Today I froze my car.
 

I bought this 2000 NB in August in Miami and drove it back here to Va Beach. Done some work on it but nothing major, been running good its my DD. I knew I had to change the hoses being 10 years old so I planed that for when it warmed up. I does not get that cold here in Va Beach, maybe high 20's but very rarely.

Today it was 23* when I got up.:facepalm: Got in my car to head to work, made a belt screeching noise when it started but I thought nothing of it being its the 1st day it had been cold here. Drove it to work, after a mile or two I notice I still have no heat. Stopped the car to look at why and opened the hood to find coolant leaking from back of head, looked to be where the heater hose adapter bolts to the block. Felt the hoses and one of the heater hoses was froze solid. Took radiator cap off and that was froze solid too.

Well I guess they just never put any antifreeze in a the car being it was bought and resided in south Florida. I know my fault for not checking it. Its this stupid orange coolant! I thought that was what was in there, guess it was just rusty water.

So the question, what do you think I broke???

Car hood is under a comforter right now with an electric heater under the hood defrosting.

SUX!
:vash:

I froze my 99 one time. I was dumb. I had a guy feeling to check the hoses before I started the car and they were frozen and the expanding ice had pushed the lower radiator hose open and bled off some pressure and there was a lovely ice formation connecting my car to the parking lot. I left the hood open all day (40*s) and let it thaw out. Started right up, no leaks, no problems.

If you didn't push a freeze plug out, you should be ok though I imagine you may have glazed the WP/ALT belt and may want to replace it. Good luck.

This happened to a buddy on mine with his 337 and it snapped his WP impeller off...now luckily Mazda isn't as retarded as VW and we have metal impeller pumps so hopefully not much was damaged if anything. Guess the only thing to do is thaw it out and find out.

You either need some coolant or water wetter to lubricate the pump and stop corrosion.

Slightly off topic....Being from VA Beach, is it the orange NB that was on VADrag/VaDriven (whatever the hell it's called these days) that was in Miami with the busted up fender?

God I hope not. That guy wanted WAY too much for that car.

Tell em about it, I was gonna go look at it to trade him my old 240SX for it to add a third miata to the stable at the time, said he wanted like $3500 on top, I never called back, I'm actually surprised someone else remembers it.

Anyway /threadjack (although I'd still like to know :giggle: )

Nope not me. I'm on Drag-VADriven but my NA is turbod and orange and my NB is green and not turboed yet.

i was smart and put anti-freeze in mine this year. i usually get lazy/cheap and run pure water.

but my insulation covering my ecu kick panel was frozen solid if that's any consolation to you..

So its been under a cover since 9pm with a electric heater under the hood and I peeked this morning before work and saw this.

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It actually pushed the hose off the radiator. DAM! Wonder what else is broke.:vash: I cant believe this is still frozen! I'll look at it more when I get home from work in a few hours.

Well after an evening in the cold I found what I hope to be the only problems. 1st I set a jet heater in front of the car and waited 2 hours than reconnected the lower rad hose and went to fill it up with coolant. While filling it up I hear coolant leaking, not good. After checking around it seems to be coming from the back of the head where head has water outlet attached. So I removed it and this is what I found.
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A quick phone call to a friend down the road and I went to pick up my hew housing. I installed it and filled it up again, good news no leaks. Started her up and let it run while watching it closely with a pyrometer checking the hoses and thermostat housing. 15 minutes and thermostat not opening up :vash: removed that and put on the stove, nada. I'm learning stuff here....don't freeze a thermostat. After closer inspection the thermostat is actually bent.:crx:
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Replaced that with a new one and tried again and so far it looks good. I hope thats the only issues. Too cold tonight so I will test drive in the morning.

Good night!

sure its also not frozen INSIDE the head? and it explanded and fucked something up? or when it starts and a big chunk breaks off and makes it way to somewhere not pretty?

I nearly fucked myself like this today. The temp is unusually cold here, below freezing for the last 72 hours straight, lows in the low 10's at night. I had antifreeze in the car, but apparently not enough. I was probably running 20%-30%, assuming it would be enough. Got in this morning to drive ~20 miles to sign some paper work at school, and I got about 5 miles from home and looked down and noticed the temp gauge climbing past 3/4. SHIT! I shut it off and coasted into a parking lot and heard it gargling and puffing antifreeze into the overflow. I assume it was the radiator itself frozen up and wasn't letting coolant flow through, and it was pressurizing in the head and block and bypassing the radiator core via the overflow. I had heat, so it never occurred to me that my system might be frozen. I limped it home a mile at a time stopping whenever it got around 1/2 gauge. By the time I got it home I assume it had all thawed pretty well and it cleared up. Made sure to drain about a quart and put a quart of straight antifreeze back in, as well as filled the overflow with antifreeze since it had all boiled over and got pulled back into the system. Scared me, because I can't afford to fix this bullshit right now. Next 5 days will be record breaking cold down here, not reaching above freezing and lows Friday and Saturday in the single digits. It's the god damn southeast, it's not supposed to be this cold, for this long!

Tell me about it. Look what I saw in Naples FL at 7:30 this morning.
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I'm not used to this crap. Sucked working outside all day.

ICantDoRight- Mine did the same thing with the lower rad hose, but nothing else was damaged. Good to see the failures are an easy fit and were hopefully enough to relieve enough pressure in the engine to not cause other damage.


Parking in a garage FTMFW...although I do go out and let my car run on smoke brakes at work because I know I don't have enough antifreeze in my system.

This all makes me kinda nervous about my miata. I cant remember how "lazy" I was last time I pulled the motor. I think it was about 50/50... but it has also been in the teens here most nights. The car hasnt been driven in weeks, maybe ill check it today.

For common ethylene glycol (Prestone, Peak, etc):

30% antifreeze will freeze at 4°F
40%................................ -12°F
50%................................ -34°F

Damn.

That sucks man :(

Drove it. Looks to be running fine but the radiator seems to have cracked too, seeping slowly. So whats the deal on NB radiators now? Off to search....

It's been freezing on and off for weeks here now, luckily I manage to keep the store at around 45F. There is anti freeze in the cars this time of year though.

+1, or both

Yeah. The low that night dipped to upper single digits, so if I did indeed have 20%-30%, I was right at the limit. I should be good to go to at least -20, and if it gets that cold in Alabama, I'm hiding in my house and waiting for the end of the world. It did fine today... except for the fucking flat tire! I've had a pinhole leak for a week or two now, and it was so cold today I didn't do my usual check and top off of the air, so I drove it flat and possibly cut the sidewall. That will be tire replacement #4 in the last 3 years from sidewall damage. I blame terrible roads, and this time the cold.

Where this global warming I hear so much about?

I'm pretty sure that I have a spare NB rad. You can have it for the price of shipping. Let me know if you need anything else. I have what's left of the 99 car after I parted it for the V8 swap.

Didn't you get the memo? You should now fear global cooling.

Wow i didnt know it could get frozen. That sucks!

When I picked up my car from Stace in Tampa we had this exact discussion and I told him to drain the window washer and have a 50% mix of AF for my drive home. Good thing too because it was about -10 the week after I got home.

Hope everything turns out for you! That is BAD stuff.

:bowrofl:

http://www.somethingmustbreak.net/si...al-warming.gif

I own this shirt. It's tucked away safely in the "clothing I can never wear in public" drawer.

Sucks to be you guys, too. If it drops below 45 I start complaining about the cold. It was 75 degrees in LA last weekend. :rofl:

It's warm here today, they're actually having us show up to our 0900 formation in just ACU's with no jacket or anything it's so warm in fact. It's a whopping 31 degrees out. I was dieing at PT this morning it was so warm, I've gotten used to the 6 degrees bullshit.

Oh and stop being a vagina and where what the fuck you want in public, mmkay?

sigh

why do people thing the local temperature has to be hot for the planet's average temperature to be rising?

that'd be like seeing an ice cube on your kitchen floor and turning up the heat cuz it's cold inside.

Update, replaced radiator and all seems good. Glad the motor is ok.

Haha, I've been wanting to buy that shirt just haven't had a chance yet. I'd wear it in public... Afterall, I still wear my "Fuck Kerry" shirt. ;)

Oh I think Local temperatures are slightly irrelevant where I live. However I have lived here for 26 years now and its been a LONG time since we've had snow on the ground for 30 days straight, and below 0*F temps for consecutive days. The last ten years here it hasn't snowed and stuck around for more than 4 or 5 days. However the record low temps in states like Texas and Florida.... How bout that snow last month in Houston Texas? ;) This plant has been here for millions of years now and I'm not for a second going to believe ANYONE that thinks they know whats going on with the Earth. On top of that for someone to think that MAN has the ability to affect the climate to the effect their scare tactics insinuate doing nothing more than what we can to better our life is quite ignorant I think.

Say what you want, Call me what you will, think what you think. There is one great thing about this country I'll continue to exercise every minute of my life. That is the freedom to think how I want and to say what I want. :2cents:



OP: You got pretty lucky man! Freezing coolant can damage a LOT of things under the hood... Ask me how I know! :hustler: Glad to hear everything is okay!

i know i know, conservativemiataturbo.net

:bowrofl::makeout:

I'll at least listen to the other side.. Really enjoy arguing with my boss' son who is ULTRA liberal.. He gets so frustrated sometimes he almost :crx:.


:)

</Threadjack>

Not so good update:vash:

Its been a few months and I have daily driven the car and its never been "right". I was always chasing a coolant leak, once the t-stat housing, once the heater lines. But motor been running over all well.

Until yesterday its been cool around here. Yesterday I was on the way home and car was acting funny. I open the hood when I got home and noticed the coolant tank bubbling??? Was not hot on the gauge. I replaced the rad cap and same issue. Than came the smoke out the tailpipe and it running rough. I pulled plugs and #4 was wet. So I put 1,2,3 back in and started it and moved it 25 feet into driveway stopped motor and lifted car to drain coolant and it was ALREADY UNDER PRESSURE.

Pulled the head and I don't see a major HG failure like I would have liked to. Here what it looks like, what do you think.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...DSC_0188-1.jpg

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I'd start looking for cracks in cylinders in the water jacket area. The head could also be cracked. Only way to know may be a magnaflux check.

Or a pressure test on the head. Looks like an obvious failure between 1&2 and 3&4, or was that damage from removing the head gasket? Sounds like you were boosting into your coolant, so something was fubared.

It might have to do with all the TX people i see.

It almost sounds like the head could've warped. Its pretty obvious number 4 is getting a great deal of water from the clean valves.

My car did the same thing after freezing and overheating, only it was blowing massive amounts of oil out the muffler. Cylinder head ended up having 4 cracks in it somewhere the shop found but were able to repair it.

I have a terrible habit of changing my mind every 2 days about a build and did something really stupid. Instead of getting a 99 head (which I really didn't know a lot about then) I spent 400 to have mine rebuilt and repaired then pulled the motor apart when it was in a pretty legit condition.

Good luck, man. Hopefully its an easy fix and doesn't require pulling the motor apart.

I just don't know about these stock MLS gaskets. The black "paint" on them was missing between 1&2 and 3&4 but not stuck to the head so I guess they were blown there. I never taken a 1.8L apart, should the gasket still be all black?

I'm just at a crossroads, I'm going to send the head out to get tested but do you think the block is hurt? I'd hate to rebuild the head and put it all back together to later find out the block was cracked. I'd also hate to pull the motor. Whats my odds the block is damaged?

Head goes to machine shop later today.

I am by NO means an expert, just giving my own opinion after having been through the same thing.

If the block was hurt, it'll really suck.. However, I personally doubt it was unless it was majorly overheated. The head being a much more ductile metal than cast iron with a much lower warping temp it would be the first to go. My head cracked in 4 different places and I was sure ruined it, but when I had the block machined it was totally legit.

Your head might've been damaged and could be repaired, they could probably even tell you that before really digging into it. Worst case, you get the head repaired and bolted back onto the motor that still loses coolant.. Then you know where to go from there, but I kind of doubt the block is your issue.

Just my $0.02.

Got info from the machine shop and the head is not cracked. Good news I guess but it does not answer the question of what I had broken. So I'm having them freshen up the head, while its off.

I spent an hour with a flashlight rubbing and fingering the block and I can't see a crack anywhere. So where do I go from here....Ordered a HG kit today and some head studs. I'll put here back together and hope for the best.

Any words of wisdom....I need some.

My .02 worth and having lived and seen cold climate car experiences. To help prevent freeze-up damage the idea of freezeplugs in an engine is to provide a "safety valve" type approach. If the engine (block or head) gets cold enough to freeze the water inside of them, the freezeplugs are supposed to pop out from ice expansion to in effect save the engine parts they are installed in.

I have seen them work as designed numerous times.

Now here is the rub. Aluminum is a lot softer than steel and they have pretty limited protection in the way of freezeplugs.

I believe the head would damage far sooner than the block would.

You need to get them both pressure tested but apart like it is now would be difficult to do and in particular in the state and place it is now.

Have you looked at the freezeplugs? I actually would want to see them popped at this point. If they were I'd replace the plugs, put it back together after head is resolved, and feel a little better that the block was saved.

If the plugs have not popped, I would seriously want the block checked out before re-assembly.

The good news in my mind is if the head did not suffer damage, I would not think the block did as pointed out above. Head is the weaker link.

So pulled the head and machine shop said its fine, I had valves cleaned up and needed all the exhaust guides replaced than get that back. Cleaned up the block and while I could see the top if the trans bolts I pulled the trans and put in a Ebay F1 stage 3 clutch (works great) and a braided clutch line. Also installed a Flyin Miata aluminum flywheel. Got me some ARP head studs and installed the head with my new reroute and crossed my fingers. I also installed a header I had laying around, instead if that 50lb stock 2000 thing.

Friday night It started with no issues and yesterday it was 80* here and I drove it 400 miles into NC and it ran great! So I'm guessing all the problems I had were due to the head gasket be compromised by freezing the water in the head. Go figure.

Good news is now my DD is running again and has a clutch and head studs and waiting in the garage is a MS so boost here we come!

I don't think that's what they're for. Those plugs are just to cap off holes that exist because of the manufacturing process of the coolant passages. Freeze plugs is a misnomer.

Says the guy from Hawaii..... ;)