Anti-freeze frozen

Matt82 said:
the water in the tank really is the least of his worries. frozen water in his tank wont split his block or kill his water pump.

he needs to properly thaw the entire block. the block has a water jacket that could be frozen
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That's fair enough of course! In that case remove the engine and sit that in the sink :D
 
You could always remove the expansion tank, defrost, install back in the car but fill it will boiling water, keep repeating this process till the system is warmer (without starting the car), only problem with this is its going to take ages to do and you would need to wrap the block in on of those silver foil jackets to help keep some heat in it.
 
Firestar_3x said:
My car hasn't moved for the past few days and its been around -8 to -11 round these parts, which is pushing off the shelf summer coolant to the limit.

Went out to check my coolant tank this moring and its fine, its a good job i changed my coolant last year when i upgraded my turbo, went for the expensive non mixed halfords stuff and made a super strong mix at home.
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i went outside to chuck some oil in the golf and forgot to look at the coolant at all :D l33t :D

wait for the fail
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haha still ROFLING at that one now
 
First thing I do when I get a car is change the coolant and a few times it has just been plane jane water in there. I don't understand why people still just use water on its own as anti freeze contains corrosion inhibitors and is more efficient at cooling the engine.
 
Finglonga said:
First thing I do when I get a car is change the coolant and a few times it has just been plane jane water in there. I don't understand why people still just use water on its own as anti freeze contains corrosion inhibitors and is more efficient at cooling the engine.
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Becuase a lot of average joe drivers are completely retarded?

Running their bald ling longs and never servicing their cars and such.
 
Begbie said:
Taste it, should taste kind of fruity.
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You can taste it, but if you prefer you can also smell it, you can even buy a gadget that tells you, and we all know the manly thing is always the gadget, it's the sort of gadget you buy, use once and then forget about it until that time when you desperately need it again and have completely forgotten where it is, so you end up tasting or smelling again.
 
Finglonga said:
First thing I do when I get a car is change the coolant and a few times it has just been plane jane water in there. I don't understand why people still just use water on its own as anti freeze contains corrosion inhibitors and is more efficient at cooling the engine.
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Antifreeze actually reduces cooling efficiency, which is why getting the right mixture is important rather than just using a very strong mixture.
 
Indeed, The Halfords Advanced stuff (Non pre mixed) quotes a max of 70% Anti-Freeze in the mixture, but that makes it alright for -34 Celcius, if the country gets that cold i fear we may all die.
 
doofer said:
You can taste it, but if you prefer you can also smell it, you can even buy a gadget that tells you, and we all know the manly thing is always the gadget, it's the sort of gadget you buy, use once and then forget about it until that time when you desperately need it again and have completely forgotten where it is, so you end up tasting or smelling again.
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Tasting it does the job!! Plus it makes you do that stupid screwed up face thing! :rolleyes::p
 
yup, but the boiling point of the coolant varies depending on the amount of anti freeze in there. at certain %ages the boiling point is actually higher compared to using straight water
 
Hi all

Just an update, i have spent all morning getting this thing thawed out. It started with a walk to Halfords to pick the anti-freeze. Then when i got home i poured warm water into the header tank and then drained it, and topped up with mixed coolant.
The next step was to pour warm water all over the pipes, rad and then squeeze them til they were liquid. This took hours by the way. Then warm up the water pump and thermostat using warm water.
I then took the plunge to start the engine for a couple of mins, listening by the water pump a worried man!
Half hour later I run the engine once more squeezing the pipes until it warmed up. After that i dashed to the garage to get it fixed and am feeling very relieved.

Maybe i was lucky this time, I know now if I were to buy another car, anti-freeze will be the first thing I check and replace.

Thx to all that helped ;)
Paul
 
top score. you can see the problems there right? frozen water, water jacket, cracked block blah blah blah

after all that, you shoulda just sorted the anti freeze yourself!
 
well spotted too. ive seen at least 5 cars at the side of the road in the last few days, bonnet up, steam spewing out. for the effort you put in, thats wayyyy easier than forking out for a water pump and cambelt job (and thats if it doesnt over heat to high heaven and start warping things)

good save!
 
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