-22 degrees for the low this Wednesday

-

TRWRacing

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2015
Messages
412
Reaction score
104
Location
Chicago
Car is parked detached garage with no insulation . 50/50 antifreeze in the car. I checked it with a hydrometer this past fall -35. Should remove the radiator cap or just leave it? This is in Chicago ‘73 Dodge Dart 360
 
Last edited:
Is that a record? It's going to be 1 in Ohio Wed.
 
Not sure. I remember in the mid-80s while in HS it getting that cold here. My plan is too keep the garage closed Tuesday to Wednesday. It does have an insulated garage door and seal on it.
 
It will be fine. Even if the air temp got to -35, it would not freeze, because everything the coolant is held in acts as an insulator to some degree.
 
Freezing is a relative term with antifreeze anyway. The hygrometer freeze point, in my experience, has been more of a slush point. It will usually have to get 10 degrees below that before going into a completely solid state. Even then, the glycols in antifreeze upset the crystal matrix in ice and prevent the full 18% expansion of the transition of water to ice until it gets even colder than the solidification point. Somewhere along the way there, the ice crystals will start to stack up and squeeze the antifreeze out of solution. The antifreeze, being lighter than water, will float on the ice. Part of the reason the core or "frost" plugs are at the bottom of the water jacket, I've known of several vehicles to have frozen from too much water being added to coolant to have pushed the freeze plugs out without actually damaging the block. I’ve seen one or two with almost no antifreeze too, those didn’t end so well.
 
Last edited:
You could wrap an electric blanket around it. I used to put a 100 wat bulb in the chicken coop to keep the water from freezing
 
Or get a heat bulb, we used to use them in calf hutches to keep them from freezing.
 
Last edited:
If the A/F is reasonably fresh (a few years old) and properly mixed like it sounds with your hydrometer readings, it ought to be fine. I can recall having my Saab outside in OH in -24F blizzard conditions years ago... nary an issue. And I had a rental car in the high mtns of central ID 2 winters back when it was getting down to -35 to -40 F for several nights in a row. Never started the car, and it was fine when we left at a torrid -20F LOL
 
Is that a record? It's going to be 1 in Ohio Wed.

If the A/F is reasonably fresh (a few years old) and properly mixed like it sounds with your hydrometer readings, it ought to be fine. I can recall having my Saab outside in OH in -24F blizzard conditions years ago... nary an issue. And I had a rental car in the high mtns of central ID 2 winters back when it was getting down to -35 to -40 F for several nights in a row. Never started the car, and it was fine when we left at a torrid -20F LOL

I replaced the radiator in August and used conventional pre-mixed 50/50 antifreeze.
 
Your Golden, before each bout of cold weather I get mine out and move it up and down the driveway with a short 100 yard sprint on the road to keep all the coolant well mixed and pull it back in and forget about it. I run pretty close to 70/30 but mostly for corrosion protection.
 
I drove it many weeks after doing the radiator up until October. I’m just paranoid.
 
Thanks for the heads up. Gonna set up some heat lamps in my pole barn for my 4 rides.
 
Quick trip to tractor supply. Picked up some heat bulbs for raising chicks and the cheap lamp fixtures too. Got everything for under $30 for 4 rides.
 
Just looking at a update for N.E. Ohio -4 on Tues night, -7 low on Wed, 0 on Thur. I was looking at the magnetic heaters also but seem to be out of stock everywhere around me.
 
I have been living in ND for 40 yrs and it reaches -30* F every year and lower occasionally. Antifreeze at 50/50 has been adequate for freeze protection, We have vehicles sit outside all winter. Also wind chill factor doesn't count. Don't freak out, it's not armagedon. But maybe start of new ice age. LOL
 
I was wondering how people and machinery up in Minot fair through the winter!
 
I'm 300 miles north of Minot in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
It's easy to dress for cold, just add layers. Intense cold is actually easier to deal with than intense heat, you can only take off so many clothes.
When it's cold we plug our cars in. There's an 120v electric block heater that replaces one of the frost plugs in the side of the motor.
We start our vehicles & let them warm up before we drive off.
Batteries must be good, weak batteries fail quickly in this weather.
We use low viscosity oil (0W30 or 5W30 preferably)
As far as antifreeze is concerned, I mix mine at 60/40. BTW 60/40 also increases the boiling point a few degrees
School buses stop running when it's real cold, (-45C including windchill)
Tonight it's supposed to get to -36C with a windchill of -51C
 
Dang....You guys are crazy !!!!
Not even going to talk about our weather.
Hang in there...Burrrrrr !
 
I was just reading about how global warming is displacing bitter cold to the midwest. 50/50 will be fiine. Make sure you have a good charge in your battery and all will come through just fine.
 
I was just reading about how global warming is displacing bitter cold to the midwest. 50/50 will be fiine. Make sure you have a good charge in your battery and all will come through just fine.

Battery was pulled in October sitting on a battery tender in the basement. Garage being kept closed for the next 48 hrs until this weather moves out.
 
-
Back
Top