Antifreeze UPDATE

grandpa Love · Dec 24, 2022

Finally got up to 10 degrees this morning..... Went and checked 6 different tractors, all still liquid!! Life is good in Alabama. Also checked a bucket of coolant that didn't even test at 10 degrees, it was liquid, too.

rustred · Dec 24, 2022

you need to do the checking when the thermometer is low, not on the high after. the slush will melt and be liquid again. and the fan will slush the coolant just from the cold air its creating through the rad fins. then your circulation stops then the engine starts heating up. and by feeling the bottom rad hose ,if its staying cold you have a problem. back in the early years people would use cardboard right in front of the rad with a round hole in the centre of the fan as their thermostat which was to prevent fan wobble . plus if you jelled up you just drove in reverse till the coolant got circulating, this was in the old vehicles.

grandpa Love · Dec 24, 2022

Darn....i was proud of myself for going out at 10 degrees!! Lol I'm not going to use any of them for a few days. Gallon jug of water in the tractor shed is frozen solid!

redforlife · Dec 24, 2022

Doesn't the fan blades turn the same direction no matter if driving forwards or backwards (belted fans that is)??

Don't see how driving backwards would thaw anything out.

Even if the fan blades did turn backwards, it'd still be blowing cold air through the radiator unless the engine had a compartment with side skirts, or (if its a tractor) it had a comfort cover likewise with canvase side skirts.

Even mechanical fan blades would have to be driven by the drive train and not the engine, to run backwards in reverse.

Have heard stories about people putting backwards fan blades on so they blew air through (opposite direction of only the air flow) instead of pulling it through. Like maybe on 8n ford's. Not sure what the reasoning was behind it. But even in these cases, the fan still traveled the same direction all the time. Just blew air the other way (all the time).

BarnyardEngineering · Dec 24, 2022

I believe by traveling backwards IN A VEHICLE (not a tractor), the idea was you were not forcing cold air through the radiator by your forward motion. On older vehicles the fans were not shrouded and really did not pull a whole lot of air through the radiator on their own.

gene bender · Dec 24, 2022

JUST where did they do that i am 87 and have lived in IOWA most of my life and we did not go backwards.

gene bender · Dec 24, 2022

thats a bit out of t he way for you to be that cold and without a doubt there are froze engines there

RESLLS · Dec 24, 2022

Had a 1977 f150 with a 300 6 cyl. Changed the radiator, heater core, thermostat and hoses. Flushed block too. Never could get any heat out of that thing. Had to put cardboard in front of radiator or if wouldn't even keep the widow from fogging up. Pretty cold here in nw TN. Was -5 Friday night. Daytime was 9 yesterday. 20 outside now.

john in la · Dec 24, 2022

Like a lot of things sold today.
Rated at one specification but preforms at a better specification.
Keeps the lawyers happy.

Could also be your antifreeze tester is off a little because god knows we would never suggest your thermometer is off a little. LOL

grandpa Love · Dec 24, 2022

I guess I'm gonna have take 3 thermometer pictures, mine and my neighbors on either side!! Lol

rustred · Dec 24, 2022

i have seen it done around here when i was young on them 50's and 60's vehicles . going in reverse you are getting the warm air from the engine in the rad to get the coolant circulating. and yes i know the fan would be pulling air but it must even its self out with speed. guess its a Canadian thing then. and speaking of backwards... one of my buddies had about a 68 chev car . the auto transmission gave up and he only had reverse. he drove it into town backwards. that was i sight to see this car going backwards down the highway. but then we used to do lots of crazy things back then.

504 · Dec 24, 2022

I walked out to the attached garage to see if I had a shovel out there. I have more snow in the heated garage than we have in the yard! The dog is not using her doors and now I know why,there is three feet of snow against her door and Dachshunds have short legs. WE only got an inch if that much but 30 to 40 mph winds. 3:00 in the afternoon and we made it to the high of 18 deg.

boler76 · Dec 24, 2022

all my antifreeze tests -35f or below

db4600 · Dec 24, 2022

In the old days if you drove backwards with the tractor it would load the spreader back up! If you had a Rumley you didnt have to worry!

OregonAaron · Dec 24, 2022

Well my son today was complaining that his heater in his car wasn t working. So I asked him if he had checked his coolant level recently. He went and checked then sent me a message that he did not have any coolant. Geeeezzzz. Despite all of the zillion times I have told him to keep an eye on his fluids and what happens if you don t! I suppose every generation of father will be saying "kids these days!"

Rodney51Cub · Dec 24, 2022

(quoted from post at 14:25:58 12/24/22) Had a 1977 f150 with a 300 6 cyl. Changed the radiator, heater core, thermostat and hoses. Flushed block too. Never could get any heat out of that thing. Had to put cardboard in front of radiator or it wouldn't even keep the window from fogging up.

I had an 1980 Ford F150 with the 6 cylinder and the only way it would heat up in the North Dakota winters would be run a 195 deg thermostat and a half blocked radiator.

Tony in SD · Dec 25, 2022

Wow GPL. I feel sorry for all of the southerns for having to put up with our weather down there. Its business as usual for us up north. We design and plan for at least -35F. Our water pipes are buried at least 6 feet deep. Anything shallower than that has some kind of heat to keep them from freezing. Our home/shop heating systems/insulation values are also designed for that temperature. If you are a planner, we also have a backup heating system and electric generator in place. That said, I know how disastrous it can be when a lot of things are not designed for a once in a century cold spell like this. It is sometimes tempting to add water only to a low radiator in the summer time but I have found we are way ahead (time & money) to take the time to add 50/50 antifreeze tested to -35F. This is especially true as I get more o;Dre & more forgetful. Up north we find it is a good time to light the fireplace, Jane a bottle of wine & listen to Patsy Klein and see if we can find a way to keep warm.

Antifreeze UPDATE

grandpa Love

Well-known Member

rustred

Well-known Member

grandpa Love

Well-known Member

redforlife

Well-known Member

BarnyardEngineering

Well-known Member

gene bender

Well-known Member

gene bender

Well-known Member

RESLLS

Well-known Member

john in la

Well-known Member

grandpa Love

Well-known Member

rustred

Well-known Member

504

Well-known Member

boler76

Member

db4600

Well-known Member

OregonAaron

Member

Rodney51Cub

Member

Tony in SD

Well-known Member

Similar threads