Thawing my car out

by jrb75 Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:34 pm

Go figure, of all the things I left for last when doing some general maint to the car after getting it in October...I leave flushing the radiator for last. Go to start my car Wed am and I hear squealing and smell burning rubber, hmmm. DOH Evil or Very Mad

. It's in the garage still thawing out, cant get the rad cap off and the upper hose felt like it had a slushy in it, Bottom hose is frozen solid. Guess that's what I get for not getting to it sooner. Got a couple days of below 30 and single digit nights combined with living in Oklahoma, you know "Where the wind comes a sweepin' down the plains" and did....and froze my car....#**@^&%$&@@(%&&@^%@!!!

by Limey SE Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:36 pm

dont feel bad Mine is still froze LOL

by badbiscayne66 Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:51 pm

GOOD WAY TO CRACK A BLOCK!! affraid

by Limey SE Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:27 pm

well mine is Unthawed as I type this put a heater on it and in Garage for 10 hours

by jrb75 Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:12 pm

Well, I got it thawed out and as I was flushing it out all the brown pond water I found a steady drip from the front of the block somewhere. I cant see up between the power n water pumps but, I'm sure it's not good.

by Mcarlo77 Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:01 am

Theoretically, the freeze plugs are supposed to pop if the block freezes. Hopefully, yours is something minor.

By the way, do you guys in the South run 50/50 antifreeze year 'round? Or, is that just something us Upper Midwest guys do out of necessity.

by HDHugger Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:49 am

How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

by abajc3 Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:09 am

HDHugger wrote:How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

i believe there are 8, 10 on most 400s

by JB2wheeler Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:09 am

Antifreeze not only helps protect from freezing, but also has antirust properties that will only last a few years and has to be replenished and has a small amount of lubrication for the water pump. If no antifreeze is used these properties have to be added to water. Its best to just use the antifreeze mixture. BTW, when you buy premixed antifreeze you are paying heavily for the water in that mixture and not obnly that, but you are paying, in one way or another, for shipping that water from supplier to consumer. JB

by 1973 454 MONTE Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:28 pm

i did the same thing to my 454,it froze and blew out the freeze plugs. Sad

by jrb75 Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:36 pm

Shoulda flushed it out when I planned to. I'll get it back in the garage and tear it down and find out what ones are blown out, thinking it's just the one on the front of the block on the left side.

by The Dude Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:47 am

Mcarlo77 wrote:By the way, do you guys in the South run 50/50 antifreeze year 'round? Or, is that just something us Upper Midwest guys do out of necessity.

50/50 for me. I'm pretty sure you need the mix to be correct for a few reasons.

1) What JB said
2) Obviously to keep it from freezing
3) It actually raises the boiling point of water, so it's needed in the hot weather climates just as badly as you Yankees need it.

abajc3 wrote:
HDHugger wrote:How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

i believe there are 8, 10 on most 400s

Most small blocks have two per side, some other engines have 3 per side. This means Most engines have between 4-6 plugs total.

by Mcarlo77 Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:38 pm

I would think the 50/50 mix would be necessary for everyone, too. But, it never ceases to amaze me how many times I hear of people just dumping water in their radiators (or, overflow tanks) when low on coolant around here. And sure, in smaller amounts, it isn't going to make much, if any, difference most of the year. But invariably, these same people forget to check their coolant when winter rolls around and then when the first -20 degree night hits, "pop" goes the freeze plugs! Was really just wondering if a lesser concentrate of antifreeze was used in the Southern states.

by Limey SE Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:40 pm

Never add straight water here thats a no no round these parts

by Biomedtech Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:11 pm

Arent there a couple of them behind the flexplate too?

by jrb75 Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:16 pm

Here we go again. After a month I find another leak from the back right side of the block. I put an xmem in from a 74 and planned to take it in to get duals. As if my carb rebuild job wasn't bad enough-choke trouble, I think-I find that drip Tues morning. I replaced the front left, flushed the system, no leaks at all and all the sudden...There it is a month later....lol

by Jim_Rockford Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:47 pm

For the record they are not "Freeze plugs" they are core plugs that cast in the block to remove the sand out of the water jackets when they cast the block. if a block freezes It gonna crack where ever it wants.

by Cdub74 Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:06 am

Up here I would die if I left my car outside. Is there more water than coolant in it?

by jrb75 Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:23 am

After replacing the front plug, it was a 60/40 ratio roughly. It was all frozen so solid that its not surprising to have found more than one blown out(given its not something worse than second) just, expected to see it all once it originally thawed out. Ill get under there in thenext couple days and see whats what.

by texan01 Sat Feb 26, 2011 6:35 pm

Mine sat in the garage for the cold snaps we had. I did try to get it out once and wound up remembering how much of a handful they are in ice and put it back in, despite the anemic 305 and retarding the timing it still was a handful. Had to drive it to get a new t-stat for the Explorer since it got stuck open and was covered in 5" of snow and ice.

I run 50/50 for the most part, sometimes 70/30.

My Explorer gets a flush like every year since it finds it needs a new place to leak from all the time.

by Sponsored content

Thawing my car out

Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out

Re: Thawing my car out