I have a carb'ed ls1 in my c3 that I severely overheated yesterday. I don't know if I dodged a bullet or just haven't realized I'm screwed yet. The lower radiator hose blew off yesterday at the union used to match the two different sized hoses needed for the swap. I don't know when it happened exactly since I was driving at speed it must have all dumped under the car and the steam must've went under as well. I started noticing the oil pressure dropping sitting at a light, nothing scary but lower than I'm used to seeing it. I pulled over about a block away at a gas station and shut it down and realized what happened. The gauge pegs at 240 so can't say how hot it got and the oil pressure was the first thing I noticed so can't even say how long it was that hot, but it was a short drive home so couldn't be but a few minutes. The temp gauge is laying near the console at the moment while the swap is getting the details finished and I check it periodically going down the road so didn't realize I was overheating, no steam and low oil pressure had me thinking mechanical issue and I paid all my attention to the pressure gauge while I got to a safe place to stop (stupid with the temp gauge I know, I'm beating myself up enough so be gentle). I got the hose hooked back up and filled it back up and putted it home and all drove well, no noises, no smoke, no noticable change in power (though I didn't push it to test that theory much), and once it fully cooled down the oil pressure was fine again. I won't be driving it for a few days while I get the union that was supposed to keep this from happening reengineered so am wondering if I should be optimistic about this or not. Can LS1's take overheating well, if they get crazy hot what's the first thing that typically goes so I can look for symptoms, should I change the oil before I drive it again? Fingers crossed here, it's a built LS1 with maybe 100 miles on it.

 

AL warps and cracks when it gets hot; I'd look for water leaks in the heads and pressure test the system to see if water tries to push out anywhere; also look for bubbles in the radiator. Maybe a leak down test of the cylinders too.

 

i have seen 280 oil temp at the track with no damage . changeing the oil seems like a sensilble precaution
john

 

Be lucky it is not an old rx7. Once they over heat the apex seals in the rotors are shot.