sh1t =( help

[daverobson]

come out to my car this morning and it wouldnt start, thought it was battery then jumped it, started but with loads of 'crunching' noises.

then realised that all coolant hoses and resivour is a frozen sludge.:cry:


any ideas on how to un freeze. i dont have a electric heater either

[Welsh Dan]

Mmm lots of ice. Tow the car to somewhere warm or fire it up and leave it idling. By this point you've either broken the water pump on the ice, or the water pump has chewed up the ice and is spinning freely. Once its warm, drain the coolant and stick some fresh in with the right mixture of antifreeze.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

hmmm, i guess your coolant wasnt strong enough with anti-freeze, sounds like a pain in the ass.

pull the top and bottom rad hoses off for a start (maybe the L-shaped one back side of the block too if its real bad, and the overflow bottle if need be) and get them in some hot water to unfreeze the ice, then with them re-attached in turns on either side and using gravity as your friend u might get lucky pouring a kettle down the hoses to free up the rest of it, you should be able to sort out the rad like that, and flipping the hose for the stat side, same thing with the bottom hose, check on the front/back of the block it hasnt blown the safety caps (4 in a line about the size of 10p's, there designed to release pressure in a build up of ice or steam)

if u can get it to a semi-decent state where the engine runs, warm the engine till the fan cuts in and out a coupla times to be sure its free'd up the system. make sure your coolants a 50% mix of anti-freeze to water

u might wanna keep an eye on your water level, sometimes on rare occasions when the system freeze's the heater matrix can take abuse and develop a small crack or split in it, if u notice a leak or u get steam pouring up outta the dash it'll most likely be that

i have heard an oldskool method they use out in the artic if their engines stall and deside to freeze, it involves building a fire under the engine and letting the heat unfreeze it all, bit extreme for england tho that one lol

[jimbob-mcgrew]

good point with the waterpump dan, might wanna check the cambelt hasnt jumped a tooth with that in mind, if the engine was cranking but the pump wasnt spinning it woulda put alotta stress on the belt and possibly jumped/slipped

[jimbob-mcgrew]

my option sounds alotta work in this weather, depending how bad it really is, u might get away without taking anything apart and just pouring warm, not scoulding water over everything water related thats accessible

[jimbob-mcgrew]

im gonna shut up, im just diggin a hole for myself lol, good luck buddy

[daverobson]

yer my worrys are the water pump. the rad looks okay. wouldnt of damaged the head or anythinkg would it? lack of tools and light and electricity is goin to make it an ass hole but will let you know what happens lol

cheeers for advice

[daverobson]

sorted. just heater hoses still **** but they will sort them selfs outsoon.

[AlexW]

Anti-freeze FTW