engine with cold coolant.
the change in temperature (cold coolant flowing into a hot cylinder head), will cause the head to warp and crack.

i have had friends do this to their cars, cracked the heads every time and no matter how many times i tell them not to, they still do it.

there is a very high chance (99.9999%) that the head on your car is warped and probably cracked

sorry mate..

chris

[TrollMedic]

Do a head gasket replacement job.
Have the head checked over at a machineshop.
If the head is good,have it milled flat and reassemble.
Probably want a new thermostat,fan switch and maybe a new radiator.
All realitivly cheap stuff.
I saw an ad on TV this AM.
Special offer.
New base model Volvo wagon just $36,500 USD.
Think I'll keep my Saab going.
TrollMedic

[Steve Corgan]

Originally Posted by ting

After refilling the coolant, I started the engine and drove about 20km down hill. Does that mean cracking is not a possibility? The mechanics mentioned that there was not enough of compression to start the engine.
If the head is damaged, i think i have to give up.

Cheers!

When my wife noticed that the temp gauge was on hot in her 87 900S, she thought, "I better head straight home so Steve can fix it." Of course home was 90 miles away. She did make her best effort though and drove the car hot and w/o coolant until it literally wouldn't run any more. She's very cute so it only took a couple of minutes for a good Samaritan to come out of his house with a bucket of cold water and pour it into the engine. He told her, "It will be alright; I do this all the time."

The machine shop told me that the head was so badly warped (he called them "waves") that it couldn't be straightened or machined. Up to this time I'd only done oil, filter, and air filter changes, spark plugs and tune-ups on our only Saab at that time. We didn't have the bucks to pay to have the head replaced so I decided to do it myself. I bought a 16V head at the Pick 'N Pull (DIY salvage yard) for $60, bought the head bolts and gaskets online, and I did my home work reading all of the DIY info I could find online. I installed the head and head gasket just fine. We've put about another 100k miles on the car since and it's still running strong. If I can do it, any body with decent DIY mechanic skills can do it.

Pull your head and take it to a shop to have it checked for trueness and pressure. If it passes, use it. If not, hunt up a used one. It doesn't sound like you did any damage to the engine block itself. You do want to pull that head ASAP though. There's probably water in some or all of the cylinders. You need to clean that mess up before oxidation damages the pistons and cylinder walls.

[900t]

Worst case change the head... probably will be okay but you have to look!

[ting]

Thanks a lot guys!
That's very helpful. I will manage to tow my saab back and do the head job DIY.

[ting]

I did a quick check this weekend. I took the spark plug out, there is no water in the cylinders (I thought it should be full of water after a week). But the engine still can't start.
After a few quick test, I feels like the problem come from leakage in the head; not enough of compression, so that the engine can not reach the inertia to keep running. But if the leakage is so large, how come there is no water in the cylinders?
I am towing my car back tomorrow and will do a complete head surgery.

[ludichris001]

a blown head gasket wont always leak water into the cylinders/oil it could be a break between cylinders so the compression from one cylinder is flowing through the break in the gasket to the cylinder next to it, water jackets are on the outer edges of the cylinder bores, and only the cast iron of the bottom end of the engine is between each cylinder, if i can find a pic i will post as an example if you want.
i would also suggest doing a compression test before you pull it all apart.

chris.

[ting]

I got the car back and had a few friends inspected.
We keep cranking the engine and press the throttle all the way down, after a while, the engine got started. Once it is warmed up, everything is just like before. I give it a drive, the engine does not seem to have lost power due to the overheating. I checked the engine oil when it is hot, it looks ok (does not seem to be mixed with water).
What really puzzles me is how come the engine was not starting and once it got started, everything looks fine.
The other thing I want to solve is the leakage hose. It goes into the interior for heating (the plastic connector was broken). I am thinking about replacing a new one. Does anyone know the name of it or the saab product number? Is it an easy job?

[900t]

Originally Posted by ting

I got the car back and had a few friends inspected.
We keep cranking the engine and press the throttle all the way down, after a while, the engine got started. Once it is warmed up, everything is just like before. I give it a drive, the engine does not seem to have lost power due to the overheating. I checked the engine oil when it is hot, it looks ok (does not seem to be mixed with water).
What really puzzles me is how come the engine was not starting and once it got started, everything looks fine.
The other thing I want to solve is the leakage hose. It goes into the interior for heating (the plastic connector was broken). I am thinking about replacing a new one. Does anyone know the name of it or the saab product number? Is it an easy job?

I don't know why it was not starting... if it runs good, then it does, enjoy

[Rodentmaster]

If you go genuine...........

expect a associated price.
There are 'non genuine' hoses available, (problem I've struck is no one cares to stock the Saab specific hoses, always need to be ordered in.......).

I would suggest if you are going to start changing hoses, that you take a long term approach and change as many as you can now. The higher/hotter hoses will and do get brittle and tend to show up............ after one weak point is cured, another weak point tends to become apparent. Main culprits I encountered are the two upper hoses to the radiator (and the metal pipe insert), the short elbow hose under the thermostat, and the little hoses at the throttle body.

[supremedalek]

If you are bored, do a compression check.

[Turbofrenzy]

It's highly unlikely that a blown head gasket will give you not enough compression to start the engine, normal the gasket only blows on 1 cylinder or between 2 adjacent cylinders. The car will be difficult to start, run rough and maybe blow white smoke out of the exhaust.
Prehaps you had another fault that stopped the motor starting.
Normally if you turn the engine over and it pumps coolant out you have a major headgasket problem.