Pontiac Repair: 2005 Pontiac Vibe, 2005 pontiac vibe, pontiac vibe

Question
I have a 2005 Pontiac Vibe.  Last weekend, I drove it doing errands.  I parked it, and then ten minutes later when I returned, it would not start.  It would crank but not start.  It started after sitting another ten minutes and then stopped after I drove it for 10 minutes.  I had it towed to my mechanic, where it could be started again and driven off the tow truck.  In other words, it would start after sitting for a while, but would stop after running for a short period.  To make a long story short, the water pump had gone bad and most if not all the coolant had leaked out very slowly.  During all of this my temperature gauge never went up higher than half which has always been the normal position for the temperature guage.

The fact that I lost the coolant bothered me but my mechanic told me that the 2005 Vibe Engine Temperature Sensor shuts the engine down before overheating can do damage.

Is that true?  Do I need to worry about possible warped or cracked head or block?  What can I look for that would suggest problems with the head/block?

Answer
Hi Craig:

Anytime you overheat an engine there is the chance of damage to be caused. I guess it's a case by case issue wether or not your had any damage down to it. I can tell you that those engines are pretty tough. It's hard to kill them! it's a toyota and they run for ever. Just keep an eye on the temp guage the next few times you drive it and make sure the temp gauge doesn't spike and for the next week or so check the overflow bottle to make sure it's full to the cold line after it has sat over night cold it it's not over heating and it is not down on coolant I would say your ok. When this happened if you didn't get the oil changed I would suggest you have that done. Oil besides a cleaning agent and lubritant is also used to keeep the engine cool so it it got really hot I would suggest getting an oil change done as well. Good luck :-)