Dakota has been broken & sitting for 8 months

being now mechanic, I would think, as far as starting, just make sure oil and everything is good before you start, i.e. not any water int he oil or metal. Just my opinion,

Probably, but you'll want to have someone with a bit more experience than you describe yourself as having work with you.

Depends on a number of things, but if the distance was truly short, and the guage never read hot, you may have little or no problems.

Change the oil. Check around the engine for animal nests and such, as they are a fire hazard. Crank it over without starting it by pulling the coil wire. Do this 2-3 times for about 10 seconds each. This should get oil up in the engine a bit, plus it'll allow you to hear if anything odd happens, so you can stop cranking. If all goes well, put the coil wire back on, and fire it up. let it idle for a short period of time, keeping an eye on everything. Look for smoke or steam, note the guages and see if they are sitting at normal levels. If all is well after about 3-5 minutes, shut it down, check the oil for level and contaminants.

If its ok then, fire it up and take a test drive around the block at low speed. From there, assuming all is ok, drive normally.

The gauge never read hot because all his coolant dumped onto the street when the lower radiator hose came off... that's a $25,000 EPA fine on top of everything else :)

And, it won't hurt to shoot a little lube at the throttle linkage assembly on the throttle body before starting it. This is from past experience. My '95 had been sitting for a while. I got in, turned the key, and it fired right up. I went to rev the engine a bit, and the throttle stuck wide-open. Ah well - that's what rev limiters are for.... oh yeah, except I had a performance computer, with (apparently) no rev limiter, cause the RPM jumped to a little over 5,000 (4,000 redline on the V10). I immediately shut it off, figured out what happend, lubed the throttle linkage, and tried it again.... worked much better the 2nd time :)

Not always true because with no coolant present it may not show temp properly and some part of heads can quickly reach 500 degrees and more when no coolant is present while other areas stay cooler which can lead to warpage. cracks and blown head gaskets. He needs to have someone more knowledable inspect it a bit.

----------------- The SnoMan

bet that was a little unnerving to see that needle swing that far that fast =) especially on the 8L (makes my pocket book hurt just thinking about what could have happened *grin*)

FIrst off, I said "may" not have problems. Second, I also noted if the distance was "truly short". These blocks can take a lot more than the Chevies you grew up with. Not ssying its indestructable, just saying if what he says is very close to fact, he'll have a good chance of getting away with one.

As to the inspection, ya know what the tech is gonna do? Put coolant in it and see if it'll run. Pretty much exactly what the OP is gonna do, only the OP probably won't charge himself $59.95 an hour to do it.

It was a fairly short distance and for the most part it was down hill. I don't think I went over 30 during it either. What is the purpose and name of the hose that fell off? It was located right below the tensioner and looks like it comes out from the bottom of the radiator and attaches to the engine. I'd like to know the name in case when I get in there it looks like it was damaged and I can pick up a new one.

Thanks!

by the way, what does "OP" stand for?

Lower radiator hose. Purpose is to return cooled water to the engine to be pumped through to cool the engine.

"OP" = Original Poster

dable inspect it a bit.

FIrst my first street rod in late 60's and early 70 was a Plymouth with a big V8 I swapped in and a worked on and drove, pontiacs, chevys and dodges too. The first thing that can go with now coolant is the heads and a 90 dodge v8 has very thin wall casting and it not the anvil that dodge motors were in 60 and 70's for such abuse. Even a very short distance can damage them with not coolant in them. If it is overheating with coolant in it is is a different matter but no coolant at all is risky at best in a newer motor even for a short distance as engine was already warm before coolant was lost too.

----------------- The SnoMan