Thawing my car out

Go figure, of all the things I left for last when doing some general maint to the car after getting it in October...I leave flushing the radiator for last. Go to start my car Wed am and I hear squealing and smell burning rubber, hmmm. DOH . It's in the garage still thawing out, cant get the rad cap off and the upper hose felt like it had a slushy in it, Bottom hose is frozen solid. Guess that's what I get for not getting to it sooner. Got a couple days of below 30 and single digit nights combined with living in Oklahoma, you know "Where the wind comes a sweepin' down the plains" and did....and froze my car....#**@^&%$&@@(%&&@^%@!!!

dont feel bad Mine is still froze LOL

GOOD WAY TO CRACK A BLOCK!!

well mine is Unthawed as I type this put a heater on it and in Garage for 10 hours

Well, I got it thawed out and as I was flushing it out all the brown pond water I found a steady drip from the front of the block somewhere. I cant see up between the power n water pumps but, I'm sure it's not good.

Theoretically, the freeze plugs are supposed to pop if the block freezes. Hopefully, yours is something minor.

By the way, do you guys in the South run 50/50 antifreeze year 'round? Or, is that just something us Upper Midwest guys do out of necessity.

How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

HDHugger wrote:How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

i believe there are 8, 10 on most 400s

Antifreeze not only helps protect from freezing, but also has antirust properties that will only last a few years and has to be replenished and has a small amount of lubrication for the water pump. If no antifreeze is used these properties have to be added to water. Its best to just use the antifreeze mixture. BTW, when you buy premixed antifreeze you are paying heavily for the water in that mixture and not obnly that, but you are paying, in one way or another, for shipping that water from supplier to consumer. JB

i did the same thing to my 454,it froze and blew out the freeze plugs.

Shoulda flushed it out when I planned to. I'll get it back in the garage and tear it down and find out what ones are blown out, thinking it's just the one on the front of the block on the left side.

Mcarlo77 wrote:By the way, do you guys in the South run 50/50 antifreeze year 'round? Or, is that just something us Upper Midwest guys do out of necessity.

50/50 for me. I'm pretty sure you need the mix to be correct for a few reasons.

1) What JB said
2) Obviously to keep it from freezing
3) It actually raises the boiling point of water, so it's needed in the hot weather climates just as badly as you Yankees need it.

abajc3 wrote:

HDHugger wrote:How many freeze plugs are there? I remember one winter, I popped 3 in my 76 Cutlass. Not all at once though. That sucked.

i believe there are 8, 10 on most 400s

Most small blocks have two per side, some other engines have 3 per side. This means Most engines have between 4-6 plugs total.

I would think the 50/50 mix would be necessary for everyone, too. But, it never ceases to amaze me how many times I hear of people just dumping water in their radiators (or, overflow tanks) when low on coolant around here. And sure, in smaller amounts, it isn't going to make much, if any, difference most of the year. But invariably, these same people forget to check their coolant when winter rolls around and then when the first -20 degree night hits, "pop" goes the freeze plugs! Was really just wondering if a lesser concentrate of antifreeze was used in the Southern states.

Never add straight water here thats a no no round these parts

Arent there a couple of them behind the flexplate too?