it's freezing out, and there's not enough anti-freeze in the rad

[mano002]

So the last time I was wheeling my FJ40, it was overheating, so I kept topping it up with water. Fast forward a couple months and I am waiting for my brother-in-law to take his FJ60 out of my garage before I can get mine in there. once in the garage I am going to replace the head gasket, water-pump and have the rad acid dipped. I don't want to drain water with some anti-freeze onto the street, so I can add more anti-freeze to the rad, especially if I and going to remove the rad in a few days anyways.

I realize it's bad, but how bad?

Thanks, Kevin

 

[bsmith123]

freezing

The chance you are taking is freezing the water in the block. Hopefully the freeze plugs in the side of the motor would function and pop out to compensate for the expansion. I haven't personally seen a block crack because of ice but i think it may be possible.

The other solution may be to just drain everything out

you can always use a catch can for the anti freeze though

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I agree, drain it dry is safer than nothing at all. Or drain it and fill with antifreeze-wasting $25 worth of Prestone is better than a new motor.

We had an old 1970s Dodge van that cracked a block when it froze.

 

[bustanutley]

My buddy cracked one of his F motors, freeze plugs didn't save it.

drain it

 

[IDave]

I wouldn't give it another day. You can screw the block as well as your heater and radiator core(s) very easily.

 

[45Kevin]

Kevin, drain what you need to into a bucket, right there on Main Street (5th Ave) and top it up with anit-freeze. Run it to circulate the new anti-freeze. It is worth the $15 to save your engine.

Or, plug it in.

 

[mano002]

Thanks for the recommendations, I will drain some water out of it after work today (if it's still liquid) and add some more anti-freeze. I figured the frost plugs would do their jobs, but I had no previous experience.

I did install a blcok heater a while back, I never even put the cord on it. (now I feel dumb)

 

[kyot4x4]

I don't think freeze plugs will help an engine from freezing. I have heard that they are only in the block for casting purposes. But It doesn't freeze were i live just my 2 cents. I would drain and fill with antifreeze.

kyle

 

[mano002]

So the truck survived a day of -10C with no anti-freeze I ran it, warmed it up, and plugged in the block heater. It's -17C this AM, so we will see how it is after work today. I think the FJ60 is out of my garage now, so it gets to go inside tonight.

 

[45Kevin]

When I drove by your truck at 5:30 last night i didn't see the hood up. You didn't top up the anti-freeze did you?

Hope you block is still in one piece.

Actually, what you have in there may be good to minus 17. Normally we have anti-freeze rated at -30 to -40 at half and half so what you have may be 25% or so....hopefully.

 

[H2o]

don't forget to drain the block... driver side, toward the back and bottom of the engine block. I did this recently and there was so much crud in there that it would not come out. i had to clean it out with a little wire.

For draining, the best is autozone or advanced. they have cheap yellow drain pans for 5-10$. I bought one for oil and want for coolant.

 

[mano002]

ya, there was some anti-freeze left, just not a known amount. the FJ60 left the garage last night, and I can put my truck inside tonight. I did top up the rad and circulate it, I just have no idea how much is even left. the Block is plugged in now, so it shouldn't have frozen, but I can't say the same for the heater cores and rad. We will see how it turns out.

H2o: I can't think of where you are talking about, but I will have a look. I'm going to pull the rad and do a flush of the system, so I'll look for that.

 

[fj404life]

Go get a tester. They are cheap and will tell you what temp your protected to.

 

[creativ37]

Hi folks:

Just my two cents but core plugs are not actually meant to save an engine in case of a freeze. They are there to allow engine casting during manufacture. By the time "freeze plugs" pop out, your engine block is probably screwed. Remember that simply adding anti-freeze to the radiator won't protect the engine, as the thermostat is closed and the water that you were running before is "trapped" inside the engine until you run it to temperature and the thermostat opens up and circulates the new coolant through the engine and the entire coolant system. Test with your tester after you've run the engine a good 15-20 minutes IMHO.

Good luck!

 

[malcb]

I have seen a core plug pop up on a Ford that had been frozen, it was for sale and I didn't buy it thought that might not be the end of it.

Heard about a CAT 3516 engine (big 70 litre V diesel) that was shipped with a bit of water in the block rad disconnected, mostly drained, froze on a dockside and a quite small amount of water trapped in the top of the engine split the V of the block.

 

[mano002]

I did use a tester, and knew I didn't have enough anti-freeze. The tester didn't even register that there was any anti-freeze, not even to -10C. it was -17C yesterday, and with the truck plugged in, nothing froze, truck fired right up and I put it in the Garage. All is good.

 

[IDave]

Hope your heater core isn't screwed.

 

[Coolerman]

It's been my experience, that if the days preceding a hard freeze have been above freezing, then it can take more than 12 hours to get a mass the size of an engine down to freezing. Especially if there was no wind.

As IDave mentioned, your heater core(s) may not have been so lucky.

Also the block could have micro cracks that will not show up till you run the engine hard. Seems I recall someone on here who went through this very thing?

 

[mano002]

I think that a 2F with 400 or 500,000kms on it will likely have micro-cracks in it anyways, especially after the overheating it went through the last time I wheeled it. I have another heater core I was going to take in with the rad when I have it acid dipped anyways, so I'm not too worried about that. I just want to be able to drive it another year or so while I SOA on 60 series axles, and then look at a drivetrain upgrade.

Thanks everybody!