Ok here in michigan its Very Very cold now and my problem is that I had water as my coolant and the summer and now it frozen. It has to be frozen because my cougar radiator has ice in it so my question was how do i get that out without it damaging anything?

Is it possible to just take the radiator out of both the Bonnie and the Cougar and bring them in the house so they can un-thaw and let the engine run until it gets hot enough to melt the ice?

boy i hope that the ice didnt expand the radiatior and everything else too bad, you could have major problems once it all thaws back out

I hope not either lckly I did it to the cougar first, not to say that thats ok but i like my bonnie better thats why i havent started it yet. So i guess if i dont start it , it would have a problem.

Running water as coolant in ANY Climate is bad. These engines typically see boiling point temperatures in their heat cycles, and you will be loosing a lot of cooling power because of that.

If you have water and it'* frozen, you may need to check the freeze plugs on the block, as they're there to pop out and save the block when the water expands and freezes.

OH BOY, what fun......push the cars into a heated garage and let them sit overnight...then check the freeze plugs and the coolant.....start the cars if you see no problems with them....there is always the possibility you have water in the water jackets of yer block that has frozen up.....not a good sign...DO NOT START your car untill you have given the engine block and radiator suffeciant time to thaw out. And then take yer car to a shop that does a coolant exchange SVC and have them get rid of all that old water and put in a 50/50 mixture.........or do it yerself. and next sumer use 50/50 in both cars and save yerself the headache. Heck when I do my intercooler im even gonna use a 25/75 (coolant/water respectively) mix in the system to ensure it doesnt boil or freeze (25/75 is good to around 0 and the Bonne is winter stored so no below 0 drivin is done)

what does the freeze plug look like and where is it located

Geeze, that title just sounds horrible. Dont do that again

If I am not mistaken there is more than just one freeze plug on your block. My guess is with having just water in it and it froze, that you may have popped the freeze plug and may have cracked other components since there is coolant passages all over the place.


So take the other advice and let it warm up on it'* own in a heated garage. It will be easy to see if it popped or not cause you will have water leaking out of it. Regardless you may need to get them towed in to a garage.

Maybe I should be called the dang myth buster.

err...Episode 1

Freeze plugs are actually more accurately called 'core plugs' and their design isn't to save the block. When they cast the block and heads they use sand to keep the oil and coolant galleys open. Core plugs are used to plug the holes that let the sand drain out when they're done. The side advantage is that depending on where it freezes first, they may pop and drain the coolant instead of cracking the block. But that isn't always the case. There are a lot of small passages and sharp'ish corners in the casting. If it freezes at one of these spots its got the chance of still causing damage.

Also, running water in a warm climate is actually better at keeping the engine cool than coolant. Water has substantially better heat dissipation capabilities than glycol. The issue is water accelerates radiator wear and freezes easy. Most people don't like changing their 'coolant' twice a year so they stick with the 'all around solution.'

Just my thoughts though...

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1993Bonnie - The ice in the radiator, is it more like mush or solid ice? If you can crush it in your hand my suggestion would be to pull the belt to the side and see if you can turn the water pump by hand. If you can get plenty of rotations out of it, go ahead and start it. As long as its not frozen solid, the 'ice' in the block will thaw long before the thermostat opens. And as long as the ice isn't brick hard the steel blades of the water pump won't have a problem chopping it up and sending it right along.

Of course you should check for any leaks before doing this. Then go "winterize" your car

water boils at 210F just thought i would add