I bought a beater '83 Camaro Sport Coupe over the summer to toy around with. It has at Target Master 350 enginer installed. I have checked the coolant on numerous occasions and always thought that it looked fine, but I just tested it this morning to ensure that it was up to snuff to handle the cold Iowa winter to come. Unfortunately, it tested as not being able to handle even a 20 degree night. It looks very watery, and I'm sure that I'm looking at very little coolant in mostly water. It's supposed to dip into the 20s tonight, and into the mid teens tomorrow night, so I'm very worried about the coolant freezing in the block and cracking it. I unhooked the lower radiator hose to drain as much of the coolant as possible when I got home from work--is this enough to prevent disaster? If not, what should I do? Thanks for any advice.

I bought a beater '83 Camaro Sport Coupe over the summer to toy around with. It has at Target Master 350 enginer installed. I have checked the coolant on numerous occasions and always thought that it looked fine, but I just tested it this morning to ensure that it was up to snuff to handle the cold Iowa winter to come. Unfortunately, it tested as not being able to handle even a 20 degree night. It looks very watery, and I'm sure that I'm looking at very little coolant in mostly water. It's supposed to dip into the 20s tonight, and into the mid teens tomorrow night, so I'm very worried about the coolant freezing in the block and cracking it. I unhooked the lower radiator hose to drain as much of the coolant as possible when I got home from work--is this enough to prevent disaster? If not, what should I do? Thanks for any advice.
When you pull the lower radiator hose and you drain the coolant, it still leaves a heck of lot more coolant in the block lower than the water pump. On my big block I drained the coolant to prepare for tear down. drained the radiator, than pulled the lower hose off to drain a little more. BUt as soon as I removed the lower head bolts coolant was pouring out of the bolt holes like a faucet. Thought that was it, but than did the same thing on the other side of the block.. My boat engine 350 mercruiser has valves on the side of the block above the pan to drain the water. But of course in my climate we don't worry about freezing..

Slow,
Whay dont you just drain about a gallon of it out and then add a gallon of new Anti-Freeze ????? That should make it good for at least 20 degrees if not more. Just make sure and run it a little while after you refill it to get the new collant mixed in good.

Being from the currently cold frozen north (just got in from snow shovelling), can tell you about freezing protection.

Just get some anti-freeze (prestone or whatever local brand) and mix it 50/50 with water and you will have protection down to 40 below or colder.

All of us up here run 50/50 mix unless you have a propane fueled vehicle where you run straight anti-freeze if you don't wanna freeze up the propane converter when it gets real cold.

Anti-freeze mixed with water also minimizes cooling system rust formation.

i cant belive some of the things people ask-you live in a climate where it freezes, then worry about damaging an engine with no anti freeze-
duh! you put anti freeze in it-if you dont know how to do this, take it somewhere-draining the radiator leaves water in the block-it freezes, expands, cracks the block-seen a lot of engines ruined this way

I can't believe some of the things people say-you can't read a single paragraph with enough comprehension to understand his concern is not having ENOUGH anti-freeze,DUH!

50/50 is only good till 20 below, i live in maine, and it gets to be -20 to -30 a few nights a year and i always run 50/50 with no isdsues, it usually test out to -25 to -30, and for the short tim e it is -30 it more than does the job.
i would pull lower radiator hose and add one full gallon of anti freeze, straight, this will give you roughly 50/50 mix, run it awhile to let it circulate then check it,
goodluck
jake

Since you already pulled the lower hose all you need to do now is put it back on, fill the system with straight antifreeze, let the engine run for about 15 minutes and finish filling with antifreeze.
With what was already in it and adding straight antifreeze, the mixture should be plenty strong enough.
While you're there picking up the antifreeze, buy yourself a cheap antifreeze tester for future use.

Be carful removing the cap after it has been running.

I find that you need to drive it a little to really get the thermostate to open, and get the air out, and mix it good, not always but often.
Here it is 18 degs and windy right now! :(

Pat

Of course we are all assuming the car is ready to turn the key, start, and run...I have several vehicles around with perfectly good engines, but a dead battery, etc. Maybe the car is in an awkward spot, where you can't get a booster battery, etc. And with the sun going down a 4:45, by the time I get home from work at 7, the thought of going to the back of my property and coaxing one of those babies into running really sucks.

So without complaining about his procrastination of testing the antifreeze, in the situation he finds himself in, he either needs to add protection or drain the coolent further, thats what he is asking. If the car runs, great. Add antifreeze, run it a bit, while you are at it add some fuel stabilzer, etc. If not, pull the drains in the block. He also pulled the rad hose...make sure the rad itself is emptied, in case the hose was propped higher than the rad, etc. His concern was the motor but of course the rad needs to be empty as well.

Good luck.

Just went out to the garage and checked the anti-freeze jug and for a 50/50 mix the protection is -37. Pretty darn cold even in this part of the country.

Could be that further southt the anti-freeze is a bit weaker based on local climate.

Now if the engine is not running you can just dewater the engine with a bit of air pressure. You don't need much pressure, just enough to push the water out. Up here we have to dewater our lawn water irrigation systems for winter. If you don't have to open the valves with pressure, a simple vacuum cleaner will provide enough of a blow to move the water out of the lines. Note that some vacuum cleaners have a provision to blow or suck.

I was thinking blow it out too Sandy, but then he still needs to get the proper mixture into it soon or he'll start getting internal rust.

If you don't want to run it or can't, you need to pull the plugs on the bottom of each side of the block, or it will hold water to the height of the water pump! that is a lot.

Pat

Drain the rad. and pour back in about four to five quarts of CHEAP rubbing alcohol and start her up and run her to mix it!

Then when you have time and it warms up a bit, park her on the curb so the front is high and crawl under her and pull the plugs out of each side of the block and drain the rad, flush her good with a garden hose and refill it with 50/50 blend!

This way, you won't waste an $8.00 gallon of new antifreeze!!

Way back when I was a kid, you could buy quart cans of Wood Alcohol b/c it was CHEAP that did the same thing.......... And I have used it to get me by, but I had to watch the darn stuff b/c it would boil off and leave just water at a fairly cool motor temp!!!

I finally got to a Farm&Home store intown later on the next Sat. that sold bulk anti-freeze if you brought your own gallon jugs for about a $1.00/gallon!!

(AND I have two 50-50 jugs mixed up and MARKED in the garage now!!!)....

pdq67

Well, I was too late--I added some straight coolant and fired it up, then waited for the thermostat to open before topping the system off and putting the cap on the radiator. As soon as the thermostat opened I was seeing bubbly, frothy oil mixed with the coolant getting dumped back into the radiator. We have had a 17 degree night in the recent past (8 degrees last night, yuck) and I bet that it was enough to do some damage. Thanks for all of the good advice--thankfully this engine was pretty suspect anyway and I have a fresh rebuild sitting on the garage floor. Any thoughts on possible radiator damage? It seemed to be OK, but I didn't let it run with the rad cap so I may have a small crack or leak that only shows up under pressure. At any rate, let this be a lesson to trusting people everywhere--do not believe what a car seller tells you about fluids, verify everything yourself! I now have something to do this winter...

Before you condem this block, you should let it run and see if there are any external leaks, like the rad and block.

If you can run it for a while and it does not leak externally, it may be ok on the inside too.

What you are seeing after adding the anti-freeze may just be a lot of crud from the cooling system not ever being maintained and not necessarily a sign of an internal coolant leak.

If you are installing a fresh engine, a fresh radiator is in order too, why scrimp now.

Good points Sandy and Leo, thanks. I didn't see any external leaks when it ran, but there were several inches of some very frothy, oily gunk in the top of the radiator. I'm not feeling quite as sick to my stomach as I was earlier... I'll keep you all posted on further developments.

ez fix for it, do what i did, move to Texas :)

Top her off and let her run until the T-stat opens up and continue to top her off until she is COMPLETEY full and watch for little-bitty bubbles caused by compression getting past any cracks coming out the rad. fill hole...

And is the oil still OK? OR is it 100 pecent a milk-shake??

You might still luck out??

Hope so.. Please keep us posted..

pdq67

Good lesson learned.