yosip1115

Fellas

I have a serious black eye right now. My car was absolutely mechanically perfect. Every single bearing and bushing was brand new. I just finished rebuilding the entire car... I have car ocd and it takes me months + thousands of dollars to get one "perfect". It was damn near close. For this round anyway.

I've been in the process of moving garages, relocating, and starting a new job so I haven't been able to put much time into working on the car. I didn't have a chance to think about my coolant mix ratio after dealing with some coolant system issues earlier this year (radiator sealing surface caused cap to not seal, took a while to find it). We had a few 0-10 degree nights and everything was fine. Thought I was OK.

I haven't been able to dig up much information on what exactly I should do here... I left my car outside and it got to -5 Fahrenheit which caused both the power steering and the coolant to freeze. I didn't notice it until I hopped on the highway. About a mile later my temp gauge started going haywire. I knew what happened and I turned the engine off
​​​then proceeded waited two hours for a tow on New Year's Eve on the side of the highway.

Just wanted to move it to it's new home then let it sit until spring... She didn't make the move boys.

Another member suggested that I do a leakdown and compression test which I plan to do. Honestly I'm going to do some simpler stuff before that though because it'll be pretty obvious if the block is cracked (at least I think so).

My question is where are the freeze plugs located? Backside of the heads? Where else?

I'm super bummed and I'd like to know whether or not my engine is toast because I'm going to go in two ​​ different directions depending on the results. I just can't justify buying another engine right now so I believe I would turn to parting out and reverting the car to stock running and driving (original high mileage engine) before selling it to someone who wants a body capable of putting down 450+ whp without batting an eye. I'd then sell off the wilwoods, turbo kit, and other aftermarket parts to put towards a CNC mill and other equipment in addition to something with 2 wheels to play around on.

Let me know what you guys suggest. I'm going to get it into a garage and let it thaw out in the meantime.

What a great start to 2018!! This, a buddy was diagnosed with cancer, and I just had a freaking wisdom tooth ripped out of me today. When it rains it pours... Then it freezes

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

You never mentioned what you were running for coolant
Coolant won't freeze at -5 when mixed properly.

yosip1115

Yes hence the title of the thread, and me saying that I didn't check the mix ratio. Also mentioned that I did a lot of troubleshooting, which leads to a mix of less than 50/50. It was Nisan green.

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

Rookie mistake

Pressure test coolant system first.

I'm going to guess the coolant was more slush than frozen(since it was ok at 0 but not ok at -5) which blocked the coolant from flowing

yosip1115

I hope you're right about the slush thing. The reservoir was literally a solid block when I popped the hood that day, but today everything has transitioned to a slush state... Got the bullet heater going and I'm seeing liquid now. Will test for leaks and top off with erm... Pure concentrate... In a few hours. Will verify percentage after (fingers crossed) I get it thru a heat cycle... Thx for suggestion

eZg

iTrader: (5)

Damn it........after all that work......

hope damage is minimal.

iideadeyeii

iTrader: (6)

Just do 50/50. You don't want pure coolant

zakmartin

Yosip, when you started the car, did you get a squealing sound coming from the engine bay? If the block was completely frozen, then your water pump would have been non-functional and your belt would have squealed across the pulley. That would have been very noticeable. If you didn't hear anything like that, then odds are you'll be okay. I'd flush the whole system after the car warms up anyway just to know that your concentration is all good. If you have an air compressor, this is where a comes in VERY handy.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

water pump runs off the timing chain ...

zakmartin

Ahhh... my bad. You're right; the water pump blades would have made a blended coolant margarita in the block.

Atreyu'z 350

I think your engine is fine.. Here's the location of the freeze plugs.

yosip1115

Thanks for the replies guys. Block seems OK but something is still not right.

I emptied the radiator about half way and replaced what I took out with mostly coolant and a bit of distilled...Bled it obviously. Ratio should be OK now.


I idled it for about 20 mins before taking off and gauge was stable. Probably 25 degrees in the garage at that time, maybe colder.
About a mile down the road the gauge began spiking again real slow, so I cooled it down and turned around.

When I was bleeding I noticed that when I blipped the throttle a jet of water came up into my spill free funnel so I believe the water pump is circulating like normal. No extreme amount of bubbles, it bled easily.

There is a new squeak every once in a while coming from the block which should be noted...

I noticed that the system built pressure when I put the radiator cap on and warmed it up again after the first heat cycle during bleeding which is a good sign. Need to investigate a bit more with a pressure decay tester if my next step doesn't fix this.

I'm going to test the thermostat in a few days when I feel like dealing with this pig again... I noticed the radiator soft line at the thermostat was pushed about half an inch from expansion. As was the upper. It runs fine... Until you drive it.

Hopefully the ice expansion just made the thermostat inoperable. I didn't feel the characteristic rushing of fluid when I squeezed the radiator hose so that points to a thermostat also... Will update

Atreyu'z 350

The squeak could be a result of the water pump experiencing dry spots during this. And it seems likely that your thermostat could still have some 'slush' obstructing the spring and limiting flow since that's the most exposed mechanical part here.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

do I smell a stage 3 rebuild?

Atreyu'z 350

yosip1115

gahhhh so much money... only for something like this to happen again and destroy it all! Hard to justify... Also hard to resist...

Today I checked the thermostat and it was fine and also noticed my coolant overflow line was still frozen which gave me some hope. No beans.

I've noticed two things.

#1: It runs super rich at a cold start, like 10.5:1 until I rev it and about a minute goes by. Could be from the check engine light tripping some sort of limp mode; I'm assuming the engine light is a high coolant temp code from me saying F it on the highway on D day. Haven't checked it... As soon as it turned on I turned the car off. Focusing on the hardware problem. Water getting in combustion chamber(s)? No misfire, starts first crank. I think it would be struggling a bit more if that was the case.

#2: Cooling system builds pressure, but not as much as it needs to/used to. Not enough to push the radiator cap open.

Where is the leak is the question. No liquid coolant dripping anywhere. All lines look good. No obvious leaks...

Leak down test with radiator cap open and coolant system pressure test are next. Wherever it is, it's small ish. I suppose I'd be noting a constant stream of bubbles coming from my lisle funnel if it were an internal leak. But that isn't guaranteed I believe.

What I do smell is a trip to harbor freight. mmmmm chinese plastic offgassing.

eZg

iTrader: (5)

even if the thermostat works...it always SEEMED to me like it such a good place for an air pocket. I always squeeze the hell outta the hose leading up to there to try and get some coolant hot enough to open the T-stat.

Even thought about putting a bleeder valve there....but I'm sure that is easier said than done.

yosip1115

There's a small hole on the diaphragm of the thermostat that allows just a bit of fluid flow when it is closed. Also I always run it until the thermostat opens with my lisle funnel and the front drivers end jacked up. Very confident it's not air

yosip1115

I leak tested the system again after fixing a very small leak (that was there before this happened) and it holds 17PSI for more than 30 minutes before maybe dropping a half PSI.

The car still acts the same... It starts to overheat right away when you drive it, and the coolant system doesn't build enough pressure to start expanding into the overflow on its own.

I'm really not sure what to do next. If it were bubbling a lot when I idle it for 20 mins during bleeding I would buy a head gasket test fluid, but it doesn't.


After driving it the system is full of air again though. Absolutely zero expansion into the overflow after driving it; the level does not change at all (and it's a small overflow tank).

Will a leakdown tell me more? I'm just going to bite the bullet and go buy that at harbor freight right now. This is freakin terrible. Spent 4-5 nights now out in the 10-25 degree weather after work. Bad time to lose my garage due to relocation.

If it passes leakdown I would maybe point to the vanes on the waterpump. If not I'm not willing to put a new engine in and tune again. Different hobbies await that don't lead to long term disappointment.

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

can you take the thermostat element element out of the thermostat housing and run the car without a thermostat?

Might the thermostat not be opening allowing coolant to flow?