General a close call in the cold

[levemircento]

a couple of days ago I went out in my car to go to pick up a prescription, occasionally like to go the long way if the traffic isnt too busy, so a mile away from home on a duel carriageway I noticed all wasnt well

heater was blowing out freezing cold air, and my temp gauge started to move upwards too quick, uh oh maybe the coolant had been frozen, so am on this duel carriageway which is unlit, next junction 1 mile, temp gauge still going up

get to the roundabout, and now had a choice, go back another mile to home, or pull over and see whats what, oops - no mobile phone and definatly no tools, so turned back and started to come back home

temp is now past 90 and still heading upwards, past the point that the fan comes on, and it was on, look in the rear view - no steam or smoke, approach roundabout closest to home, and the temp gauge started to fall

pulled into the residents car park, temp gauge was now in the bottom quarter, engine felt ok, so left it running briefly while having a look under bonnet, rad was hot all over, rad hoses were hot, heater hoses cold - felt the header tank - cold, now I dont know if the coolant in the engine was frozen when I started out, I guess it was, but it had thawed and started to circulate in the latter part of my return to base

so knocked off engine, eased open the header tank cap, the contents were frozen!

this car had plenty of antifreeze in, yet that antifreeze was beaten by the cold

after 10 mins with the bonnet shut, i thought that heat from the engine might thaw out the header tank, it did, running the engine all was well, heater was now warm too

so, i think I was very lucky, engine is still spot on, and even more antifreeze was added 'just to make sure', coolant has been checked since prior to driving to make sure everythink is ok.


Thoughts thenturned to our Punto 60, that had been parked up for a coupel fo days and freezing cold, I checked the coolant and inside the rad it was starting to freeze up, that too had plenty antifreeze, more added and another happy engine saved from being potential scrap


sorry for a long post, it was a close call, and it just shows that many many people can get tripped up in this harsh weather by the coolant system not being up to scratch, if its not too late - go and check it RIGHT NOW, and put some more antifreeze in and run the engine to warm to make sure it circulates

 

[Bazza155]

I feel that checking it now may be too late.

 

[Andy Monty]

this car had plenty of antifreeze in, yet that antifreeze was beaten by the cold

define plenty

Plenty as per the manufacturers spec's should be good to -36^C

you can get a tester for a few quid from a motorfactors so you can monitor it as it ages when the cooling propertys begin to degrade drain and replace

 

[richydraper]

yeah man antifreeze protection should easily run down to around -40*C if your mixture is right...

remember if there is too much antifreeze to water then it will also freeze!

ethylene glycol will only give desired protection when mixed correctly with water!

i personally ALWAYS use distilled water my dealer background stops me using tap water (distilled water doesnt leave limscale over the engine internals)