Engine stops overheating

[paulivan]

Going up a hill the engine cut off all of a sudden. I looked at temp gauge and it was redlined.

 

What causes engine to shut down during overheating? Is this an engineered response?

 

Thanks,

 

PT

[JPX]

:confused:Hmmmm....The only two conditions I can think of:

1. coolant temp sensor trips out the ECU at some point and cuts off engine

2. engine seizes? (You'd probably have a lot of trouble restarting after this)

[friendly_jacek]

Going up a hill the engine cut off all of a sudden. I looked at temp gauge and it was redlined.

 

What causes engine to shut down during overheating? Is this an engineered response?

 

Thanks,

 

PT

Well, it was the engine yelling at you: Look at the gauges please! But seriously, no idea. I know some boats have this protections build in, didn't know about cars.

[paulivan]

Engine seems to start up and run just fine although I do have an internal head gasket leak now.

[idosubaru]

i think it's just a matter of things expanding and seizing internally. let it cool down and it'll free up. i had the same thing happen to my first subaru a 1988 Subaru XT 4 cylinder. didn't know anything about cars, it overheated and i kept driving it....had to down shift from 5th to 4th as it lost power, then to 3rd, then 2nd then eventually it just stopped and wouldn't turn over. came back the next day and it fired right up and i drove it for another 2 years after that without issue, after i replaced the water pump of course. ended it's life with coolant loss issues...probably head gaskets but who knows. now that i work on all my own stuff i probably wouldn't believe that story if someone told me.