Mike Ward

But he mixed it what ever was already in his rad. No telling what that was.

Did you hear on the news that we were 'the coldest capital on Earth' today? Wind chill (or 'windshield' as my old neighbour used to say) factor tomorrow AM will be -41. Time to put my long pants and a shirt on.

Blue79

Back in the day, I had a buddy that would put the end of a plugged-in soldering iron in his radiator at night to keep it from freezing. He claimed it worked.

Paul L

Yes, I saw that on the 6 o'clock news. Looks like -41 windchill (either *C or *F, same at that temp) tomorrow morning. Real temp -29*C (-20*F). That's brutal. But people in the Valley can take it with those wood-burning stoves. We city folks with natural gas fireplaces just manage to get by.

I can take this opportunity to start an oil thread. Yes, Mobil 1 5W-30 in my Impala does flow at these temps. The pour point is -42*C. Getting pretty close, however!

All kidding aside, I am glad my 1974 is in a climate controlled 60*F commercial facility until April. No worries there.

Dustup7T2

Good to read that the OP seems to have his antifreeze protection back into spec.

To all of our friends in the Great White North... stay warm. Those outside ambient temps may be good for some but I'm glad to be closer to the equator. Brrr...

my 76 ray

The small block engine takes around 17 quarts of coolant. If you put most of a gallon in, then there were almost 10 quarts of whatever was in the system when you started. The good news is that the coolant in the radiator was only slushy. I doubt that you have any damage.

Redwing01

Unreal this cold today, thank goodness for 72 degree temp in my garage.
Makes putzing around with my baby all that much easier!!!

Paul L

ji58,

How did things turn out for you last night? I hope well. We here saw -38*F windchill. A little milder tonight: ~-32*F windchill. A little hard on the nerves; even windshield washer fluid can turn to slush.

These temps are a good argument for Mobil 1 synthetic 5W-30 (I have in my DD 2007 Impala) or even 0W-30. I changed out the 5+-year-old battery for a very strong AC Delco PG34 in early December. Good choice. No starting problems.

I am not advocating Mobil 1 for older Corvettes! (I say that before Mike W. jumps all over me ). It was just a comment on the weather.

Mike Ward

The lowest I recorded overnight was -28 so my -35 windshield washer fluid was Ok good decent margin.

'Windchill factor' doesn't lower the temperature of things below the actual temperature, it's just a 'feels like' number for humans.

Paul L

Good clarification. And quite true. But it was d*** cold when I did the groceries today with the wind.

A real treat is to throw up a cup of boiling water into the air and see what happens.

hwcoop

That's just an average winter day in Alberta
Was up in Zama Lake in -48 and got hit with the prop wash when our Dash 8 was heading off the ramp, talk about wind chill, holy crap that was cold.

On the Topic of Antifreeze I always drain the block as well when i'm doing a change and usually mix it for -45c

Paul L

That is certainly cold!! I saw that when I lived in Whitehorse, Yukon many years ago. We had cold alerts when we were told not to move too quickly or lung tissue would be damaged. Aircraft engines were protected by plastic envelopes and propane heaters. But that is long ago.

With the Corvette, it is probably -35*F or so protection. But it is sitting in heated 55*F commercial storage. I don't worry.

Would still like to hear from the OP.

ji58

well temp got down to around 12 or so, went out around noon, check out coolant in the radiator, nice green color and no freezeing, fired up the car and ran it for awhile and no leaks, and good heat/defrost,thankfuly its going to get to about 50 starting monday, even sat and sun looking to be above 32, thanks to the corvette gods above!! i dodged a BIG bullet on this one!! also thanks to all here on the fourm.]