Frozen coolant... How to proceed?
 

First, let me state, I did NOT try to start it. I was fortunate enough to be checking the oil level before starting the truck, and noticed it then.

But, as it stands, I noticed the coolant in the Degas bottle was frozen, and so I tried to squeeze the upper coolant line, it to was frozen. After that I plugged in the block heater, and started trying to find another ride to work.

Here near Charlotte NC, we are suddenly seeing winter weather like never before (at least that I remember in my last 24 years). And this whole week we have lows of 10-15° (stop laughing you northener punks, we know that's like a summer stroll to ya'll).

​​​​​​I don't know what kind of coolant was in this truck when I bought it, but obviously it didn't have enough antifreeze in it. A coolant change has been on my list, and the bottles of coolant are actually sitting in my shop. Guess I'm doing that this weekend.

​​​​​​I'm hoping tomorrow afternoon, when I'm of work and woken up, yhe block heater will have it thawed back out. If it does, what I do start checking first?

Is there anything that is likely to have busted be cause of the freezing? Should I make sure all ice in the Degas bottle is totally thawed before trying to start? Or will 20 hrs or so of the block heater be enough even if it doesn't circulate to the Degas?


Thanks everyone. I'm hoping I avoided any serious damage by not trying to start it, but if there is anything broken now, I want to know about it asap.

I would flush the old coolant, and replace with new.

That probably gonna be happening this weekend. I got the coolant to do a flush a couple weeks ago, just hadn't got around to it. I'm just worried that something may have frozen and busted. Trying to make sure I check anything that may have been damaged.

Wow, that is unfortunate.
If you are lucky, the coolant in the block didn't freeze and your block is okay. Can you use a space heater or something to thaw the coolant in the radiator and degas tank? If the radiator and/or degas tanks have ruptured then thawing the coolant would alert you to the leak and you can source replacement parts now.

I don't know this for certain, but I think there are freeze plugs on the 7.3 and if you were able to get your heater plugged in and you don't leaks yet, then your engine should be OK. The radiator and associated hardware though might be a different story.

Now, if I am wrong and there are no freeze plugs on the 7.3, then all bets are off and I wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted though.

Alright...

No heated shop for me, let alone a covered building to put it in...

I'm at work tonight, but when I get home in the morning, I'll be trying to get a couple space heaters pointed at the Degas/radiator and see if I can get it thawed completely by the afternoon when I wake up.

So check for leaks, check the freeze plugs (where are they?). Etc.

I'm hoping that it may not have done much damage if any, the ice did not look or feel like a solid sheet of ice, like what's in the horse tubs, but more like a flaky ice. Several steps past a slush, but still not totally solid.

Fingers crossed it didn't freeze bad enough to damage anything. I wish I'd though to put a space heater on it before getting into work, but it didn't occur to me. Hopefully the block heater will help keep anything from freezing to much worse.

Plug it in great idea.
Get it to a shop or any enclosed space..
Without knowing for sure I'd say your motor is just fine,. It takes a super solid freeze to damage the block..
How hard were those hoses ?

BTW - We have had about 2 weeks of -9F highs..
I don't remember anything like it..
I have plugged the EX in every night.. Its way happier when I do so.

Kyle

I think the motor should be fine it takes a lot of cold to freeze and crack the block. Plugging it in obviously helped. Hopefully you can get it somewhere to thaw the components out to do the flush.

This makes me want to take a peak at my degas bottle ASAP lol. We've had crazy cold temps (for southern virginia) these past few weeks. Wish you the best of luck man.

If memory serves there are 8 of them. 4 on each side of the block. Roughly midway between the oil pan and head.

While sometimes you'll hear people call them "Freeze plugs" that is not their name or purpose and they don't have anything to do with this.

They are core plugs for when the block was cast. Sometimes they will pop when the engine coolant has frozen but that doesn't mean anything, this doesn't protect the block in any way or anything like that.

Sometimes can get lucky and no damage when coolant freezes but that's not the way to bet. I'm sorry to hear about this and don't want to be the bearer of bad news but it's important people understand what's what.

Also keep in mind that pure coolant (at least the green stuff) will freeze at around +20° F though when mixed 50/50 with water it's good to -34° F below zero. It needs some water mixed in to depress the freeze point.

I agree find some place to tow it to that it can thaw out.