Can driving without coolant damage my engine?

Question

I tried to start my car this morning, and it didn't sound the same as usual. After a few seconds, I smelled something incredibly odorless and my engine stalled. I quickly got out of the car and opened the hood, and I saw that my car was out of coolant. I had just recently added some, which made me suspicious.

I inspected the bottom of my car and noticed something jammed into the underside of my coolant tank. I pulled it out, and it appeared to be the remains of my son's missing pogo stick. The hole wasn't so big, so I decided to simply shove the pogo stick back inside and firmly duct tape it in place so no more coolant would leak out.

After adding some more coolant, I drove to work and everything was fine until I decided to go get some quality lunch at my favorite strip club. When I tried to go back to work after eating out, I found the pogo stick lying in a puddle of coolant beneath my car. Despite this dilemma, I drove back to work successfully. Did I do any permanent damage?

Answer 1

It depends on how hot the weather was and how far you drove. If its cool and a few miles it wont melt your engine. But if you see smoke or notice the little thermostat going really high you need to pull over and add coolnt . You cant drive it long before you melt your engine, so you need to get it fixed soon.

Answer 2

Well this all depends on quite a few factors. What color was the pogo stick? How long did it take for you to eat out? I just pray to god that the pogo stick wasn't pink and in there for more than 5 minutes... Something much like this happened to a friend of mine who took 7 minutes to eat out at his favorite strip club (I think it was soggy taco night) and he ended up almost dying because of some harmful fumes that drifted into the car.

Answer 3

I'd be more concerned about the brain damage you seem to have.The car can be repaired.I'm not sure about you though.

Answer 4

If you punctured your over flow jar and not the radiator and the car did not over heat you should be OK. If the antifreeze was from the radiator and the car was over heated you could have caused some internal damage.did the idiot light come on or the temperature gage climb over 200 degrees? If the answer is yes you may have problems ahead!!

Answer 5

I would say that it is more than likely.  How far did you drive without any coolant? You need to get it fixed immediately and don't drive it without coolant. Not even up the street and back. Without coolant your car overheats and causes all kinds of engine problems.

Have it looked at to make sure there isn't permanent damage and then have the coolant tank replaced.