Without good antifreeze, this Johnsburg winter could crack your engine block

When you consider that a bitter-cold

Johnsburg winter can lead to a
cracked engine block if your
antifreeze isn't up to the task, you
may want to have your antifreeze
checked.

At the heart of your car, truck or SUV’s engine is the engine block. Can you imagine if you were preparing to leave your Johnsburg home and you discovered a puddle of green coolant under the engine. It could be a sign that the heart of your vehicle’s engine – the block – is cracked.

A cracked engine block is probably the most expensive problem you’ll ever experience with your car, truck or SUV. It’s so costly, some people will give up on the vehicle and buy another. Otherwise, you’ll need to have your car, truck or SUV towed to a trusted auto repair shop to have the engine block repaired or replaced.

Sometimes, a cracked engine block can be welded. Many times, however, the damage is beyond the ability for welding to fix the problem. The only solution is to order a new engine core – a block with a crankshaft, pistons, rods, cam and more that are essentially ready to go.

Extreme cold can lead to a cracked engine block

Imagine if you filled the radiator of your car with pure water. Sitting outside overnight, at 32 degrees, the water is going to freeze. Factors of expansion and contraction come into play and the potential for pressure to build against walls of the engine block are possible.

The engine actually has freeze plugs. These are disks, almost like small bowls, that are glued into the engine block to provide a weak point that will give before the engine is cracked. But it doesn’t always work out that way.

Or course, you’re not going to fill your car’s radiator and engine with plain water; you’re going to use coolant-antifreeze. The problem with coolant-antifreeze is that it has diminishing quality.

Even fresh out of the gallon bottles, coolant-antifreeze is intended to be mixed with a certain amount of water. The end result is a mixture that withstand extreme temperatures of heat and cold (extreme heat can also crack an engine block).

You, or a trusted auto repair technician, can use an antifreeze hydrometer to test the quality of your antifreeze. The hydrometer will tell you the temperature at which your antifreeze will freeze. It should be good to 26-degrees below zero.

If the antifreeze can’t handle temperatures that cold, you’ll want to have your antifreeze replaced. If the temperature in Johnsburg drops that cold, you probably won’t have time to change the antifreeze before you risk a cracked engine block.

Comments

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders. Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Timely maintenance is even more important with your Johnsburg Electric Vehicle

Even if you have an electric vehicle in your Johnsburg driveway, maintenance is still critical. You pull out of your Johnsburg driveway and you watch the gas stations go by as you smile from behind the wheel of your EV – Electric Vehicle. Of course, at some point, you will have to stop and charge the battery but you still take some comfort that you’re not standing next to your car as the fuel pumps into your tank. One of the true comforts you take with your EV is that the mechanics of your vehicle are simplified. You don’t have to worry about the engine breaking down anymore, and we all know how costly that can be. But there’s more to your EV vehicle than you may have considered when you first parked it in your Johnsburg driveway. Many of the parts found on gasoline-driven vehicles are also present on your EV. These require the same maintenance as your gasoline-powered vehicle. For instance, you EV still has: Tires and Wheels Brakes Steering and Suspension Windshield Wipers and So...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog