So my heater line burst, apparently, and drained all of the coolant while I was out tuning with my new exhaust. Funny thing was...MS didn't show coolant over 215°F. Fortunately, I was close to home and made it back into the garage (babying, obviously), but the damage is done, I'm afraid.

So what are the chances that running without coolant for a mile or so didn't damage anything? It seemed to be running fine, and the oil didn't seem to be cloudy at all.

What do you guys suggest? Pull the head and have it checked, replace the headgasket, and be on my way? Or just replace the heater hose and continue to drive it?

Figures...everything was running great finally

 

if it was only a mile then its probably fine

 

replace the heater hose and see what happens

 

I would check the compression just for the hell of it. Replace the heater hose, and drive it if all checks out. If you notice problems then I would tear it down. It's possible you didn't damage anything but you might as well do the tests you can before tearing it down. If the head is screwed you should be able to tell with leakdown test.

 

Good call on the compression and leak-down test. Guess I'll have to find me a tester kit

 

unless it's running bad it's probably ok, replace hose see

 

open the hood, and run it as an air cooled motor.

 

ha, that's actually how I got it home

 

i bet your fine, specially if it didn't start running weird.

 

+1 this happened on our 96 before we had to park it trying to find a problem turning out to be a stuffed up cat and bad FP relay. It still runs fine to this day.

 

Once you replace that hose and get it running, order yourself a complete set of hoses and replace them *ALL*. That was the weakest one. Once you replace it with one that will hold pressure, the next weakest one will take the brunt and it will go in due time. Just replace them all and get it over with. This includes the coolant lines to the turbo unless they are less than a year old or they are some kind of super lines (steel overbraid, reinforced silicone, etc.). BTDT. This way you can shop for a good price on the hoses and plan for the swap, instead of getting stranded somewhere.

 

this is so true, ask me how I know....

 

Actually, they're all new (within the year) except for the heater hoses

I'll replace both heater hoses and go from there.

 

Back up and running. When I get a chance, I'll do a compression and leakdown test. Seems to be running ok though.

Next thing on the list...EBC...not liking the occasional boost spike that puts me into a conservatively rich cell (but on the edge of the injector I'm using), and sometimes blips my boost overrun protection.