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Ok guys my moms car sat over the cold weekend, She goes to leave for work, gets to the end of the street and the car has died 3 times. I come home from work, i thought well maybe she hasnt checked the coolant or had it flushed “she has a habit of putting water in it instead of antifreeze during the summer”
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also i spent $75 today to rent a coolant system presure testing kit. If anything i have learned from ETCG, is that i need to diagnoise a problem. Sure enough hooked up the test kit today and filled up the radiator with water “cheaper then antifreeze” and when i started the test it started pouring out under the motor.
Depending on where the freeze plug location is ( ie- the missing ones ) will determine how difficult they are to replace. first I would not use the rubber ones. get the right ones ( brass ) second- see if your local parts store will loan a freeze plug install kit ( makes the job much easier. now I put a light coat of permatex gasket sealent ( not rtv ) on them when ever I replace them but I am sure some will say just pound them in. if you can’t get the freeze plug kit you can use a socket and an extension. make sure to use a small enough socket so that when the freeze plug goes into the block ( it will collapes slightly ) it doesn’t trap the socket.
Most of the water seems to be draining from the rear of the motor, My buddy said something about your able to “roll” those motors? Not sure how that works but he said i may be able to get to the back that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IcfeyA3L3E
This is exactly what your friend was talking about when he said you could “roll” the motor. I’d be more concerned with why two freeze plugs popped out. Freeze plugs are mythically supposed to prevent your block/head from cracking should your coolant freeze, but I’ve heard they rarely work. You said, “she has a habit of putting water in it instead of antifreeze during the summer”, and if it wasn’t replaced with a fifty fifty mix before freezing temperatures, that would be bad. I would probably start with a compression test (which doesn’t require the engine running, so you won’t have to dump $20 of coolant on the ground to do it), and then if that checks out, I would rent a block tester kit.
On second thought, I would look at the oil real quick and see if there’s an obvious head gasket leak. If the oil looks ‘milky’, then you definitely have larger problems. If it looks ok, then proceed with the rest of my suggestions. A coolant leak itself shouldn’t be causing the car to want to stall, but a blown head gasket or other loss of compression certainly could.
Eric’s compression test vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tbksFYhl4
Eric’s video on overheating diagnostics, which I believe covers the block tester:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImI
Good luck.
Freeze plugs usually leak – rarely pop out like this. There got to be something blocking the coolant circulation.
They did their job, popped out when the water in the engine froze…
You can buy adjustable rubber freeze plugs, take the ones you have with you and get the right size…
Cheers
I understand that it’s not that big of a deal to replace freeze plugs, but he says the car is running poorly/stalling now. That’s my concern.
This is an interesting thread.
I would be inclined to think that the vehicle had zero antifreeze in the cooling system seeing as she was adding water. Then became a point where her cooling system only contained water, add that to the cold temperatures and you may have your answer.
This is only an assumption though.
That is what i was thinking, The car had mainly water and that caused the freeze plugs to pop out.
Im just not sure where the freeze plugs are on her car. I guess they are along the back and front? Anywhere else?
Also sorcerer the dorman plugs i got now are adjustable.
From the size of those freeze plugs I would say they came from the side of the block. a mirror will help you look at the side next to the firewall. once you find where they came from I would first replace them with the brass oem type ( I really don’t like the rubber style ) if it is the side next to the firewall , disconnect the ” dogbone mount ” and rock the engine twords the radiator ( eric has a video as to how he does this ) I usually hook a ratchet strap from the engine to the core support and ” carefully ” crank on it till you have some clearance between the firewall and the back side of the block. once you replace them you can then do a coolant system pressure check. also would then do a compression check and a leak down test.
Quoted From 619DioFan:
From the size of those freeze plugs I would say they came from the side of the block. a mirror will help you look at the side next to the firewall. once you find where they came from I would first replace them with the brass oem type ( I really don’t like the rubber style ) if it is the side next to the firewall , disconnect the ” dogbone mount ” and rock the engine twords the radiator ( eric has a video as to how he does this ) I usually hook a ratchet strap from the engine to the core support and ” carefully ” crank on it till you have some clearance between the firewall and the back side of the block. once you replace them you can then do a coolant system pressure check. also would then do a compression check and a leak down test.
Thanks man ill check it, I bought the rubber ones because they didnt have the brass and i thought i was fixing the issue the same day (guess not) Thanks for the advice i gotta fix my trucks overheating issue tomorrow and ill get on it, (yeah both cars with a coolant issue go figure, at least i know whats wrong with my truck lol) ill post back and let you know my finding hopefully tomorrow afternoon.
I agree with the above posts that express concern about your engine. Low coolant won’t cause an engine to die unless there is major secondary damage.
Yes low coolant and overheating is a concern as mentioned above but to address the freeze plug issue they did exactly what they were suppose to and lived up to their namesake. My friend Duane at RealFixesReal fast did a great video on this, here’s a link.
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