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Luke_Healey
Jedi Trainee
Offline
I own too many vehicles. I've told myself I'm going to have to get rid of a few things so I can keep better track of the maintenance history of them all.
Last spring, I filled my '66 Sprite with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. Sometime in the middle of the summer, my three way lower radiator hose burst. I replaced it and filled the car with water. I must have told myself I'd replace it with legitimate coolant again. I must have gotten side tracked. I drove the car the rest of the summer thinking I had antifreeze in it. I check all of my cars with an antifreeze tester before winter comes. I must have been so convinced my Sprite had antifreeze in it that I neglected to check it.
Yesterday I was working on my truck in my garage, since this is the first time it's been warm enough to do so in Iowa since November. I hear water dripping and look over at my sprite. Drip drip drip! So I put my hand under the dripping and it is totally devoid of glycol :frown: 100% water.
You know the rest of the story most likely... The source of the dripping was the missing freeze plug near cylinder 1. I saw a wall of solid ice in the void.
Solid ice throughout the block, head, radiator, heater core.
So I pushed the car outside with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I pulled the dipstick and there was no water in the oil.
I hunted down my compression tester and pulled the plugs. Cold compression with my half dead battery was 160, 165, 165, and 160psi across the four cylinders. No water in any of the cylinders.
So, I put the plugs in, pulled the choke, and said a little prayer in a british accent. The car fired up pretty quickly, surprisingly. After it warmed a bit and I released the choke, it idles and sounds exactly the same as it always has. I melted all of the water in the engine. My lower radiator hose was still solid as a rock though. It was about 45F here yesterday. After the car warmed up enough, I shut her down, pulled the block drain plug back behind the carbs. I found my popped welch plug on the garage floor and put it in the car. I pulled the radiator drain plug and it drained what it could. I noticed my heater box has water running out of it, so I will have to solder or replace the heater core.
So is there anything else I need to check to see if I've catastrophically ruined the head or block? The plugs looked like they normally do after it ran. There was not any water coming out of the muffler, and there was no white or black smoke either.
I'm a moron for letting this happen. The sad part is that I'm normally really diligent about checking antifreeze and winterizing my vehicles with new oil, etc...
Last spring, I filled my '66 Sprite with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. Sometime in the middle of the summer, my three way lower radiator hose burst. I replaced it and filled the car with water. I must have told myself I'd replace it with legitimate coolant again. I must have gotten side tracked. I drove the car the rest of the summer thinking I had antifreeze in it. I check all of my cars with an antifreeze tester before winter comes. I must have been so convinced my Sprite had antifreeze in it that I neglected to check it.
Yesterday I was working on my truck in my garage, since this is the first time it's been warm enough to do so in Iowa since November. I hear water dripping and look over at my sprite. Drip drip drip! So I put my hand under the dripping and it is totally devoid of glycol :frown: 100% water.
You know the rest of the story most likely... The source of the dripping was the missing freeze plug near cylinder 1. I saw a wall of solid ice in the void.
Solid ice throughout the block, head, radiator, heater core.
So I pushed the car outside with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I pulled the dipstick and there was no water in the oil.
I hunted down my compression tester and pulled the plugs. Cold compression with my half dead battery was 160, 165, 165, and 160psi across the four cylinders. No water in any of the cylinders.
So, I put the plugs in, pulled the choke, and said a little prayer in a british accent. The car fired up pretty quickly, surprisingly. After it warmed a bit and I released the choke, it idles and sounds exactly the same as it always has. I melted all of the water in the engine. My lower radiator hose was still solid as a rock though. It was about 45F here yesterday. After the car warmed up enough, I shut her down, pulled the block drain plug back behind the carbs. I found my popped welch plug on the garage floor and put it in the car. I pulled the radiator drain plug and it drained what it could. I noticed my heater box has water running out of it, so I will have to solder or replace the heater core.
So is there anything else I need to check to see if I've catastrophically ruined the head or block? The plugs looked like they normally do after it ran. There was not any water coming out of the muffler, and there was no white or black smoke either.
I'm a moron for letting this happen. The sad part is that I'm normally really diligent about checking antifreeze and winterizing my vehicles with new oil, etc...
