Hi guys
I went to look at a car for sale today. Firstly I must thank all of you who took time to write the information found on this site.

The car was definitely not in the "great" condition somebody advertised it for, the trunk was full of petrol fumes, the original radio was removed, the engine bay was not looked after and all in all I did not get the feeling this car was well looked after so I decided to walk away and continue my search.

One of my concerns in finding a possible car is the fact that the engine could have overheated on a previous occasion. Is there a way to "know" the engine have not overheated or can I assume that if the engine still runs fine any overheating has not damaged the engine?

I feel I can live with normal repairs like replacing perished hoses and tidy the wiring and service and replace normal items, what I am more concerned about now is the unseen damage.

Regards

 

The typical result of overheating the V12 is dropped valve seats...which make quite a clattering sound. If the engine is quiet you'll probably be OK.

I should add that the dropped valve seats can occur without overheating, per se. Even if the overall coolant temperature hasn't reached a dangerous level it is possible that coolant *flow* problems will cause localized steam/hot pockets which will can end up causing the same problem: dropped valve seats.

Cheers
DD

 

What you would really like to know is whether the engine might be in need of major work regardless of the cause.

In addition to observing the engine while running, you should have a compression test and a cooling system check performed.

 

A pre-purchase compression test would be great although, on a V12, you could be looking at several hours of labor...$$$.

Checking the cooling system for hydrocarbons would be easy, though, and could reveal a blown head gasket.

If the temp needle goes beyond the middle of the "N" in normal driving and in moderate ambient conditions you have some cooling system repairs looming ahead.

Cheers
DD