Tbuck2007

So, for some reason the dumbass who last looked at my car said he put premix in my coolant system, but he just put water in it and charged me 10 bucks. Now When I put my car in my non heated garage to look at some stuff I need to fix I saw very thin ice sheets, very brittle in the hoses, in the water neck, in the radiator..a lot of coolant came out when I drained it, but I fear theres still water in the block thats froze, hopefully it hasnt cracked..my question is how do you thaw it out??? Thanks.

IROC-You

Start it up, let it warm up then drain the coolant and put some antifreeze in it.

Air_Adam

Drain the cooling system, fill it back up with 50/50 with the oil plug in the pan out. If nothing comes out of there, then you may be ok. If that checks out, you should pressure test the cooling system. Its a simple job that takes about 5 mins to do, but it will tell you if you have any leaks anywhere... leaks that could be a crack in a head or in the block, which is often what happens when the cooling system freezes solid.

riotpolice75

i would strongly advise you NOT do that. you run a real real good chance of cracking the block or popping out a freeze plug. same thing happened to me and i didnt know it. it overheated in less than 2 minutes. luckily i shut it down before it did any major damage past me having to replace the thermostat, coolant temp sensor and coolant temp sending unit. problem is, itll heat the block up real quick and partially or totally thaw whats in the block. but everything else like the radiator and the hoses still remains frozen solid.

beat thing you can do is put it in the garage and heat the garage up a little.



smith

Tbuck2007

its 28 degrees..garage isnt heated so its not much warmer. what if i put a small heater and aimed it towards the engine? Its like..6 inches tall, 6 inches wide, doesnt put out much heat but..

Air_Adam

Does your car have a block heater? Just plug that in for about 6 hours and that should help to thaw it out.

Tbuck2007

Does my car have a block heater??? Wtf? No I dont think so

Gumby

got a flush n fill kit, only like 4 bucks?

got a 2 garden hoses and a $3 adapter to hook one to the sink?

COuld easily just flush the block with water, start cold and work your way up warmer.

The flush kits let ya hook up hoses on fill and drain so yon can control where it goes.

Or just fill n drain the hard way. Kit is cheap though.

could also get fancy and rmeove plugs, bit of oil down each plug. unplug coil fo no wild spark and spin motor over to try and move water if you worried.

worst case is ya pop a freeze plug. Never cracked or heard of anyone craking a block. It does happen but freeze plugs do their jobs 90% of the time.

Vader

If you feel like starting it, remove the belt, or replace the pump.

At 28º, it shouldn't be solidly frozen if there is ANY antifreeze in it.

HINT: The water from your garden hose should be at least 50º, and is probably warmer than that.

What are you complaining about? Our high today was -1ºF. Warm up the block (however you want) and drain it. Fill it with STRAIGHT antifreeze so when it mixes with whatever else is in there is will still protect.

Pray your radiator and heater core have not burst.

riotpolice75

you could potentially point that heater at your radiator with the drain opened up. as the heater heats the radiator up itll melt the water in it and itll run out the drain. soon as its empty or reasonably empty do what vader said and fill it with straight antifreeze. i'll pretty much second everything he said. and yea, pray your heater core didnt pop.



smith

Reid Fleming

iTrader: (2)

Not sure? Take a look by your driver's side exhaust manifold. If you see a small 3 prong electrical plug there with a cover on it, that's your heater.

littlebagz

I'm in New England, and have seen plenty of blocks freeze and crack. A lot of guys in the race club run water only as a coolant and more then once you get caught in the cold and oopsie ...block frozen.

I have seen several blocks crack in the lifter valley about an inch from the head deck. I have also seen heads crack along the bottom near the spark plug hole.

I have never seen a "freeze plug" pushed out in any of the frozen engines I have seen. Ice usually starts where it is in contact with cold air, i.e the top of the engine in the head. You will have a lot of ice and expansion before the ice reaches the plugs on the sides of the block.

As I understand it those "freeze plugs" are cast to wash the sand out of the mold when the blocks are cast, allowing expansion for ice i belive is a simply circumstantial aspect of their existence.

Viprklr

iTrader: (5)

The 88 Formie I picked up at the boneyard had a cracked block. When I say cracked block I mean CRACKED. The crack looked like + only 6 inches in diameter. It almost looked like a rod tried flying out the side of the block. The thing ran fine so I know it was a freeze problem. Not a single freeze plug had popped. Go figure.

Dialed_In

iTrader: (3)

another vote here to not start it. IF it is cracked and you start it up, you're going to pump water through the engine. Use a heater to warm it up and drain the system. Pressure thes the engine. If it's ok, fill it with antifreeze. Even if it checks out ok, be sure to keep an eye on the oil for a while. Sometimes when they freeze they may crack but not leak. After running a little while the crack can spread and can leak.