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Frozen Cooling System

bustednutz

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Virginia Beach
Well it got down to -6 here last night. And the XJ was parked outside in it.
I hit my remote starter this morning, came down 15 minutes later to find coolant dripping. Popped the hood and it was leaking out of the radiator cap. The temp gauge didn't even get hot. Was actually below normal. So I thought I had a bad radiator cap. Went to NAPA, got a new one. Temps were fine all the way home. But NO HEAT inside car. Then....I got to my hill. Its a short but very steep one. Got it to the driveway and the temp gauge was pegged to the max. Coolant was blowing fast and furious out of the cooling overflow bottle. Still no heat. Pulled it into my heated garage (girlfriend had it last night) and let it cool. About an hour later I went and refilled the coolant. Drove it to my mechanic and all was fine on that trip. Temp gauge was perfect and I actually started getting a fair amount of heat. Needless to say, I left it with him to check over today. He thinks based on what happened that the coolant froze up on me. But I'll know more later. I changed the coolant last summer with what I thought to be a 50/50 blend. Blended it myself. Perhaps I had more water then coolant in the system.
Any thoughts?
 
Yup...check that coolent....NOW. Sound like you had a frozen chunk blocking the passages, by parking it and letting the heat from the engine and the garage melt it, it fixed itself.

Check the freeze point.

Rev
 
Check the coolant color and the oil color. Freezing up an engine is not to be taken lightly. It normally spells fubar.
 
It will also force freeze plugs out of the block which is how they got their name :D
 
RichP said:
It will also force freeze plugs out of the block which is how they got their name :D
Actually they got there name from the casting process, the are vent points (Spews) to help prevent the iron from freezing when it’s being poured. :lecture:
 
Well, Based on the way it sounded and drove I don't think any severe damage occoured. If any at all. The oil pressure was at 45-50 PSI on the way to the mechanic. The voltage gauge was at 14V. It was only a 5 minute drive to my mechanic anyway, and that was after I let it thaw some. Like I said before, I finally started getting heat on the way to the shop. I also let it sit and idle for a few minutes once I got there. No leaks then either.
I caught it quick and shut her down fast this morning after the climp up the hill. Which was maybe 15 seconds at most. Good thing I run Mobil 1 with a Mobil 1 oil filter. I am sure that helped some as well.
 
Hopefully the mechanic you took it to will do a pressure test on the cooling system to check for anything that may have gotten weakened by the freeze and brief overheating. If it does get a clean bill of health, I would still keep an eye on the coolant and the oil just in case.

good luck

chris
 
OK, just got it back. Come to find out that the coolant was only good to 10 degrees ABOVE freezing. Flushed it and refilled. Now its good to -30. Oil checks out fine. Drove it a good 15 miles today afterwards as well. No issues at all. And best of all I have heat again.
 
Just FYI.

When this same thing happened to me (-20F) I drove it till the plastic radiator tanks blew, then kept driving trying to get it home, until it stalled out. Once it cooled down, it started right up, pulled it into the garage, got a new radiator, and put another 75K miles on that engine.

Rev
 
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