Car Just Overheated in -10 Degree Weather!

So, I started my car up this morning. Fired right up. It's -10 degrees out (that's -23 in Canadian).

I looked out the window 20 minutes later and the car was surrounded by a cloud of steam. It boiled over pretty bad, nothing left in the expansion tank.

WTH?? Thermostat? Freeze-up? Damn, never thought that'd be an issue in this weather.

I grabbed the other '94 and went to work. Hope I didn't break anything.

Any thoughts?

Mebby your coolant mix wasn't good for temps this low?

I put a charger on my caddy last night to make sure it would start this morning, (like -20 out) and it strated fine - but then died as soon as I backed up about 8 feet. It cranked over jsut fine but refused to re-start. I'm thinking something in the fuel system froze?

Any ideas?

Hey Kevin,
Saw you posted this on facebook too. That really sucks. My guess would be:

#1) Thermostat stuck closed

#2) Blown hose

#3) Faulty fan(s)

Damn, you guys have it brutal! -20 out, I'm stayin in...

John, I would guess you might have some moisture in the line somewhere or it just flooded itself out.


That really sucks. I remember my old truck shit an accelerator pump on the Holley when it was around +5 degrees out. My hands cracked sooo bad from that cold gas(dad brought me up a Carter AFB). Last Holley I ever owned.

Probably a dumb question but was your coolant really low to begin with by chance? Or, as mentioned, too high of a water concentration in the system, led to something freezing somewhere?

Cold weather sucks...

Well, couple more details...

I checked the hoses after I shut it off. The lower rad hose was cold and slushy feeling - definitely froze up. The upper hose was warm. Seemed strange that it would be due to the LT1 reverse flow... but I think that's an indicator that the Tstat opened for me... but the water couldn't flow through the rad due to the freeze up. The engine itself didn't seem hot at all when I felt it - the valve covers were cold, the exhaust manifolds were hot, but the intake was barely warm. However, the temp gauge was pegged all the way on the hot side.

As for the level, I think I was fine. The low coolant indicator light wasn't on before, but was after it overheated. A lot boiled out, and the steam was all coming from the expansion tank cap. I'm thinking it wasn't low before this episode.

I just put a heater core in this car. I checked the coolant concentration with one of those floaty ball things when I finished and it said it was good to -20 or something. Apearantly not so!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing busted on the freeze-up. Also hoping I didn't pop a head gasket.

What a crappy winter! Bewbz, sorry to hear you're having trouble. Can't say what could've caused it. Maybe try some dry gas or wait until the weather breaks?

Same thing happened to the diesel yesterday, and it was plugged in !!! Started fine but temps climbed quickly, too quickly. Got it home and in the garage thinking it was a bad thermostat only to discover the rad was full of jello. As a side note, don't use cheap hydrometers. I checked the coolant in November and it showed Minus 40.

Temps here where down to Minus 36 C (almost the same in F) the last couple of nights and was even having problems with winter diesel fuel gelling. Not just parafin waxing up the filters, but actually gelling! After replacing the coolant, couldn't get the temps over 160 F. That combined with a weak heater fan makes for interesting driving. Maybe I should just go inside and come out again in April

Bill

Yep. No more cheap anti-freeze checkers for me!

I'm sure that's what happened, gelled antifreeze in the radiator.

Man, I lost a lot of anti-freeze and she was real hot when I went out there. Hope I didn't break anything!

Tomorrow it'll be a balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit, I'll pour in some straight-up anti freeze and hope for the best.

Is there anything I should check for a blown head gasket? Just look for steam in the exhaust, excessive pressure in the coolant system... anythign else?

Poor car. It's from Atlanta, too... it ain't ready for this weather!

Wagon Collector wrote:

I'll pour in some straight-up anti freeze and hope for the best.

From what I have read, putting in pure anti freeze is the worst thing you can do!

It has to be mixed 50-50 for it to work correctly.

I always buy the Prestone premixed 50-50 anti freeze, sure is alot easier too!

Hope you didn't break anything either!

It got down to 9 degrees here last night........thank god for kerosene heaters!

Taken from Wikipedia:
A 1:1 dilution with water is usually used, resulting in a freezing point in the range of −35 °C to −40 °C, depending on the formulation. In warmer or colder areas, weaker or stronger dilutions are used, respectively, but a range of 40%/60% to 60%/40% must be maintained to assure corrosion protection and optimum freezing prevention.

Glycol antifreeze solutions should generally be replaced with fresh mixture every two years.

I would also second the advice NOT to run straight antifreeze. Water is needed to get the magic numbers from a decent hydrometer. I was very finicky about mine while I was in Germany, growing up in Alaska taught me to always check the mixture of my coolant, and battery levels. Don't trust the tiny hydrometers with the multi-colored balls in them, I have a prestone one with a needle in it that has never let me down. I also second the running of premixed 50-50, I ran it the whole time I was in Germany and never had a problem with it, I went through a couple of AC Delco thermostats that kept sticking and a broken heater control valve, but other than that I never had a problem with cooling or overheating. Going out on a limb I would guess the headgaskets to be fine.

Gonna say what was already stated. DO NOT run straight antifreeze as it is not a good thing. I always run the 50/50 peremix without any problems and it just hit about -15 here.

As for the headgaskets I doubt they were hurt but one never knows. Keep an eye out for gray oil and bubbles in the cooling system while the car is running. Headgasket problems normally make themselves known quickly.

Sorry... I meant add straight antifreeze to my appearantly insufficient mix.

I'll shoot for about 50-60% antifreeze using absolutely no science or measuring techniques.

The follow up is that I lost about a gallon in the boil-over. I filled it up with 1/2 gallon 50/50 mix, and 1/2 gallon straight up. That'll combine with the gallon of what is probably 40% antifreeze or so that was left in the engine.

Seems fine. No water in the oil, no steam out the exhaust, no coolant leaks. It's 18 degrees F out (-9 ish Canadian). Only problem is I noticed the compressor isn't kicking on with the defrost. It was making noise last summer, maybe it finally went.

Anyway, drove it around, watched the Tstat cycle, all seems well.

Gotta love those old Chevy engines!

You can't beat an old Chevy!

boil overs always look worse in the winter,.way more steam etc,..
i spend my working time running salt from the mine to various destinations,.(all winter) i run a tractor trailer endump and haul 40-42 metric tonnes a load,. ( 26 wheeler grossing around 137,000lbs) truck can gather up to two and a half metric tonnes of ice and snow on it in bad weather,. it,s been pretty chilly with the wind chill a couple of times out by the lake where the mine is,. (goderich Ont) try to keep your fuel tanks full to reduce the frost that forms on the inside of the tank when it gets real cold, overnight the frost forms,. then when you drive the fuel sloshes around effectively contaminating the fuel with moisture,. it accumulates in the filter,. and then you have aggravation,.
a 60% glycol to 40% water is what we run,. If you are one of these people that hits the key and then drives off,. you might want ot think about some sort of winter front,. when it,s minus F-F-Fu....ing cold,
the rad gets a serious amount of wind chill,.and unless there's some warm water in the rad it can freeze after 5-10mins of driving ,.(as low as -100deg)
if you,re serious about protecting the motor in cold weather an oil heater is the best,. motor will warm up faster and thin warm oil gets to where it needs to be quicker,. warm heated oil in the pan flows heat upwards, that keeps frost off the bottom of the cylinders,.(so the motor will fire) in extreme cold even motors with warm water jackets don't always start,.but with warm oil invariably do. I trucked out of the northern ontario bush for a few years in the winters,. you learn simple tricks to keep your equipment functioning,.(winter fronts, belly tarps etc,.)
pull the battery at night and bring it inside,. drop the oil and the antifreeze, heat both up then pour them into the motor and it.ll go, no matter where it,s been shutoff ( broke down 120kms into the bush)
For cars synthetic oil between dec and march makes a huge difference in cranking speed etc,.
A 100w trouble light hung between the rad and the front of the block with a blanket around the nose of the car shutting the hood on it to keep it in place that'll make a 30deg difference in temp right there,.
common sense,. park the vehicle with the back end into the wind not the nose,. that can also make a 25deg difference on a windy night,.
I,ve had some tough winter lessons and i,m too old to go thru them again,.thankgoodness i,m not too slow of a learner,..never rely completely on your iron , always carry clothing designed for as cold as you might be after an hour on the side of the road,.a couple of times over the years i,ve stopped to help folks that were poorly equipped for the cold they were driving in,.and that can be deadly when you drive on some of the more remote roads around here,.and believe me i,m still learning how to deal with minus F-F-F-,......

Nick
nick

phantom 309 wrote:

For cars synthetic oil between dec and march makes a huge difference in cranking speed etc,.

I never understood why ExxonMobil doesn't advertise all the benefits of sythetic oil.

Do they advertise the all benefits of synthetic oil up in The Great White North? They don't here!

The treehuggers would love that it doesn't come out of the ground!

we are having the coldest nights of winter this week. Approaching freezing for the next two nights.....

Glad I don't have to worry about wrapping my engine in a blanket or anything!!!!!!

92 Woody Wagon wrote:

The treehuggers would love that it doesn't come out of the ground!

Synthetic oil does come from the ground. The reason it is called Synthetic is that in the refining process it is put under a microscope and all the molecules are are matched in size and shape, and not left alone the way they came out of the ground, hence the moniker synthetic.

I recall reading that there are only 3 or 4 companies that make true pao (polyalphaolefin) synthetic oil. A mechanic ran some in an older car and kept sending samples to a lab for testing and it was still good at 30 000 km.
The rest are the modified dino oil that you speak of.
I couldn't find the article I read, but wikipedia has some info.
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