Epic winter fail

So it's an unseasonably cold nine degrees outside in Atlanta this morning, and as I walk up the driveway to my Miata I notice a trickle of water on the ground in front. "Huh." I think.

I turn the key in the ignition and the car cranks slow and hard for about 5 seconds before firing, followed by a terrible belt screech which lasts 3 or 4 seconds. "Huh." I think.

I let the car idle for about 10-15 seconds before it hits me... and I scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" as I grab at the keys and shut it down.

…I replaced the stock radiator a little while ago with a nice, all-aluminum race radiator from Mishimoto. I didn't have any coolant in the garage, so I just filled the system up with water to leak-test it. The car wasn't registered at the time and wasn't being driven, so I figured I'd add antifreeze later. I got the car legal and on the road this weekend... and never did remember to put antifreeze in it.

There are icicles hanging from a few cracks in the radiator, all the coolant hoses are frozen solid, the water pump may be destroyed, and who knows what other damage has been done to the engine and turbo.

Lesson learned: Antifreeze, always. Dammit.

Since most sanctioning bodies don't allow antifreeze on track, do any of you guys with track/race cars that are stored outdoors have similar stories?

That sucks.

Surprized it still started with a frozen water pump.

I hope the block or head isn't cracked

dude. Suck. I hope all you lost was freeze plugs and a radiator. I somehow remembered to check the coolant in the Exploder last night since it's parked outside , I usually think about it when it's far too late.

Ugh - that sounds like a horrible way to start the day...

if only the freeze plug is lost, mishimoto is epic regarding returns/warranty claims even when it involves user error.

D'oh! Good luck, man.

My track e30 is outside and all water. (Well except a bottle of water setter) I put a cover on it and run a small ceramic heater overnight when it's going to be below 32 for more than a couple hours. So far this works, but last night was a doozy so it wouldn't shock me if I lost the radiator.

Sorry that happened to you. That has to be frustrating!

oh. berkely. That sucks

i lost the engine in my impala last year to similar(not enough antifreeze to water). still havent fixed it.

Ouch. I feel your pain and hope that the damage is limited.

Due to some past errors I've made, whenever I have something in the car that is dangerous (like drained oil, water in the radiator) I disconnect the battery and tie a big label on the cable detailing what I have to do to have the car roadworthy again.

i ran a weak mix of antifreeze in the Camaro all summer long: just enough to tint the water green and give it some corrosion resistance... the last thing i did before parking it next to the garage in the beginning of November was to drain the coolant out and replace it with a nice 50/50 mix and go for a short drive to get it all mixed in..

these are the things you do out of habit when you live in a place where it can get to -30 in the winter, and sometimes not get above freezing during the day for a couple of months..

My race car gets drained each winter.

Oh noooo. I almost did this once. Almost the same scenario too. Hoping for the best!

The "other" Jeep I had at my house all Fall had me up until after midnight after work a few weeks back, I had been flushing out the cooling system, before putting a new water pump, thermostat, and hoses on it. I only wanted to do antifreeze once. Weatherman said we were expecting our first hard freeze, so I was replacing parts, flushing with distilled water, and adding 50/50 to it into the wee hours the night before the cold hit.

Had to do my TJ at the same time, but it didn't get new parts, just antifreeze.

In fact, there's still rust stains on the drive way from draining the other Jeep that night, it was a basket case, and still needs to go through a few more treatments, or somewhere that can do a power flush.

How quick did it get cold? With any luck the block/head survived, or at least only suffered external, JB weldable damage.

Just remember everybody, Blocks=expensive, cheap full strength universal coolant=$10/gallon.

nderwater wrote: Since most sanctioning bodies don't allow antifreeze on track, do any of you guys with track/race cars that are stored outdoors have similar stories?

I've heard a lot of people dangle an extension cord under the hood with a light bulb on the end just to keep things warmer.

I almost did this one last year in my Miata. Radiator was frozen -- almost solid. I ran it for a few minutes and it started to overheat -- the hot water in the engine had no place to go.

Get it warm. You might not be in as bad a shape as you think when it thaws.

nderwater wrote: Since most sanctioning bodies don't allow antifreeze on track, do any of you guys with track/race cars that are stored outdoors have similar stories?

Gotta do what boat owners do (boats are water-cooled): Winterize. e.g. drain the system for the winter.

Or remember to put in antifreeze for the winter, lol.

When I was sixteen I did this to my neon, took it to the drag strip, overheating like crazy, blown head gasket, the loan company picked it up that weekend (i had lost my job) parents went bananas.

irish44j wrote:

nderwater wrote: Since most sanctioning bodies don't allow antifreeze on track, do any of you guys with track/race cars that are stored outdoors have similar stories?

Gotta do what boat owners do (boats are water-cooled): Winterize. e.g. drain the system for the winter. Or remember to put in antifreeze for the winter, lol.

I "drained" the block on the elky last winter. Straight water.

Froze up and cracked the block.

Hope your mazda fares better.

In reply to irish44j:

On a boat you drain it, then pop the cooling water intake off the thru hull and drop it in a bucket of marine antifreeze, then start the engine and run it until the bucket is empty.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I "drained" the block on the elky last winter. Straight water. Froze up and cracked the block.

Did you pull the block drain plugs?

Did nearly the same thing with my miata in Atlanta last year. Had it out at the track a lot over the summer and couldn't run antifreeze. It was kept in the garage over the summer but got kicked out for my chumpcar and subaru in the fall. Forgot about it until one evening when it was getting pretty cold (maybe down in the 20's) and I thought "crap! that engine's gonna be an ice cube in a couple hours". I managed to catch it before it destroyed the engine. Ended up freezing enough that it cracked the temp sensor housing on the back of the head and was spraying water everywhere, but got enough antifreeze in it to avoid any other damage. Replaced the housing a few weeks later and the engine has been fine since.

Got pretty lucky on that one. Thought I'd be doing a 1.8 upgrade when I started it up and saw water pouring out of the back of the engine.

since I live in ohio all my cars are mixed and tested for -45 because I like overkill, when I go to the track I drain and flush the system for pure water but always switch back to antifreeze the next day. ive seen way too many cars come in for a coolant flush after its already too late and there frozen and broken.

I feel really bad for the OP. I never thought about that as I don't have a track car I didn't know you couldn't run antifreeze in them although it certainly does make sense not to. Here in Michigan I start thinking about winterizing the cars in about September as you never know when you are going to get that first arctic blast from the north. On the really cold nights I still worry a bit for the ones that are sitting outside even though they should be protected down to 40-50 below. I hate the cold.