No antifreeze in car, cooling system full of ice ... need advice

[jettagolf]

if it is slush start it up and get some temp in to the engine it wont take long to defrost it i have done this a good few times with no probs just make sure you dont run it too long then start to disconnect the hoses etc. i had to do this to my t4 the other night full of slush but 10 min later it was good as new and got the water circulating

[danny_p]

if you havent run the enigne it should be OK it takes a lot for the blocks to freeze, the radiator and pipes allways get it first and as the was slush thats a good sing.   

the killer is when you start a frozen engine

[Jay]

No need to get a garage to check it - We have this little dropper test with little balls inside. Tells us if the ratio is right

Yup, they're about £1 

[jacko16v]

Sister did this to her old car, Popped all the bungs on the block, rad and pipes. She tried to start it and it stripped the cam belt. Wrote the car off!

[Diamond Hell]

This sounds like one of those lessions you only need to learn once....... thing is I'm surprised that you didn't have any anti-freeze in it, especially given your location!

Note for the southern poofs like me, it also helps to cool your car in our tropical heat, so it's always worth putting at least a litre in your system as a precaution and benefit.

[Ben Lessani]

thing is I'm surprised that you didn't have any anti-freeze in it, especially given your location!

Me too - I'm a moron! Biggest kick to the balls is that I'm in Manchester temporarily too! After refitting the engine earlier this year I flushed the rad a few times, which would have been pointlessly expensive if I kept putting coolant in it.

I always meant to get round to doing it and you know how it is, spring becomes summer, summer becomes autumn, autumn becomes winter...

I think the only reason it was slush is because I checked it mid-day when it was ~ 3 degs outside and it had midly thawed. I managed to have a reach around the back of the block and the two plugs I could reach seemed to be intact and in place. I'm trying to remember back to when I painted the block if I painted over the core plugs - I'm hoping I wasn't so dumb.

I was going to stick a heater in the bay- but I've only got an electric one and it keeps snowing/raining. We have a parafin heater just for engine blocks, had to use it on our old air cooled type 2 bus, I just need to get it back off a mate.

Does anyone know what kind of pressure the cooling system can take, ie. Can I block one end of the rad and plug the other with a garden hose to test for leaks, or would it be better to suspend a bucket and hose?

Edit: I found what the running pressure was, 18 psi (http://www.iol.ie/~kilkennyhockey/BentleyManual/GE02/ch3.2.1.html)

[Diamond Hell]

Get it thawed out and run it up - it'll soon tell you where the holes are, if there are any.....

If it's any consolation I remember waaay back when I was a nipper the tractor driver didn't put any anti-freeze in the motor of the self-propelled forage harvester.  Engine had to be taken out and get the block stitched up as it had cracked.  That wasn't cheap.

[monzablue16v]

Did it to my mini but it was using a rad full of water per 10 miles driven. froze solid. thawed it and it fixed the coolant leak I'd been chasing for months!!

[danny_p]

m8 did the same to layland tractor and the block cracked.  out came the angel grinder and stick welder   

[jacko16v]

Good old farmers, love the way they think.