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Coldest air we have seen here since 1996! Forecast low is 1°, which would break the old record set in 1959! A friend of mine has a old 350 V8 Chevy Impala with an iron block. She had her coolant checked and it showed to be good to about 4° on the tester. Now is that the temp it will start to freeze, or the temperature it will start to freeze solid? It is too late now, but worried she didn't have enough anti-freeze in there, but she is hoping since it is a cast iron block and it will not drop much below 4° that she will be ok... what do you think? If it was showing like 10° and was an aluminum block I may worry, but I think she is ok? It is already 5° here!
Temps this cold here are very rare... I hope everyone checked their coolant!
It won't go solid at that temp but it might go slushy, which could damage the water pump and belts.
Engine blocks have "freeze plugs" in them, sheet metal plugs that ideally will pop out if the coolant freezes and spare the block from being cracked. If she sees metal discs in the driveway, there is a problem.
Coldest air we have seen here since 1996! Forecast low is 1°, which would break the old record set in 1959! A friend of mine has a old 350 V8 Chevy Impala with an iron block. She had her coolant checked and it showed to be good to about 4° on the tester. Now is that the temp it will start to freeze, or the temperature it will start to freeze solid? It is too late now, but worried she didn't have enough anti-freeze in there, but she is hoping since it is a cast iron block and it will not drop much below 4° that she will be ok... what do you think? If it was showing like 10° and was an aluminum block I may worry, but I think she is ok? It is already 5° here!
Temps this cold here are very rare... I hope everyone checked their coolant!
It's remotely possible that it'll freeze, but highly unlikely that it'll freeze solid and blow out her freeze plugs.
That said, why not just go get some anti-freeze and add it to the radiator? Crack a hose and run some of the diluted coolant out - in order to make room for the antifreeze - if necessary. Cheap insurance, and peace of mind.
Not gonna hurt.
1. That temperature will not be for long; it may not even be at all, as they always try to scare folks with the most scary POSSIBLE situation. Where do they measure temp? Out in the field at Nashville airport? And she lives where?
2. Takes quite some time for ENTIRE engine to get cold to the point of coolant freezing
3. Cheap security is - warm engine up, shut it down, and toss layered blanket atop of it. Back in old country, where it will go down to -40 Celsius for hrs at night, or day, everyone was driving with kufaykas covering engines, hoods, radiators.
If you are that worried just run it for 10 or 15 minutes. As ukr pointed out, it takes a LONG time for an engine block's temperature to move due to ambient conditions. There is a lot of mass, it wants to stay warm or cold.
I agree. Run the engine, get it nice and toasty and shut it down. Will take quite a while for the temp to drop internally...especially if protected from the wind. A nice blanket on the engine will help out, just make sure it's not flammable.
Left a bottle of water in my car the other night. Interior was hot and toasty when I got out. Temp outside was -6 overnight. Came out the next morning and the water was still liquid.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 01-06-2014 at 07:43 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonMike7
I agree. Run the engine, get it nice and toasty and shut it down. Will take quite a while for the temp to drop internally.
My thought too. You can also place a furniture moving blanket or similar over it after you run it and shut it back down to help retain the heat longer. Then don't start it again until it's been above freezing for a few hours. If there is any ice in it, best not to start moving it around, though that damage would be minor compared to solid freezing in the block.
It's already tonight, so whatever your friend is going to do, it needs to be something relatively simple and quick. You're probably not going to go out there and change your coolant at this point, I'm guessing. If your friend has a small space heater, like those $20 cheapies from Home Depot or Lowes, she can just stick it under the engine compartment of the car so that it's aimed at the bottom of the motor. Throw a couple of heavy blankets or even rugs on top of the hood, and that should be enough to keep the engine compartment at a safe temperature. Park it out of the wind, if you can. Should be good to go in the morning.
Thanks for ALL of the replies, I too thought it would be ok.
Well the car was a little low on coolant she said yesterday when they checked and they put almost an entire gallon of full strength anti-freeze in the car and there were still only "two balls" floating on the tester, which shows it was good to +5° above zero and let the car run for about 20 minutes to get it mixed in the engine block. Strange thing is - when it was checked last month, it also said it was good to 5°, then after the additional gallon of anti-freeze, the gauge was still showing only good to +5°. Maybe the checker was faulty.
She would do it now, but it is already 2° without the wind chill... Tennesseans are not used to this weather. lol!
Thanks again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by GarageLogic
It's remotely possible that it'll freeze, but highly unlikely that it'll freeze solid and blow out her freeze plugs.
That said, why not just go get some anti-freeze and add it to the radiator? Crack a hose and run some of the diluted coolant out - in order to make room for the antifreeze - if necessary. Cheap insurance, and peace of mind.
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