Expansion tank cap fail. Damage?

[hardcore302]

A while ago I was driving to work and saw the temp guage start to creep up, not too much. After I parked I saw coolant leaking from under the Mustang. I was late for work, so I left it. After work I went to check the coolant level and it was way low, and also saw chalky reside that definately looked like it was from before this incident, because the coolant that had leaked that day was still fairly wet.

It turns out that the cap was faulty and was not holding pressure. It had definately leaked more than once. I think the cap was bad for at least one OCI.

My question is, having a low coolant level, and as long as the temp didn't creep in the red zone (was about 3/4 of the way only once) could any damage had been done to the motor? I replaced the cap and flushed and filled the coolant immediatelt after I found out.

 

[walk23]

Time will tell, but if the temperature wasn't excessive you should be Ok.

 

[Scorch]

As long as the temperatures never climbed excessively high you will be fine. The water outlet on the top of my motor cracked because it was plastic welded together (what was chrysler thinking?) and I couldn't see it since it sits down in between the intake and hoses and motor. So I kept topping off small amount of coolant thinking the water pump was leaking, then one day immediately after arriving to work I popped the hood and the leak was spurting a pin-hole stream of coolant straight up. Lost about 1/2 gallon of coolant but refilled and haven't had a problem since.

 

[hardcore302]

If there is damage, what kind of damage are we talking about?

 

[The_Eric]

You'll be fine.

 

[hardcore302]

thanks