What happens when an engine overheats?
 

Reason for this is coming home from work the svo starts making an odd noise like something is about to fall off. Temp gauge is at normal but the vac is from 18 down to 10. I coast it a way down the road and stop at a house I know. I open the hood and it looks ok other than the smoke out the back and the hose that is off at the bottom of the water pump. Guessing about 4 miles with no water. Not hard driving but just 55 with some hills.
Well I sit with the the lady for 30 min's and then open the rad. pour some water in it with just a little steam coming out. Crank it up and smoke pours out the back. Runs good too!
I get it home and do a compression test on it. All are at 135 with no drop or week gains.
I know the heads get hot as hell when there is no water in it but I can't find anything wrong, yet.
Maybe a lucky day for me. Tough little 2.3 got me home again.
So what happens when they get really hot! Does it hurt something that I will find later?

is it still smoking? any skipping or anything of the like?

Any water in the oil? There are a few things that can happen like cracked/warped head,cracked block,etc.You said it was blowing smoke,was there any water dripping out of the tailpipe? Pull your plugs and check them for any moisture,or if one or more looks like it's been steam cleaned.My ex-wife ran mine hot to the point of "making a funny tapping sound,so I drove it another 3 miles before I called you:rolleyes:" when I still had the 2.3 in mine,and the water pump went out. I replaced the pump,and it ran perfect until the day I yanked it out,so you might be ok.

Drove it last night with no problems. I may re-torque the head this weekend just to make sure. No skipping and the plugs looked fine when I took them out.
Must not have been to bad on it.
Why did the vac drop down to 10. That is what really got me to thinking.

So far so good.

most SVOs are smokers..no lie. different reasons. mine was inadvertantly blowing oil out the dipstick under load. no leaks in the heads or engine.

vane meter?

:think: I don't see how that could be an issue.

Maybe the turbo blew up Kerry! :D

I cooked something for sure. I can drive it up the road at wot and it runs great. Idles perfect.
It smokes at startup. Makes me think valve seals. And if you let it set at idle for a couple of min it will smoke very bad then clear up. White and dark
Oil is fine and coolant is good. Plugs are little black but that is all.
Sounds good under load. 220 hp at 14 psi.
a few more things to look at but I may be putting another head on soon.
And it has 80mm maf

my wife ran my turbo coupe hot like that one time. It had white smoke coming out at times but not all the time. It turned out to be the head gasket. It just used very little water to. Drove it for a while before i traded it off. Waypastcrazy got it and rebuilt the motor and thats when he found the blowed gasket. Lol dont hurt the short block i do not have anymore!

Got it in the shop for sunday to pull the head. I may put on the head I have been porting for the last 2 years. Just a little more work and It will be ready.

Doing just like you are saying. smokes some times but not all the time.

hey i have a old merkur shortblock laying around here some where and joecoupes 20 over block and crank in the basement lol those things are tuff worst case you have a head problem or gasket.