So how many cracked engine blocks are their going to be in Texas...

[57NAPCO]

Not that the rest of y’all really care but we have never had this kind of freeze event for so long...how many engines, either in trucks that run or trucks just sitting are going to crack...my guess is quite a few. We typically have freeze protection to 32 degrees.

[Dead Parrot]

Probably a few. Anyone looking at an ad for a "It was running when last used" vehicle or other equipment should be wary for the next year or so. Much like those low mile bargains after a hurricane floods an area.

[blazer2007]

we had a wicked week of brutal cold weather with wind in B.C. I have a 2003 grand am that was givin to me last year. Never saw a cord or nothing for a block heater, now is getting warm decided to see why the wiper squirter wasn,t working and way down covered in dirt and dust is a cord.

[Myself]

95% will be just fine. A minimal amount of antifreeze will still keep the coolant from freezing rock solid.
The inboard boat motors though............lookout!

Betting early summer your market will be flooded with 'good' used boats, lol!

[trukman1]

Slightly off topic but from what I'm hearing there are going to be a lot of swimming pool filters being replaced come spring. My nephew and niece both have pools and their filters are freezing and breaking.

Ice storms took out power so there's a lot of people with busted water pipes because they don't know to let their faucets run when the power goes out. (First thing to do up north.)

Definitely going to be a lot of damage for people not used to cold temps and power outages.

My family thought I was nuts because I own two generators, have 60 gallons of non-ethanol fuel on hand (expensive but...) and a well stocked pantry with cases and cases of TP but when grocery store shelves here were bare and TP couldn't be found guess who they called?

I even talked my neighbors into getting generators and stocking up on food and TP. (So they wouldn't come here when things got bad! LOL!)

[Mattchu60]

I bet very few would crack, I believe all cars come filled with factory coolant. I would guess most have never been drained, and if they have they got refilled with new coolant (not water).

[dagnabbitt]

You will have lots of cracked blocks, rads, hoses. It's not uncommon to have it happen to people in Canada, and we of all people should know better than to run with water.

I am thinking of all of you without heat in your houses, though, I hope everyone is safe and well.

[Knight72]

Originally Posted by 57NAPCO

Not that the rest of y’all really care but we have never had this kind of freeze event for so long...how many engines, either in trucks that run or trucks just sitting are going to crack...my guess is quite a few. We typically have freeze protection to 32 degrees.

Man, I'm glad I saw your post. Reminded me to check the burb yesterday
It was low, and on water.

[Lunnb]

Years ago , I had a friend that was the king of procrastination. We had replaced the water pump on his 1976 Duster /318 . I told him to buy anti-freeze , he forgot and filled with water . I reminded him several times throughout the summer and fall . We had a deep freeze event one night . The next morning he called me , hey my car won’t start , it won’t even turn over . When I arrived to help him out, I popped the hood and found both sides of the block laying under the car . Zero degrees , zero anti-freeze equals a busted block . I ended up building him a 340 that nearly cost him driver’s license.

[trukman1]

Originally Posted by Lunnb

Years ago , I had a friend that was the king of procrastination. We had replaced the water pump on his 1976 Duster /318 . I told him to buy anti-freeze , he forgot and filled with water . I reminded him several times throughout the summer and fall . We had a deep freeze event one night . The next morning he called me , hey my car won’t start , it won’t even turn over . When I arrived to help him out, I popped the hood and found both sides of the block laying under the car . Zero degrees , zero anti-freeze equals a busted block . I ended up building him a 340 that nearly cost him driver’s license.

WOW! I've been out-procrastinated!

[Lunnb]

Originally Posted by trukman1

WOW! I've been out-procrastinated!

To top it off after I built the engine , reinstalled it , we fired it up . Ran like a top , when I put it in gear , let out the clutch , the engine stalled . Tried this a couple of more times before realizing that the rear wheels were “stuck” . Jacked up the rear end , removed the wheels , the drums were stuck . No , not stuck but freaking rusted to the to the brake shoes . There was zero lining left on the brake shoes , sitting outside for nearly 12 months rust welded it all into a rusty chunk . Once the rear and front brakes were replaced , new rotors and drums , it ended up being a decent little hotrod . $5.00 worth of antifreeze cost him a buttload of time and money .

[Dead Parrot]

I performed an experiment with coolant drained from a CUCV after initial testing showed it was only good to 7*F. The coolant was drained to make room for more pure antifreeze since predicted temps were in the -15 range.

I left the bucket of 7* stuff outside during the worst of the cold(reportedly -17) and it never froze or even developed any hint of ice. There may be a little safety margin in the AF testers.

Disclaimers: Sample size of one. Your results may vary. My AF tester might be FUBAR.

[special-K]

One thing is a smaller volume of water, like coolant passages, will freeze faster. Also consider it is in contact with cast iron at that temp. I swear metal gets colder than ambient. It sure feels that way!

[67ChevyRedneck]

Depends on how cold it got and for how long. I don't think many people run straight water anyway, even in TX, because straight water causes a rusty mess in your block after a while.

Most of the time the freeze plugs will pop and save the engine.

In my life I've only seen one legit cracked block from ice. My grandpa changed the W/P on his 72 C30 stake bed truck in like August. He only put water in it at the time meaning to add anti-freeze later. Winter snuck up early on us that year and it froze so bad the block literally split. It was a shame too, the motor only had like 52K miles on it and ran like a top. This was around 1994-ish in western NY. I've lived in SC since 1999, so not many block cracking events happen here

My dad and I swapped another engine into that truck and my grandpappy used it all the way until like 2000 when the rust got so bad it was parked. A lot of interior panels from that truck made it into my C10.

[Bigdav160]

I seen several ice damaged engines including a couple of mine.

I am sure glad my pool is salt. Even though it has freeze protection software in the pump controls - that doesn't work when the power is out for 3 days

[Myself]

Our 18x4 cheapie Walmart pool is a solid block of ice,

[trukman1]

Once had power outage for nearly a week. Happened right in middle of family get together. food was being cooked so I moved it to outdoor grille. During the course of the week some plastic bowls got set on one of the burners and nobody remembered to turn of stove and burners. Power came back on and resulted in a mass of burning plastic on stove. Of course I had placed fire extinguisher right beside stove so had to grab a bag of flour to smother it. Luckily smoke detector went off to wake us. Point being, don't forget to turn of certain things when power goes out and don't keep fire extinguisher too close to where a fire is likely to start. Just a heads up so others won't make the mistake we made.

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by trukman1

Once had power outage for nearly a week. Happened right in middle of family get together. food was being cooked so I moved it to outdoor grille. During the course of the week some plastic bowls got set on one of the burners and nobody remembered to turn of stove and burners. Power came back on and resulted in a mass of burning plastic on stove. Of course I had placed fire extinguisher right beside stove so had to grab a bag of flour to smother it. Luckily smoke detector went off to wake us. Point being, don't forget to turn of certain things when power goes out and don't keep fire extinguisher too close to where a fire is likely to start. Just a heads up so others won't make the mistake we made.

When I worked for the power company. A guy I worked with cut the power on an apartment for non payment of the bill.

They paid the bill and he turned the power back on. But they had set boxes on top of the electric stove. No one was home and the stove was on. So when the power came back on so did the stove.

Burned the place to the ground. And they sued the company.

[LS short box]

Being in MN I use the typical 50/50 anti-freeze mix. Good for -35. I bet some of the hot rods/drag cars down south have straight water in the radiator. Hope they have somewhat heated garages. In my attached garage with no heat its typically 20 degrees warmer than the out side temp.
This cold snap really makes a late model truck with heated seats and heated steering wheel pretty comfortable.

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by LS short box

This cold snap really makes a late model truck with heated seats and heated steering wheel pretty comfortable.

I've never cared for heated seats myself. They make me feel like I just pooped my pants.

But if I lived in Minnesota I'd be using them for sure.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by FleetsidePaul

I've never cared for heated seats myself. They make me feel like I just pooped my pants.

But if I lived in Minnesota I'd be using them for sure.

Both my Envoy and Dodge 3500 have heated seats . Whens its below zero it's really nice but I can just do the seat bottom, seat back or both. Like having a heating pad on your back when it's just the seat back on

[MalibuSSwagon]

A couple of years ago, a friend bought an 8.1L 02 Burb from down south and brought it north. All was well until the first freeze and his radiator exploded! Thing was filled with straight water, got lucky that was all that popped.

[ChevyRacefan]

I never understood the thinking of not using anti freeze or letting it get weak.
I have yet to see an owners manual that states you don't need it if you live where it never gets to the freezing mark.
A race vehicle, sure as most tracks will not allow you on their track with anti freeze in the system.
Ever see a block that was only water for coolant? The scally rust in the water passages makes them garbage, and never cool correctly because of it.

[Low Elco]

Been nervous about my boat, but we ran 3 gallons of the -50 pink rv antifreeze through it before we put it up. Should be ok, but we'll see.

[Greasey Harley]

I'll bet [Like] 90% of the boats with inboard engines.