I have a 73 maverick grabber 302. todoy it was 6 degrees outside, so i checked the radiator for ice. everything was fine, but 10 minuites of driving and it was steaming out of the radiator cap. It has a new thermostat, and was installed correctly. It does this every time it gets this cold. any suggestions will help
Overheating... Are you running the proper mix of water & antifreeze? If not, you may have a frozen blockage somewhere that is not easily detected. If yes, then could be faulty thermostat - does upper hose get real hard when car over heats? If it does, your thermostat is not opening. You may have a blocked water pump bypass hose as well. I had an overheating problem and found that the water pump bypass outlet was packed full of white powdery corrosion. No coolant was getting through. I put a 160 thermostat in right away too. That fixed the overheating in the Summer heat in Penna. Good Luck! MAVRICK513
well the top water hose is alwayse tight which makes me think its the thermostat,but that is only weeks old. I also ran a low temp thermostat in the summer, which worked well. Is there a way to tell if there is any blockage inside the engine? as far as the antifreeze, it was a little slushy this morning but definately not frozen. thanks.
You may not believe this, most dont. Old timers know it to be true and I found out by them. A car will freeze up after you have started it and drive it down the road. Finally saw it happen about 6 years ago. It has got to be cold for it to happen. The situation I saw it happen to was a blazer and the temp was about -15F. Guess in the old days, before antifreeze and probably during the depression, people would drain their water from the cars overnite and pour it back in the next day. My model A has a petcock on the lower radiator hose that is easily accessbile to make draining the radiator easy and quick. Dan
If it was slushy at first and then you drove it in 6 degree weather, I bet it did freeze. You are supercooling it with the radiator before the thermostat opens.
o.k. that sounds like that is what is going on. so I will probably put a low temp thermostat back in it just so it doesnot take too long to warm and circulate. my girl trips if she thinks she wont get to work ontime. thanks.
Interesting post, I have heard of this before, but I have always been doubtful how it could happen. What Charlie said about supercooling it helps make sense of it.
I had the same happen in my 76 pickup in -15 degree temps once. We don't get these temps very often. One way to handle it is to let the engine idle with a cover over the rad then that won't help much if there is frozen coolant to begin with.. Problems can result from either to low a coolant mix or to high a mix. This is why close to a 50/50 is reccommended most of the time. Your temps are on the extreme side so attention to this detail is a must. I don't know about super cooling but remember the fan is pulling air as well as just being forced while driving. This greatly slows down the heating and possibly makes the thermstat operation quite different if it can't open due to slush or ice. The engine it'self will get hot with out being able to exchange it's coolant continiously. As far as lowering temps as driven, I don't think that happenes. Only evaporation reduces temp. In a closed system that can't happen. Better way to go for you is to use a block heater that will keep coolant in circulation along with an 1/8" hole drilled into the thermostat outer area. Check around some garages and other places, bet many use these devices more than you realize in your area.
assuming you warm the car up before driving, this is nothing a piece of cardboard in front of the rad until the t-stat opens won't fix. just remember to take out the cardboard before you drive off. still, like the other guys say, if the mix is 50/50, this should not happen. charlie is right about the sub-cooling.(learned about this in the air-conditioning business.) the fan makes a "windchill factor" in the radiator even though the car isn't moving. so although it is 6 outside the windchill affect could be just below where your weak or poorly mixed coolant starts to freeze. also... who wants a 160 t-stat in a place that gets to 6 above? not me! 180 in the winter, 160 in the summer. interseting subject... let us know how you made out!
uhhhh another idea is to put a trouble light near the rad over night. this winter, i had todd do put on near the battery so his car will crank easily on the cold mornings. he hasn't forgotten to remove it before starting yet! maybe this will keep your coolant warm.
well i drained the old mix which was thought to be 50/50, and remixed new water and antifreeze. I usually give it 10 minuites to warm but i have been waiting it out a bit more. so far it has done well. will using a peice of cardboard help it to warm up quicker? thanks for the info everybody! now if I could get someone to answer my "alignment issues" ha ha! thanks!
Have you thought of a circulating rad heater… Here in Canada we get some extreme temps -40 one day and them a couple days later 5 F… so what thermostat would I have? It was replaced before I owned the car… so I imagine they put in the factory setting
T.L. you have just made me connect super cooling to what is done to food ( like tv dinners) to freeze it quickly. Thanks! Dan
