Taking A Risk ;-)
Chronocidal Charlie
through a Doctoral Dissertation on Antifreeze..... ;-)
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I jsut noticed we are forecast to be down to 17 degrees or lower the
next couple of nights.
It's been about three maybe four years since I last flushed and serviced
the cooling system on the old Tempo. Put 'bout gallon and half of
regular Prestone back in it at the time and it checked way below what
one would ever expect for this area.
It still green as cow pee in a hoof print or the swimming hole gits in
in summer if "old Maintenance Man" don't service it for couple of days
'nd I can't find my damn hydrometer, so it means a trip to Wally-World
to buy one or go out and beg around and borrow one, or charge the fscken
battery, crank the SOB and drive it some place to git it checked,
soooooooo.....
My question. Should a gallon and half of three and half year old
Prestone in about a three gallon sealed cooling system that has only
been driven about five miles be sufficient protection against 17 degree
temperature.
Or should I rig a heat lamp unner the hood?
Baffling to say the least. My intuition say "Do Sumpin Charlie!" so I
decided to ask a bunch of ex-drunks early enough so as to have time if I
don't get an answer that is satisfactory to me, I will have sufficient
time to do something sensible.
CC
(David P.)
>
> My question. Should a 1.5 gallon of 3.5 year old Prestone
> in about a 3 gallon sealed cooling system that has only
> been driven about 5 miles be sufficient protection against
> 17 degree temperature?
Whatever. That's cool.
> Or should I rig a heat lamp unner the hood?
Alrighty then!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FujiTVStudioOdaiba.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KaleFortress-Skopje1.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KaleFortress-Skopje2.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thessaloniki_building_at_Valaoritou_Street.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NOESIS.jpg
jimbo
wrote:
Should a gallon and half of three and half year old
> Prestone in about a three gallon sealed cooling system that has only
> been driven about five miles be sufficient protection against 17 degree
> temperature.
It may freeze but I believe that all engines come with a frost plug to
prevent splitting the block.
Jim
mikewestvale
Charlie if you want to be safe even a light bulb will supply
sufficient warmth --just don't rest it up against any rubber. It's and
old Canajun trick. However I doubt 17 degrees will phase your coolant.
mikewestvale
> On Jan 6, 3:52 am, Chronocidal Charlie <c...@chronocidal-charlie.me>
> wrote:
> Should a gallon and half of three and half year old
>
> > Prestone in about a three gallon sealed cooling system that has only
> > been driven about five miles be sufficient protection against 17 degree
> > temperature.
> prevent splitting the block.
> Jim
I am wondering if cars sold in the sun belt have a frost plug. Anyone
know?
Lance Bresee
>
> I am wondering if cars sold in the sun belt have a frost plug. Anyone
> know?
Cars from the same factory will end up in Michigan and Florida, so
they will be built without regard to the sale location, though some
places have tougher emission requirements. These changes will not
effect the block.
That being said,
when I owned Ramblers in Oklahoma, I replaced freeze plugs several
times.
My most recent experience with newer cars was with a Ford Escort
Wagon, which did NOT have freeze plugs. The reason seems to be that
the radiator was made of two pieces of moulded plastic held together
with soft steel clips, which would blow in half before a freeze plug
popped.
F.H.
> On Jan 6, 12:56 pm, mikewestvale <mikewestv...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am wondering if cars sold in the sun belt have a frost plug. Anyone
>> know?
>
> Cars from the same factory will end up in Michigan and Florida, so
> they will be built without regard to the sale location, though some
> places have tougher emission requirements. These changes will not
> effect the block.
>
> That being said, when I owned Ramblers in Oklahoma, I replaced freeze
> plugs several times.
I just /knew/ you were a Rambler kind of guy. ;)
Tex
wrote:
>I just /knew/ you were a Rambler kind of guy. ;)
That isn't funny! But an Oakie in a Rambler ... now that's funny!
HankVC
I think you're talking about core plugs. They are part of the
manufacturing process.
Those holes are there to support the sand mold sections that make the
block water jacket hollow when it is cast. After the casting has cooled,
the sand is knocked out, and core plugs installed to keep the coolant
from running out.
Not only are they not "protection against freeze damage," they're a
weak point in the casting where a crack is likely to start if the
coolant freezes.
Hank
jimbo
> Not only are they not "protection against freeze damage," they're a
> weak point in the casting where a crack is likely to start if the
> coolant freezes.
Freeze Plugs
http://www.automedia.com/Replacing_a_Freeze_Plug/ccr20070401fp/1
Sharx35
"F.H." <connec...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:j7GdnXUIQZwV1tjW...@giganews.com...
At one time Ramblers were the only cars with front seats that could be put
into a near horizontal position.
The Wreck of the Ol' 62
"HankVC" <han...@julie.lostwells.net> wrote in message
news:hi3k7v$5qg$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
Exactly.
As any respectable hillbilly with plenty of acreage to keep every auto they
think they might need again some day can tell you:
You do *not* want to trust a freeze plug... and the older the engine and the
more covered in crud that it gets the less their reliability.
Antifreeze might last a long time, but only if it is circulated on a regular
basis, otherwise it can hurt more than help as it can become unstable
without occasional circulation. One should be charging the fscken battery
several times a year and running it at least long enough to open and close
the thermostat a few times.
And... if it's only being driven 5 miles a year... one might want to grab a
chunk of cardboard to lay on and a good flashlight and take a close look at
the surface of the brake rotors before driving it anywhere again...
Especially in this day of cheesy foreign steel. It is important that rotors
be polished by the pads from time to time or the surface will just rust and
flake. Semi-metallic pads might actually rust right to the rotor if the
flaking swelled the surface just far enough to close the gap such that
driving may damage the caliper costing more in repairs or the ability to
stop. Also pop any remaining hubcaps and shine a very bright light in the
holes to see the other side of the rotor as well. This one seems to happen
more frequently now.
I have an old 4X4 Billymobile that I use only for winter's worst and for
driving to and from the barn. Two summers ago I decided to stop running it
in summer to save it for winters exclusively but never expected I needed to
check the brakes first after only sitting about 4 months... had to stand on
the brakes and when I looked at them I was running on about 3/4 of an inch
of surface on both sides of one rotor. I knew better from experience but
just never expected 4 months to be long enough. I was lucky, on a few
levels, to only need rotors at $35 apiece. Texans don't have salt to worry
about but we didn't use any salt that summer, either.