Well i'm a complete idiot! Last night in GA it got down to about 15degrees and i failed to remember to switch to my winter coolant mixture. Guess i just got busy and it slipped my mind so i get about halfway to work this morning and i notice my temp gauge climbing to the H. I pull over and shut her off let it cool then restart and limp a little further. Well i managed to make it to work but the radiator is frozen solid. I dont think there is any damage, but i wont be sure until i get it thawed out and can check it out. At a glance there were no apparent leaks fromthe block so i dont think it was cracked and the oil didnt appear to be milky when i pulled out the dipstick so i'm hoping i escaped with no serious damage. I have a spare rad at home so i'm thinking about limping back hhome and swapping it in and filling with a 50/50 mix. I would just let it run its course and thaw but its not supposed to get about freezing today so i dont think that will work.

I felt the top rad hose it was hot, the bottom hose was also hot, the block was hot and the head was hot also but the radiator was still cold even after the limping to work. BTW its a c&r aluminum radiator and the car is a 00 gsr with a jdm itr swap.

Just looking for advice on the easiest fix for my stupid mistake. Thanks fellas and because i need it.

 

Well i just went out and cranked her up. Let it idle in the parking lot, it warmed up the tstat opened and the heat started working. Before i cranked it i took the rad cap off and looked inside, looked fine no oil mixed in it and no ice. Looks like i dodged he bullet this time, when i get off work i'm going home and comp testing it and swapping out the coolant.

 

From now on, keep a 50/50 mix in there ALL the time, year round.

You got lucky. Were you running straight water in your radiator?

 

no not straight up water prob 75/25 or 80/20. Yea i would say i was very lucky. I wanted to kick my own ***.

 

Yep, always use 50/50, and always make sure you use distilled water in the gallon jugs, never tap water or hose water, in order to prevent corrosion. Or just use pre-mixed, preferably Prestone green.

I flush my coolant w/ the garden hose, but then I drain both the block and radiator of any remaining hose water and refill with 50/50 Prestone/distilled water.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yep, always use 50/50, and always make sure you use distilled water in the gallon jugs, never tap water or hose water, in order to prevent corrosion. Or just use pre-mixed, preferably Prestone green.

I flush my coolant w/ the garden hose, but then I drain both the block and radiator of any remaining hose water and refill with 50/50 Prestone/distilled water.</TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA i'm no idiot man i just forgot to drain it and add more coolant so it would be winter safe. It never gets this cold in GA so i wasnt expecting it to get that low that fast.

I always use distilled water and honda coolant, i dont even use tap water to flush the system i just buy an extra couple of gallons of distilled to run through it.

Checked it out yesterday afternoon and everyhting seems fine, did a comp test and results were great as usual. I think it just froze enough to slush up in the radiator but it thawed after the rest of the coolant got warm.