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Dec 21, 2009 12:54:04 GMT
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I forgot that the nova I've had parked up in my garage for the last few months had just water in the rad, which has now frozen whats the best/safest way to sort it out? can't move it to a warm place either! have some pics too:
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craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,992
Club RR Member Number: 35
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Dec 21, 2009 12:56:41 GMT
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I had this on my 1st mini many years back. I stuck 2 hair driers under th ebonnet and left them running for about 20 mins. That did the trick. Then wonce the top and bottom hoses squishable, fired it up to warm it through a bit, left it cool enough to drain some water out and chucked in some anti freeze.
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Dec 21, 2009 12:57:06 GMT
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Hmm, I think i'd just leave it till the thaw happens then evaluate the damage, if any.
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1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 Mazda 929 Coupé 1986 Mazda 929 Wagon 1979 Mazda 929 Hardtop 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 1989 Subaru 1800 Wagon 1982 Hyundai Pony 1200TL 2-dr 1985 Hyundai Pony 1200 GL 1986 Maserati 425 Biturbo 1992 Rover 214 SEi 5-dr 2000 Rover 45 V6 Club 1994 Peugeot 205 'Junior' Diesel 1988 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel Saloon 1992 Talbot Express Autosleeper Rambler 2003 Renault Laguna SPEARS OR REAPERS
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rtlkyuubi
Posted a lot
Low and Slow
Posts: 2,922
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Dec 21, 2009 13:01:29 GMT
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Mine froze over the otherday, lookily it blew 1 of the heater pipes off instead of a core plug or cracked the block. But I used a heat gun to melt the ice in the water pump, filled the expansion bottle with boiling water and started it up and let the heat off the engine melt the rest.
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dungbug
Posted a lot
'Ooligan!
Posts: 2,852
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Dec 21, 2009 13:06:36 GMT
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Had this problem on the old man's Mondeo I left it until it thawed out naturally, drained some coolant out of the header & added anti freeze. I wouldn't start the car to try & melt it & I certainly wouldn't add boiling water into the equation.
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Past: 13 VW Beetles from 1967 - 1974 Bay Window Campers (1973 & 1974) Mini's (1992 Cooper lookalike & 1984 '25 Anniversary) MK2 Polo Coupe S (1984 & 1986) MK2 Polo Breadvan (1981 & 1984) MK4 Escort (1989) MK2 Granada Based Hearse (seriously) Fiat Uno 60S (1986) Punto 60S (1998) Cinq (1997) 1998 Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat 2003 Ford KA
Current: 2004 Ford Focus (barely alive)
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Dec 21, 2009 13:34:24 GMT
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do boiling water could do more harm than good? can't wait for it to thaw out unfortunately. I don't have any form of wireless hairdryer either, what other heat source could work?
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Dec 21, 2009 13:46:02 GMT
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remove all the external pipe work, empty it, wait until spring.
buy a set of core plugs, just in case
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Someone just shot the elephant in the room.
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Dec 21, 2009 13:56:04 GMT
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Your biggest problem will be the expansion of the water as it froze. Later rads like yours are ali cores with plastic tanks crimped on the end and the water may have pushed this back causing a leak when thawed . You may get away with just crimping them back GENTLY one at a time if it leaks but don't set the grips too tight as the plastic becomes brittle with age.
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Dec 21, 2009 14:03:08 GMT
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If you do get the rad defroster, don't run the heater on Hot, as chances are once the hot engine coolant works it way through to the cold heater matrix, it could split it.
Had that happen in my old Sierra years ago.
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Dec 21, 2009 14:09:14 GMT
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If the waterpump is run by the fan belt remove the fan belt and just run the engine, leaks may or may not happen, if (as in your case I beleive ?) the waterpump is driven by the cambelt you cant run the engine so a camping stove under the block might do it or constant trips with a kettle to unfreeze the rad then the block but this will take ages and the likelyhood is the water will refreeze anyway without some form of other heat, either way will be quicker than filling the header with antifreeze and waiting for it to melt and mix with the frozen water already in there. Ive unfrove many an old ford with the fan belt off and a few kettles of hot water to get the rad unfroze. running the heater on hot or not makkes no differance unless there is a tap that physicly shuts the water off to the heater rad the inside controls do curse word all like on a sierra except shut a flap in the car so hot water is gonna get there no matter what you do
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Last Edit: Dec 21, 2009 14:11:34 GMT by bortaf
R.I.P photobucket
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Dec 21, 2009 14:17:14 GMT
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Personally, I really wouldn't leave it until spring - it will freeze and thaw several times between now and then, the repeated expansion/contraction of the water freezing and thawing is far more likely to do damage (in my opinion) than thawing it out once and stopping it happening again - water repeatedly freezing/thawing has enough force to crack rocks, so it has plenty enough to play havoc with an engine. Just my thoughts, not the gospel!
Had this happen with a mk2 cavalier CDi years ago when I forgot to buy anti-freeze when I did some sort of job on the engine a week beforehand - I thawed it out by putting a small fan heater under the engine for an hour, and it was fine.
In the absence of a power source, defrosting is likely to be a little bit more of a challenge - you've either got to heat the garage up then put the car back in it or heat the engine up - If it was me, I'd probably take the gas BBQ up there and use it as an ad-hoc gas heater to warm up the garage!
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Dec 21, 2009 14:31:30 GMT
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thanks for the help, looks like I'll try and heat it up carefully then, I got some hot water and slowly poured it around the rad which seems to have melted some of the ice and put in some anti freeze.
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Dec 21, 2009 14:44:53 GMT
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Oh the joys of an aircooled engine. I would leave it till it thaws naturally then put antifreeze the shock of rapid heating can and will cause stress fractures as will freeze thaw over time. Get some antifreeze in it and pray you haven't cracked the block
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Dec 21, 2009 15:00:43 GMT
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can you not wrap some old blankets and duvets around it, then at least its not going to get any worse
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1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
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Dec 21, 2009 15:59:10 GMT
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Would it be a bad idea to break the ice up by hitting it with a hammer? If you don't need to use the car just wait a week or two - the temps will go up and it will sort its self out.
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Dec 21, 2009 16:32:07 GMT
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Remove the rad and hoses and take them inside? The only danger then is starting the engine with the water pump iced up - particuary if it's cambelt driven. Maybe kettles of hot water could solve his one?
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Dec 21, 2009 16:55:31 GMT
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I had this problem on my Stanza last winter. I just unplugged the radiator drainage plug and kept flushing the cooling system with lukewarm water until the ice was all gone, it took about 5 watering cans. Then I refilled it with a fresh coolant/water mix and fired it up, drove it around a bit, let it idle up to the fan kicking in whilst I watched for leaks, it was fine. No problems since.
This is all what I thought was the best decision off the top of my head so there might be some better way, the main thing is I don't think putting boiling hot water straight into ice is the best idea - ice tends to react badly to being "shocked". But if you take it steady and use tepid water I don't think it should cause too much grief, worked for me anyway.
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Dec 21, 2009 17:14:53 GMT
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thanks again, I used hot water from the tap (so not boiling) slowly and it seems to be working so far. As ice melts i'm replacing it with anti freeze so might be able to get the car running soon
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Dec 21, 2009 17:20:13 GMT
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keep us posted... ours all have antifreeze in atm but handy knowledge to have either way eh
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please don't use boiling water!!! cold, or lukewarm would work okay, don't start it until your sure all the ice is out! you cant see what its done!
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2006 Audi A3 2003 Fusion 2 looking for a project....
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