I need to start off by saying I messed up. I let me truck freeze. I am not a born northerner and moved to the midwest and it got cold on me fast. My engine froze and the water pump wouldn't turn when I started it. I shut it down and waited a day or two till it thawed. When I started it, and put some antifreeze in it it ran though the engine and onto the ground. It looks like it popped a freeze plug if that is possible. The engine runs, but holds no coolant. I am an electrician and by no means a mechanic. Should I pull the engine and go through it as a winter project, or try and fix it in place? Have I really goofed and damaged the enigine? Should I rebuild this one or another one? Any help is appreciated.

 

All depends where the leak is coming from, you need to find out exactly. once you determine what blew out and where, we can tell you what its gonna take to fix

 

It most likely cracked the block if it froze hard enough to lock the water pump

 

Gotta climb under it & find where the water is coming from , mabee just poped a frezze plug ..If thats it you don't have to pull the motor as long as its one on the side of the block or where you can get to it ...Lew

 

You know they call them freeze plugs, but that is not what they are for. They are there to get the sand out of the engine after they cast it. So I bet the block is cracked also, or maybe you did luck out and a "freeze plug" did pop out. You can get a rubber expandable one to replace it.

It doesn't really matter where you live. You should keep antifreeze in the block to keep it from rusting and corroding.

 

Not knowing where it is leaking yet, I am considering pulling the engine anyway and rebuilding it. I want to make it an eveyday driver anyway. Where is a good place to get aftermarket parts for cheap online? I have a 302 block avaiable for 100 bucks and was running with a knock. Any suggestions?

 

Really cheap is ebay if you know what you are looking for. Rockauto is fairly cheap. Your local parts stores sometimes are cheap.

Good quality parts at a somewhat cheap price are to be had a summit racing and jegs. The tend to deal in the racing stuff though they do sell the everyday stock stuff also.

 

Just went through the thaw and to my suprise and delight, it was two popped freeze plugs. They were not oem, so I an guessing this has happened before I got it. Thank goodness for the "freeze" plugs. Thanks for all the replies.

 

awesome.. don't use rubber freeze plugs like earlier suggested

 

would be a good time to put a block heater in one of those frost plugs,as a spare or put one in if there wasn't one to begin with since your truck came from the south and probably didn't have one to begin with.when it gets cold out you truck will start much better.imo

 

+1 those are easy to install and awesome for winter!

 

Wow, you got really lucky. I used to have an old S-10 with the 2.5 4 banger that I let my brother drive while his car was broke down. It got below freezing one night and the block cracked.

 

I did get lucky. I had 3 freeze plugs pushed out and got them all back in. One was behind the motor mount and it was the toughest. Now that I have it running, I have another issue.

It runs good and starts right up with no leaks, however I have to let the truck sit for 20 minutes or more to cool down before it will start again. Not sure if this is a new problem, but I don't remember it being quite this bothersome.

Any thoughts?