Water Temp Questions
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Water Temp Questions
What water temp is considered "overheating"? And what temp can do damage to a 350 block with aluminium heads? I let it idle too long while working on something and it got pretty warm.. 
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
If there is coolant in the system, I don't think you can really do any damage to the block or heads. When the engine is run without coolant, aluminum heads can warp pretty quickly.
'Normal' ICE temperatures can be anything between 140F and 230F. Higher than that doesn't do damage to the hard metal parts...at least not due to the heat...but 240F and up can cause your oil to burn/degrade so that it no longer lubricates the parts and they start to eat on each other. Synthetic oils can take higher heat levels...sometimes up to 300F. That is another reason that I choose to use synthetic oil.
'Normal' ICE temperatures can be anything between 140F and 230F. Higher than that doesn't do damage to the hard metal parts...at least not due to the heat...but 240F and up can cause your oil to burn/degrade so that it no longer lubricates the parts and they start to eat on each other. Synthetic oils can take higher heat levels...sometimes up to 300F. That is another reason that I choose to use synthetic oil.
