Winter Troubles
 

Thought I would pass on a little information for this cold winter. Make sure you have proper Antifreeze/Water mixture in your truck. The morning on my way to work in -4* my thermostat decided not to open, I watched my temps climp and pulled off the freeway at the next exit because there was no shoulder on the freeway. I believe the thermostat had frozen in place because in my radiator fluid reservoir the top was iced over. To bad for me that damage was already done. I now have blown head gaskets. Kinda sucks since I was only 1 day away from having my truck fixed. The new trans was going in tomorrow at the Michigan meet. The head gaskets aren't even a year old and no previous symptoms. I'm just hoping the heads are alright.

Uhhh Ohh! A guy I work with just had this happen to him this morning on his S10.

-13 here last night with wind chills. This is some of the coldest weather I've ever seen and experiencd so far, ridiculous. My old 4 banger took like 4 slow turns of the motor to start this morning. 9 degress outside. I CANNOT wait for spring.

We had -15 here lastnight/this morning, which is the coldest I can ever remember it being, and I was suprised, my truck fired right up.

-21 here this morning.

several guys from work had cracked blocks in the morning the antifreeze is freezing. I guess it make a gun shot noise when the water freezes and the block crack. They still run but they over heat.

I know my F150 made some racket this morning when I fired it over. I am hoping the ranger is fine where its at.

That really sucks Rob. What antifreeze were you using? Mixed 50/50?

Prestone, I mixed it myself, i'm guessing the mix is off. I guess I should be very thankfully it didn't damage the block.

28 above here. It's like a warm summer day!

Is that -21 including windchill or not, that -15 is not counting windchill. I kind of wish I was going to drive the SVT, its got a block heater that I would plug in lol. However, I think the battery on it is weak and due for replacement. I bet it wouldnt start anyways.

Yeah dad said his Escort made some funny noises, my truck sure did too.

that is not including the windchill. actual temp -21, wind chill is somewhere around -35 this morning.

it is warming up however

http://www.weather.com/weather/local...rchbox_localwx

If you are going to mix your own you need to use a hydrometer to check how low of temp you are covered too. I don't live where it gets that cold, but it does get below freezing on occasion, so thats what I do.

Or, get a block heater to help out as well..

rob if you need a hand let me know. ill see if i cant make it up there

I might take you up on that zach. I think i'm going to push my luck and shoot for sunday. If I get my summit order in soon it should be here by tomorrow afternoon. There is one slightly good side to doing all this, I will be adding one part with it. Rumble Rumble Rumble.

sweet! are you working in a garage? I hope?

i dont know much about engines but its an extra set of hands.

I should have a garage somewhere to work in, I have to have some place warm or the sealant won't adhere properly. Its not 2 tough of a job, just takes alot of time.

A word of warning to those going the cheap way out and buying the Supertech antifreeze form Walmart (the blue jug unmixed).
I had two gallons I mixed at exactly 50/50 and at -14F they both froze to a slushy/solid.
According to the label should have been good to -34F.
Good thing for me I'm only using it in my backhoe and not a DD.

Didn't even mix mine and it still froze sitting in the bottle in my garage. I'm going to go back to the red anti freeze stuff, which seemed to work better.

oh great! i know i have bought that stuff in the past... i think i have something else now though

Rob if you need a had Sunday I am free in the afternoon and have a space heater you can use. If you need a garage I can move my dads F150 out of the garage and we could do it in there. I PMed you my phone #.

ive got a couple gallons of random anti freeze outside that i got for free. ill check later and see if anything is frozen.

I haven't any problems with the antifreeze so far this winter. It was pretty cold a few weeks back when I was back up in Washington visiting over christmas break.

My only problem so far this winter was my passenger side cv joint got effed up going up the pass so my 4wd wouldn't work when I really needed it. Luckly I got up to the hill went shreddin for a bit and drove back home. Just got that fixed so it should be good to go once I'm back up there in two weeks.

so... three different kinds of super tech. all ok. one car quest brand and its frozen solid. it says at 60% coolant 40% water its ok to -64. the bottle is unopened and its frozen... been like 0 or lower lately

haha 87 in Huntington Beach California yesterday..

Its -40 ourside here. just got my truck plugged in, with 50-50 antifreeze the yellow factory stuff they put in the northern trucks, oh and run winter sythetic blend oil or other synthetic oils they help lots!

Someone correct me if this is inaccurate.It was explained to me many years ago that straight antifreeze would freeze at a higher temperature than antifreeze mixed with water.
I've had unopened jugs of Prestone freeze at -25 sitting next to a gallon of mixed 50/50 that flowed fine.