After my truck sat out in negative temps for a day or so I noticed coolant coming out of the lower radiator hose in an icicle...I had a friend tow me home and it's been kind of thawing in the garage (in more like single digit temps). I'm going to warm the garage up today with some kerosene jet heater a friend has and my outdoor cook burner. Need to flush the clutch fluid (it froze too) and get the thing thawed out.

So, once it's warm and the clutch fluid's been flushed, I'm going to start it. Obviously I want to check around for coolant leaks, and obviously my mixture was way too diluted so I need to add some straight coolant, but what should I be checking for while it runs? What could have been screwed up? It was on a forward slant when things froze, so I'm hoping most of the coolant was up towards the radiator, and I'm hoping that since it forced it's way out the lower radiator hose, it didn't break anything else. I also don't think it all froze solid, just some of it. Should I do anything special, other than just starting it and letting it warm up and checking for leaks?

 

basically, fill it, start it, and check for leaks, keep an eye on the temp gauge.

there could be nothing wrong, or lots wrong. you could have a cracked head, cracked block, stuck thermostat, busted heater core, the water pump could have gotten screwed up. basically anywhere coolant normally goes could be screwed up

after you run it check the oil, see if it is milky, same for the coolant

 

Yup, thanks. I'm hoping nothing is screwed up...short of maybe having to replace that lower hose, but we'll see.

It's strange, I've never paid much attention to my coolant mixture before, and never had this happen, but maybe I was just always somehow close to 50/50 without knowing it before. I thought I was pretty much there this time, but I guess not.

 

i forgot that my 86 toy dd only had water in it... havent drove it for a week, checked the hoses... frozen solid... the radiater... frozen solid... let it sit in the warm shop to thaw and put anti-freeze in it. its just fine... i was definitly dreading a cracked block for sure.

 

Yup, and with my engine only having about 3,000 miles on it...that would really suck. We'll see.

 

Again, make sure you don't put in too much anti freeze, straight antifreeze doesn't do anything, 50/50 is the best bet! I had really increased the mixture once only to find my coolant frozen.

 

Hmm. I guess I need a hygrometer. I saw on another site that some people run straight antifreeze in the winter, and somebody posted saying straight antifreeze will freeze around 0 degrees. Then the original poster, plus a couple other people came back & said that it won't freeze, it will just gel a bit, but will thin right out once it gets heated up. I have no personal experience, but that's what I read. I'm planning on going with 50/50, but without draining all the old fluid and starting over w/ a 50/50 mix (which is probably not a bad idea) I won't be able to tell without measuring it.

I figure it must have been too diluted before, so I drained some out & added straight antifreeze, hopefully I'm about right now. We'll see.

 

You can get a tester like this one



for about a buck at auto parts stores. Don't just guess again.

Rob

 

Yup, thanks. I've got one of those but the writing's all been scraped off so I guess it's time for a new one.

 

I had the same thing happen to my 'runner about a week ago, except I was already driving when I noticed water mist coming out of the hood vents - coolant was a thick slush and the upper rad hose popped off (steam was from the coolant thawing on the hot engine). I limped it home, put the hose back on and poured some more antifreeze in to replace the coolant I already lost -- it's been running fine since.

 

My radiator hose was filled with slush.... I used almost two gallons of straight antifreeze after a flush and left it parked (my old truck) popped the hood a month later and found the slush. Since our trucks only hold 2.2 gallons of coolant, I think I really over did the antifreeze. It was a Really cold month (many days below zero).

 

Good to know. I'll definitely be shooting for a 50/50 mixture.

 

does the 22r have any freeze plugs? might want to watch them to make sure they aren't leaking.

you could have busted your radiator or heater core. pointed downhill doesn't make a difference, there isn't (shouldn't be) air in the system so the coolant is everywhere all the time.

Al

 

good idea to look for leaks there, though he might have lucked out with the rad hose leaking to relieve the pressure

FYI - "freeze plugs" aren't really there to prevent damage or pop out if the block ices up, they're there to get the sand out of the block after it's cast.

 

Yeah, I've heard that freeze plugs may sometimes pop out when coolant freezes, but that doesn't mean it'll save your engine even if they do, and that's not their purpose. Either way, so far no leaks. I'll have to keep an eye on the heater core, but so far I haven't noticed anything new going on.