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Slush in radiator & turbo coolant lines

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PFC_CiarlilloM

PFC_CiarlilloM

10+ Year Contributor
234
0
May 22, 2011
Euclid, Ohio
Okay so last week sometime I had a coolant leak coming out of my turbo coolant lines. It seemed as if the heat + vibrations caused my hose clamp to loosen up a bit and I was dripping coolant out. Well I tightened it up and topped off with a bit of water. Didn't seem like a lot so I didnt think much of it.

Well on my way to work the other day the car started to overheat. It got right under the point of solid red/orange bar at the top when I pulled in. I immediately turned the car off, and let it sit because I was running late.

After work I noticed that I was down some coolant so I poured water in and tried to top it off as best as I could (-15 degrees outside w/ wind chill). Well it started overheating again but I made it home in time before the redline/warning at the top and let it sit overnight.

I was assuming my thermostat was stuck closed initially to cause the overheating and was going to replace that.

Also while I was driving yesterday I had no heat at any point in time even when it was overheating.

This morning when I went outside to go ensure all coolant lines were tight, and try to add antifreeze to top off the system I found my all my coolant lines and both rad hoses to be slushy.

Where do I go from here? Obviously I have to remove all the slush, and I was going to replace the thermostat, and do a radiator/coolant flush. I just dont know the best route to take.

I didn't start it as I wasn't sure if that was safe to do or not.



*All my maintenance is up to date. I replaced the thermostat in the summer when I redid the head gasket.
 
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I figured that much LOL. I'm just looking for the best course of action to take.

If it's safe to start her up, then I could do that, and replace everything when all thawed out in liquid state.

But if it's not safe to start, then I'm lost as to what the best plan of attack would be.
 
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Drain what you can and just dump buckets of hot water in the coolant area and hopefully they will loosen up. You can also take the heater core lines off and try the same thing, but when you go to fill it back up make sure you get the coolant to water ratio right.
 
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The coolant is probably frozen inside the lines to the heater core. You need to thaw out the lines for coolant to circulate to the heater core for heat to return. Get the coolant/water thawed out drain everything then replace coolant/water with the right mix and the heat should return. But I hope the coolant/water in the heater core is frozen either, you might wanna get the car in a warmer garage overnight so everything can thaw. If you replaced the thremostat this summer I dont think it would be stuck, but there have been weird cases before. I guess it wouldn't hurt just to replace it anyways if you have the money for it.
 
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Put your car in your garage over night if you have one. And if it isn't heated then throw a space heater or salamander in there. In the morning, drain and refill with antifreeze.
 
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Check and see if you can spin the water pump by hand. If you can't or if its really hard. Remove the belt for it. Then start the car and just let it run for a minute or two to melt the slush/ice in the block. Drain it. If your radiator is too frozen remove it, and give it a hot bath/shower. As for your heater core...it might take a week or so for it to completely unfreeze. Ask me how i know.
 
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I'm trying to find a garage to put it in overnight as I am away for school and I'm 40 miles away from my parent's house.

I'm working on pulling off the radiator hoses and pouring warm/hot water thru them to melt the slush. What would be the bare minimum you guys would do in this case before starting the car?
 
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I replaced the water pump when I redid the headgasket in the summer. So I hope that it being newer wouldnt damage it too much. Granted I don't want any damage to be done period, but I can deal w/ a water pump as opposed to engine internals.

I'll work on getting all or as much out as possible before night because it's not looking like I can find a garage for the night.

If I can't find a garage here's my plan of action.

1. Remove/drain all or as much slush as possible
2. Refill with proper amount of anti-freeze/coolant
3. Start the car, watch engine bay & check temp gauge
4. Turn car off after reaching/exceeding operating temp
5. Drain & refill with proper anti-freeze ratio

Does this seem like the right plan of action to take?

Also, what coolant ratio are you guys running in the winter? Is 50/50 sufficient or should I be looking at a different ratio? It's been getting to be around -15 w/ windchill here.
 
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What I would do is (this is what I would do and some people do things differently) drain what you can and catch it then properly dispose of it, then refill with boiling hot water with the drain plug open and let it drain out, then put more hot water in and make sure its full. Then run the car with a VERY close eye on the gauge and once it gets even close to the operating temp turn it off and drain the water then refill with a 60 coolant/40 water mix just because some of that water will be left in the system. Then after the mix is in run the car for about 30 mins to 45 mins with a close eye on the temp guage to make sure its all good.
 
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So I went and picked up some 50/50 mix coolant, and came back to my car.

I removed my upper/lower radiator hoses, and ran warm water through them, and cleared them of all the slush. I installed them back into the car.

I went to go remove the drain plug on the bottom of the radiator to drain what was left in the coolant system, and I broke off the plastic plug. Well I broke off the handle/grip part of the plug. The other half is still plugging the car.

At the point, I removed my radiator hoses, and filled them up with coolant. Then I took a chance and started the car up.

I kept the radiator cap off, and have been pouring in coolant since for the last 20/30 minutes. It's reading 203 degrees in EvoScan, and staying in normal operating range on the dash. My heat has returned as well.

At this point, I am going to take it for a test run, and see if it overheats, or not. Then take it from there.

In the immediate near future, I plan to tackle the drain plug issue, drain the coolant, and refill will proper ratio to be on the safe side.

Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated.
 
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Sounds like you had the right idea. Just keep a close eye on that temp gauge. These frigid temps we've had here the last few days probably just turned your coolant to slush. Its supposed to be warming up a little so I think you'll be golden now that you changed out that fluid for new. Good luck! Stay warm!
 
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Still doesn't solve the very original problem, why was it loosing coolant anyway. You need to pressure test the cooling system otherwise this thread repeats itself.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...440201-10-coolant-system-pressure-tester.html

Our cooling system is pretty convienent in that the block holds a gallon and the radiator hold a gallon. I run water until it's all water, then drain the radiator and refill with concentrated coolant. That will get ya 50/50.

Use only distilled water, it's cheap. Try to always use distilled
 
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I believe I was losing it from the coolant lines going into the turbo since they were loose from the heat + vibration. Seems to be holding coolant just fine now.

Didn't overheat on the test drive. Coolant temp read 203-212*
 
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I dont know about you, but when it started getting cold around here (Low teens) I drained my coolant and used two gallons of 50/50 or a full gallon of straight coolant and then fill with distilled water. My coolant was slushy though and i had to run boiling water through the system to get rid of it.
 
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FSM cooling system cap is 7.5 quarts and the rad dumps about 4. Just keep dumping and refilling with water until it's all water. Then dump the rad and fill with straight coolant, you'll be just about 50/50.
 
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