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Coolant frozen

2.6K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  carnegstar  
#1 ·
This crappy weather has frozen my coolant didn't expect it soon so I hadn't put any anti freeze my fault the engine hasnt run since I pit it in the car as I carnt figure out the wiring an all so I don't think the water has done a full cycle but I now need to know what problems I could now come across and how much damage I could of caused
Cheers
 
#3 ·
At best, there wasn't enough pressure to actually damage anything, at worst you could have a damaged radiator, head, block, header tank, maybe hoses and water pump. in the moderate damage situation, you may just have popped some core plugs. For a graphic illustration of what can happen, put a bottte of water in the freezer...
If you've tried turning it over, while the coolant os frozen in the water pump, it's possible to damage the pump or worse, strip or cause the timing belt to jump, possible causing valve damage.
If you can, get it somewhere warm enough to turn the coolant to a liguid (melt it) and refill with the correctmixture, then check for coolant loss.

kudos for putting your hand up for the mistake - I very much doubt you'll be the only one - even after the lessons you guys had last year!
 
#4 ·
When water freezes it expands - so any sealed container that is full of water - header tank, radiator or engine block could be split as the coolant freezes.
However you may have been saved by the core plugs that are fitted around the engine block that are designed to be forced out by the expanding ice to save the block around them.
I have seen them still stuck to the end of ice hanging out of the holes they were fitted into.
Once the block etc. has thawed out you can fill it up again with water to check for leaks - block, head, pipes and water pump etc. - if all OK drain off and refill with water and anti-freeze mix.
 
#5 ·
He wouldn't have damaged anything i bet as he stated that he had just put the engine in the car and has still not managed to get it started due to unfinished woiring, henece my bet is no damage done so far unless he was in the area where theb temperatures went minus 10 or more under, usually around -3 to -5 degrees most engines can sustain the impact of the expanding water as it starts to freeze.

A solidly frozen engine might not even crank due to frozen water pump etc, and may not even fire, things go wrong when is fired and the ice melting into water and unable to circulate and the steam created by heated weater then starts to cause other damage such as blowing up the internal heater matrix, rads and so on as Gordo stated.
 
#6 ·
Nah the engine hasn't run yet and if what u say is rite then I should be ok as I didn't have the header tank as I took it off to get access to part of the loom just before the the freeze so the header tank pipe was open the core plugs are still in so I'm hoping no damage has happened I did manage to melt alot of the ice yesterday with a heat gun so fingers crossed
 
#12 ·
LMFAO, theres a considerable difference between a lump of metal part full of water and a sodding fish finger. For a start the fish finger is designed to have that amount of water in it prior to freezing. If you notice, when you cook it the batter tends to fall off, thus meaning they have more than likley accounted for expansion.

Your a funny fecker, i like you.
 
#13 ·
Bad "science" - liquid nitrogen also supercools the pipe, shrinking and making it brittle, as well as the water being frozen - ditto with the PVC pipe. Same result, though.

As for ice shrinking - please give an example - the world wants to know... while there are several different types of ice structures, with different properties, I'm not aware of any that actually shrink in volume as they chill.
 
#14 ·
Depends - on the face of it, the batter isn't a hard enclosing structure which contracts as the ice expends. A bit more freezing and the ice in the fish cells that make up the meat will freeze and expand, often rupturing the cell walls and resulting in mush when thawed.
 
#16 ·
sorry to hijack, i live in north of inverness and we are getting between -10 to -15 temps, i have a van that is in mid repair all the cooling pipes are off but not all drained is there still a chance of damaging my heater matrix and radiator, not worried about the engine, however the diesel pump was still ok can frozen diesel damage that.
 
#17 ·
if it had the correct coolant/antifreeze mix in before the hoses were removed, you should be fine, if not then there's a chance of damage but until it's presurised you won't know.
Diesel doesn't expand when it freezes, so that shouldn't be a worry anyway.