Frozen Block... Literally!

[Powered By Ford]

i have an 84 351 Windsor Interceptor engine in my racecar, i know its not to special being an '84 and all, but id like to try to save it, how ever, i seemed to have forgotten to add anti-freeze back in the radiator before the frost came. so i popped the cap the other day, solid ice, the radiator was not bulged at all, and it was a slow freeze, but it may have cracked the block, not sure.... any way to try to save her before she cracks, did not try to start it, was going to but decided that might be bad... any remedies?

[cargasm]

i wouldnt start it.. are the freeze plugs still in? those should pop out before it cracks.
i would get one of those small propane or oil heaters jack up the car and put the heater under the front end prefeably in a garage if u donthave a garage maybe put soe blankets over it to hold the heat in a little and keep an eye on it just incase a blanket or somthing gets to close to the heater and catches on fire
then when it melts put in some antifreeze! lol
good luck hope the block is fine

[Jake Ryan]

I don't have any advice, but I hope you have learned to never do that again.

[KrokE]

I feel for ya...I did the same thing with my Challenger's 340 engine. I thought I was ok until I hot tanked it, there were spider-webbed cracks around a couple of the cold plugs that I coulndt see with the naked eye, since there was so much gunk all over it. Live and learn eh? :(

[Powered By Ford]

ya, decided im going to start it, just a race car motor anyways, stock, so... hope for the best i guess, took the belt of so i wouldn't wreck the waterpump anyways, threw the batt. in er, she cranked over, but batt. was dead, heading back home to fire her up, ill let it run for a bit to get the block warm, prob 2 to 4 mins. then let her sit and thaw for a bit, rinse and repeat, i guess if she dont leak then ill pull the radiator and stor it in the basement till it thaws, then dump some anti-freeze down the upper hose till it runs out the bottem, then pull the block plugs and drain her empty, on the other hand, if she leaks, might as well hold her down till i can see the rods!!!!! ill take pictures!!!!!!

[xnutt]

ya, decided im going to start it, just a race car motor anyways, stock, so... hope for the best i guess, took the belt of so i wouldn't wreck the waterpump anyways, threw the batt. in er, she cranked over, but batt. was dead, heading back home to fire her up, ill let it run for a bit to get the block warm, prob 2 to 4 mins. then let her sit and thaw for a bit, rinse and repeat, i guess if she dont leak then ill pull the radiator and stor it in the basement till it thaws, then dump some anti-freeze down the upper hose till it runs out the bottem, then pull the block plugs and drain her empty, on the other hand, if she leaks, might as well hold her down till i can see the rods!!!!! ill take pictures!!!!!!

SWEEETTTTT i like pictures.it's a shame though the pics will be of an engine that is still intact..........IT'S A FORD !!!!!!

what u didn't think i was a chevy man did u ??? lol


i've had the same thing happen to me when i was younger. did the same thing .removed the water pump belt fired it and let it run for a few. thawed belt back and off i went.

good luck

[Ayce]

The only time I saw an engine puke a rod was on a 74 Dodge van with a slant(sl*t) 6 after several months of running with little to no oil. :eek:
Blew out on the highway on the way to a gig. Good thing we had a backup plan. ;)

[xnutt]

i've had 3 chevy's all had the rods hanging out when i got done driving lol.

[camarokid]

i seen a 305 wher the block was all frozen and we used eether to start it lol got it started knocked like hell and then the cam broke lol. Live and learn makes great stories to tell on them cold boring days lol.

[hos1981]

There are two good idea's in this thead, If you don't have a warm
garage to push your car in then take the waterpump belt off and run
it or point a torpedo heater underneath. Once you get it defrosted
check all over the radiator, coolent line's, Heatercore if it's
accessible, Also look all over the block and head's, Pay particular
attention to the soft plug's and bottom of the heads where they sit
on the block, When water freezes it expands 9% to 10% the soft
plug's are designed to pop out if water freezes in the block and unlike
chevy or dodge. Your ford will have one soft plug in the back of each
head. Though soft plug's aren't full proof 99% of the time they
pervent the block from cracking. I would be most worried about the
radiator and heater core cracking. Also inside the heads are small
path way's for antifreeze to travel through since (if it's stock) it will
have castiron heads I wouldn't worry about a cracked head. but
there is also a small possibility of a blown headgasket. The worst
thing you can do is let it sit. This time of year it will freeze, thawout,
freeze, thawout, again and again. You may get lucky and have no
damage the first time or two but if you leave it sit then you might
as well start planting seed's and make a flower bed out of it, lol good
luck my friend.

[camarokid]

the bad thing is working on this stuff in the cold. It needs to be done but nobody wants to do it lol

[roadweasel]

I knew an old boy who would light briquettes, get 'em going on a cookie sheet and slide that cookie sheet under his engine to thaw it out a bit. If you're not close to a power outlet it works!

[camarokid]

true true lol

[wcmich16]

john's 04 svt cobra just got killed, he set the rev limiter too high and put a rod out, and put a huge hole in the block. was sad to see her go. fastest car ive driven in a looong time :)

[Ayce]

Y'know, those rev limiters are there for a reason. ;)

[Wraith]

Y'know, those rev limiters are there for a reason. ;)

So one can set them higher?

[camarokid]

ya if u use msd digital box u can set where u would like to put ur rev limiter. other then that i am not sure about adjusting stock one. u would have to go into the computer of the car and mess with that then.