Almost Frozen

Here in NY the weather has been in the 40s-50s-60s the last two or three weeks. Been driving off & on. Water only in the raditaor. Last night the temp dropped into the teens & only 20 today. Got home today to drain the water & the pitcock was frozen with ice, I took off the raditaor cap, the water in the top of the tank was not frozen. I went in the house & got the wifes blow dryer & heated the pitcock & in about 15 sec water started comming out. When all water stopped dripping I put about a quart of antifreeze untill I saw green comming out the pitcock. I hope everything is ok. Would this of hurt anything??

Bob

Lucky you, it looks like you caught it in time.You don't need any more close calls like that. It usually takes a fairly good freeze to crack the block. Usually the seams in the tubes in the radiator (they aren't seamless tubing) will start to open up first. This used to be a problem up this way when they used alchol for anti-freeze. It would evaporate or boil away before the water would, then freeze and split open and start to leak. I usually leave anti freeze in year round as I feel it helps prevent rust also. It is usually to weak by fall from adding water all summer. Regards Cam

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

The engine has freeze plugs in it. If there was freezing in the block some leakage may show up there. Could also cause some internal leaking. I guess the best thing to do is let it completely thaw..look for leaks and then after you get it started check closely for water in the exhaust or dripping anywhere around the engine itself.