hi all, earlier on this year i broke my wrx gearbox in my newage bugeye and decided to leave the car parked up while i used my workhorse. it was not that cold at the time and therefore i had not put any antifreeze in the car.. you can guess what happened next. i went to start my car the other day and all the water pipes are frozen solid and water everywhere in the engine is frozen. yes, i know i should have put anti-freeze in but has anyone got an idea on how i could unfreeze the ice, i have done the radiator and the bottom and top radiator hose, but what about the ice in the engine.

any help appreciated.

cheers

 

let it thaw out naturally try defrost by pouring hot water on the engine could crack it.

 

obv youll realise you might have caused permanent damage,

take all hoses off, and run warm water through the hoses when they are off, as for the block and radiator, may just have to let it thaw out unless you can get the car inside a warm garage or something?

apart from that cap off header tank

trying to start the car may cause more damage, so wouldnt even bother with that

maybe someone else have better ideas?

 

do you mean crack the ice or the engine?

cheers

 

ok mate, cheers for the heads up.

 

would taking it to a bodyshop and leaving it in the oven on say 40 - 45 degrees work?

 

you may have cracked the block anyway as water obviously expands when frozen.If you are lucky the block will be ok but as has already been said keep it in a warm place and let the engine thaw itself out then keep everything crossed

 

Antifreeze isn't just for winter, it stops the alloy corroding

 

Let the weather improve and allow it to thaw.....as we all know water cannot be compressed, but when you freeze it, it does take up more space than when liquid (freeze a bottle of beer and see what happens.....pop)....My advise....deforst it extreamly slowly....and dont start the engine!.....then should be fine, the water jacket on the lump (i woulda thought!!) will be strong enough to withstand the pressure we are talking about and of course the hoses have some wiggle room in terms of potential pressures.

 

really anything could be damaged, radiator, hoses, block,water pump, really any part of the cooling system

but no point worrying until its thawed out, refilled and checked out properly.

it has been down to -14 here a few times, which would be likley to damge the engine, if left for decent lengths of time unfortunatley

 

Ok thanks guys, i think im gonna take it to my mates garage and let it melt there in his oven, cheers.

 

Yeh i do agree anything is possible, however as the amount of water held in the water jacket of the lump is not substantial if it was me i would be thinking glass half full....of course it may prove to be a less than superb idea to lay a car up without proper prep...sucks, feel for ya Tazz, Jef is right though could be anything (could be nothing), but dont worry until you need to...Thaw it...SLOWLY!!

 

will do mate.

 

spot on you have antifreeze for winter, coolant for summer

next time id say to drain the system when your planning on leaving it standing fingers crissed for you thow m8

 

i had a motor thbat did this some time ago
i got a heater and put it under the engine. after a couple of hours the pipes defrosted
if it just froze then defrosted, should think to much damage has been done.
but as said, it not only stops water freezing, it also protect from corrosion
if the engine was turned when frozen id say check the water pump

 

i didn't turn the engine over at all, so hopefully nothing damaged, fingers crossed.

 

Has the impreza engine got core plugs?

 

and timing belt!!!

 

quick question.

There is a water in and out hard pipe on the engine, if i put water in the top one and there was no ice in the engine then would it come out the bottom one or does the engine have to be running for water to be circulating?

 

Is this a wind up?

Is ANYONE actually this stupid?

 

No its not a wind up.

 

shouldnt really affect that mate. id say with the speed the engine turns
that would brake the rotor on the pump

then again, things have been known

 

seen it happen m8

 

Was it stood with tap water in it or de-min water?

 

 

Still or Fizzy......

 

it was tap water mate

 

I'm not too familiar with the impreza engine yet...I've changed drop links and serviced it (oil change etc)
But do we have core plugs?

Just saw carpboys post...doh

 

Best keep it that way - for your own sanity.


Yes.

 

Its the same thing hence you have 2-4 years (5 in some cars) between changes.

Tony