Yup... coolant is frozen

[Bad Noodle]

Guess I didn't mix it quite right. But it's a high of 22 today so the radiator probably won't thaw by itself...

So thinking of starting the car and letting it idle to hopefully unfreeze it. Then can I add anything to the mix to help? If so, should I add it to the radiator or to the coolant reservoir?

(it was a cold drive to work this morning)

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[vision.dynamix]

Won't that destroy the water pump? Since the belt is turning the pulley but the blades don't want to spin because they're in ice?

[subergoo]

I wouldn't recommend ideling the car to thaw it out, this could have very bad results. Do you have a space heater ? You could aim it at the radiator to thaw it, or start running warm water over it, not sure if either of those are feasible options for you.
And you'll probly wanna drain the fluid and then refill at the radiator, not the overflow.

*sorry , you'll want to thaw the whole block not just the radiator, before starting it *

[Bad Noodle]

^wow that is an interesting point. I think it's more like sludge than ice, at least in the block. I drove 10 miles to work today and still have a timing belt. Actually, at one point I started to overheat so I pulled over for a bit and I guess the thermostat finally opened as the temps dropped back down. But the heater core must be frozen as I didn't have any heat at any point in time.

luckily this is on my 99 pos fozzy

[HinshawWRX]

Take your old lady's hair dryer to all components.

[Jack ffr1846]

I'm guessing that you have some anti-freeze....not just water. That is what saved you. If it was frozen solid, your water pump could do either of the following: self destruct and you simply don't pump water (the better thing) or hang tough in there and not move at all, while the timing belt breaks teeth off itself, soon destroying your valves.

[Bad Noodle]

I used new oem coolant that I had laying around for a couple years. Guess I forgot I already mixed it, so when I poured it in after a HG job, I mixed it a second time. So I'm looking at a 1/4 ratio vs a 1/2... gonna go out there and see what's going on now that it's light out

[Phillysubaru89]

Originally Posted by Bad Noodle

I used new oem coolant that I had laying around for a couple years. Guess I forgot I already mixed it, so when I poured it in after a HG job, I mixed it a second time. So I'm looking at a 1/4 ratio vs a 1/2... gonna go out there and see what's going on now that it's light out

Guess it's not really new anymore lol...I'd try heating it somehow before driving it anywhere

[Leafy]

Make sure it didnt pop any of the freeze plugs. You know the soft metal press in plugs in the coolant passages that prevent you from cracking the block if the water in the engine freezes.

[J-hop]

Originally Posted by Leafy

Make sure it didnt pop any of the freeze plugs. You know the soft metal press in plugs in the coolant passages that prevent you from cracking the block if the water in the engine freezes.

Actually contrary to popular belief "freeze" plugs were never designed to save your block in the event your coolant freezes (infact they will do little to nothing to save your block).

They have to do with the block casting process, they serve no function outside of that.

[Bad Noodle]

update: during the day it went up to 20, at which point the coolant went back to being all liquid, so i was able to get the car home and into the garage.

Everything seems ok now, but is there anything I should look for? Coolant is still filled up and not leaking any liquids. And got heat again. Gonna drain like 8qts and refill with undiluted antifreeze.

[nhsilversti]

Originally Posted by Leafy

Make sure it didnt pop any of the freeze plugs. You know the soft metal press in plugs in the coolant passages that prevent you from cracking the block if the water in the engine freezes.

Originally Posted by J-hop

Actually contrary to popular belief "freeze" plugs were never designed to save your block in the event your coolant freezes (infact they will do little to nothing to save your block).

They have to do with the bolt casting process, they serve no function outside of that.

to add to it they picked up the nickname freeze plug because if you freeze them they are much easier to install.

[vision.dynamix]

Originally Posted by Bad Noodle

Gonna drain like 8qts and refill with undiluted antifreeze.

How big is your system? That sounds like itll be straight antifreeze.

[tmoftw]

my girlfriends cavalier has the same prob. buy a coolant threshold tester, $3 at local autozone. found out it wasnt even 25% antifreeze, drained the radiator and found that a large amount of water from flushing the old coolant out in summer remained in the circulatory system. good luck

[Leafy]

Originally Posted by nhsilversti

to add to it they picked up the nickname freeze plug because if you freeze them they are much easier to install.

Originally Posted by J-hop

Actually contrary to popular belief "freeze" plugs were never designed to save your block in the event your coolant freezes (infact they will do little to nothing to save your block).

They have to do with the block casting process, they serve no function outside of that.

Good to know.

[ringe]

Originally Posted by vision.dynamix

How big is your system? That sounds like itll be straight antifreeze.

Yep.

If I were OP, I'd drain entirely and start over with 50/50 distilled water and Subaru fluid.

Also, if I were OP I wouldn't leave unmarked premix lying around...