Frozen water in cooling system

[mikeroc283]

After i had fixed the leak in with the water pump a few months ago, my friend that had done the pump orignally had come over and filled my radiator with water. Now its frozen and my other friend says the block could be shit now. Is there anyway to get the water out and not have the block be gone to shit?

[87gtVIC]

Get smarter friends.

And yea keep the car in a heated garage and pull off hoses, h2o pump etc.

[mikeroc283]

Havent gotten around to buying drywall and insulation yet for the garage. Well i have to buy a new radiator so i should just go take the old 1 out now and let the bottom hose off.

[marquisman]

get that engine warm with any means, even if you have to take the belt off the water pump and run the engine to thaw the engine. the remove the hoses and rain everything. you might have to remove the 2 block plugs to drain all the water from the block(1 on each side) or jus get the engine warm enough to get some coolant in there. also check the oil to make sure its not milky. its just like winterizing a boat engine lol...and yes, get smarter friends.

[mikeroc283]

Well i removed the radiator, the bottom hose is draining slowly but its draining. i cant remove it right now with the way its sitting was hard to take it off the radiator without using a pry bar sorta. I will remove it sometime soon and i cant even see any plugs on the block with it being as dirty as it is.

[marquisman]

if its draining you should be safe...main concern is to get the ice melted and get coolant in the block or drain the block, witch ever. i jus wonder how your heater core is

[mikeroc283]

Well if its fucked ill grab 1 when i get the radiator. its gonna be a bitch to replace but hopefully its fine and i wont need it.

[Brandon]

Sometimes it'll take a few freezing days to bust a block.

[mikeroc283]

not sure its busted. i dont know to tell if its busted either. im probably gonna wait till may to start the car.

[marquisman]

like i said, checking the oil can sometimes tell you if you got a busted block. sometimes it only takes overnight to crack, iv seen it being in the marine business lol. how cold has it been in your area?

[trwp72]

All you need to do is let it drain, as much as possible, then put some anti freeze in the car, let it sit... The anti freeze will melt the ice / frozen water... then run the engine for a liitle while... (About 10 minutes) to get the engine hot enough to thaw the rest of the engine. Let it cool off... and sit for a while longer... let the antifreeze mix in some more... Then let it sit some more.... The next day start the car and run it until the thermostat opens... then shut it down again and let it sit... and mix with the antifreeze.
The run it again, and drain all of the antifreeze / water out, and fill it back with the proper mix to get the degree of protection you want.... In your neck of the woods... I would go with about a 60 antifreeze 40 water mix.... Don't go with antifreeze alone... as it needs some water for it to work right... Also, go buy one of the antifreeze checkers... (the thing that looks like a turkey baster, with the little balls in it to check antifreeze...) Then you can tell what the temp is it will protect to...

A side note...

My Uncle invented the little balls in the antifreeze checkers.. He was a Chemist for 3-M.. But he invented them in his basement, by accident, while working on another project... (He also helped invent Scotchlight reflective decals) So he patented the balls... 3-M tried for years to say he was working for them so they should own the rights... but when he decided to retire, he finnally SOLD the rights to them... To Prestone I think!!! He gets a healthy check every month for his royaltys... Pretty funny!

[87_crown_vic]

the way i would thaw an engine was to hook a hose to the water heater and run hose into upper radiator hose. start engine so that the engine also can heat up and melt it faster. after it is melted out or warmed up, remove lower hose and drain system and refill with coolant mix

[marquisman]

theres all kinds of ways...

[1987cp]

I had that happen once. Took me several seconds to figure out what that nasty squealing noise was from the water pump not turning. I just removed the fan belt and radiator cap and ran the engine till it boiled over a bit. Then I drained the water and filled it with 50/50 mix and it was fine.

[mikeroc283]

so with the belt off nothin inside the engine does anything other than run normally but with no cooling?