Should I start my car???

cjmcork

so my car has been sitting in the drive for the past 48 hours, I've removed the snow from most of the car, cos I was concerned about the weight of it on the windscreen, etc (probably sounds stupid to some!).........just wondering should I turn the engine over for a while???

tony l

if you have anti freeze in her it cant hurt,

but if like my brother you only have water, dont...
his rad split coz the water expanded.

be careful with your cars lads..

cjmcork

it was only serviced about 8 weeks ago, so all that gear should be topped up

Clare Bear

tony l wrote: »

if you have anti freeze in her it cant hurt,

but if like my brother you only have water, dont...
his rad split coz the water expanded.

be careful with your cars lads..

Really? I was just told the opposite by my brother. I don't have anti freeze in the water (I can't find it anywhere local!) and he said to start it every 12 hours or so and let it run for a while. I'm going to bate him silly if he's wrong and he's fecked up my car! I won't be driving it again until Monday, should I just leave it alone until then?

TouchingVirus

I left mine idle for 4 days earlier this week. There should be no need to turn it over if you ask me, but I'm no expert.

Edit: I do have anti-freeze in the coolant system

cruizer101

I'm no expert but I would be guessing his rad split because the water froze in it and expanded cracking it, not that it cracked due to expansion from heating up the water.
There is expansion tank which allows excess pressure in rad to be vented.

The problem with ice is the water is held in place and not allowed to go anywhere as it expands so this puts pressure on the rad, which is why i'm guessing it cracked.

So I reckon your brother is right with advice of stating up every now and then just to get a bit of heat into the water in the rad. You'll need to leave it a bit to heat up enough for the thermostat to open, ideally I'd say even go for a short spin.

Guy:Incognito

Why are people driving around with just water in their cooling systems


A few litres of proper coolant isnt very expensive,

freighter

Clare Bear wrote: »

Really? I was just told the opposite by my brother. I don't have anti freeze in the water (I can't find it anywhere local!) and he said to start it every 12 hours or so and let it run for a while. I'm going to bate him silly if he's wrong and he's fecked up my car! I won't be driving it again until Monday, should I just leave it alone until then?

He is totally wrong. There should be Anti freeze/coolant in it..

Clare Bear

freighter wrote: »

He is totally wrong. There should be Anti freeze/coolant in it..

There probably is already so, I hope! Okay thanks I won't touch it until Monday so and hope everything is okay. Thanks.

WildOscar

Clare Bear wrote: »

There probably is already so, I hope! Okay thanks I won't touch it until Monday so and hope everything is okay. Thanks.

bate him silly:D

dave1982

Have same problem Van will not start,tried 4 or 5 times partly guessed it could be frozen.Just rang AA to make use of my free recovery service on my insurance:rolleyes:

Anan1

dave1982 wrote: »

Have same problem Van will not start,tried 4 or 5 times partly guessed it could be frozen.Just rang AA to make use of my free recovery service on my insurance:rolleyes:

It's more likely to be the battery, TBH. Frozen coolant generally won't prevent a car from starting, it'll just pour out as it melts.

biko

If it's been + temp weather all day where you are OP it should be fine.
If the car is still covered in ice, then probably not.

Clare Bear

WildOscar wrote: »

bate him silly:D

Oh I will don't worry! "I know everything about cars" me hole!! :pac:

Anan1

Clare Bear wrote: »

Oh I will don't worry! "I know everything about cars" me hole!! :pac:

Don't, he's not that wrong. Ice doesn't expand when it melts, it contracts.;) If there's no antifreeze in the car then the best thing is to put some in (any petrol station should have it). Failing that, running the car regularly will help to prevent the coolant from freezing. You could also put a blanket over the warm engine at night, but don't forget to take it off in the morning.

no1beemerfan

Can someone explain to me how in this day and age do people only have water in their coolant system????

biko

Because they don't know much about cars I would guess.

no1beemerfan

biko wrote: »

Because they don't know much about cars I would guess.

Ya but if you knew nothing about cars would you go messing with something as important as the coolant system?

And also how would they go from coolant to just water as I'm presuming if you don't know much about cars your hardly going to drain the coolant system

Clare Bear

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Can someone explain to me how in this day and age do people only have water in their coolant system????

I'm almost certain I do. I'm far from an expert but I'm good at making sure the oil is right and everything else is in working order etc....I just panicked a bit today when I realised I was out of anti freeze so wanted to see what I should do in case there isn't much in it. I'm sure it was topped up last year so hopefully it's alright.

By the way no petrol station, supermarket, hardware store near me has it, wonderful.


Thanks for the help anyway guys, safe driving!

cjmcork

biko wrote: »

If it's been + temp weather all day where you are OP it should be fine.
If the car is still covered in ice, then probably not.

so I turned it on and moved it - it got stuck in the driveway on Wednesday and I didn't want to tempt fate and move it to skid on the road at the time, went to move it there now and the tyres were actually on an ice patch, so I left the engine run for about 20 minutes and had to free the tyres from the ice, so it's been moved now ever so slightly and is now snow-free......

tony l

@ clare bare..

if you do have anti freeze wouldnt be a bad idea to give it a quick run,

if only water, id be a bit iffy about starting it up in the bad weather..

MarkoC

Anan1 wrote: »

Don't, he's not that wrong. Ice doesn't expand when it melts, it contracts.;) If there's no antifreeze in the car then the best thing is to put some in (any petrol station should have it). Failing that, running the car regularly will help to prevent the coolant from freezing. You could also put a blanket over the warm engine at night, but don't forget to take it off in the morning.

No needs for the blanket. Where these faitytales coming from ?
Cars in colder climates handle - 30 without any problems if proper coolant is in but in Ireland you need a blanket with -7 ?
Theres so much false information in this forum, no wonder why people are so smart after reading those posts

Tom Slick

Starting/not starting will make no difference as the expanding ice will already have done damage.

Only people with any excuse to have only water in cooling systems are those with old tractors etc. who drain the system at night & refill with warm water in the morning to aid starting . . .

garancafan

tony l wrote: »

@ clare bare..

if you do have anti freeze wouldnt be a bad idea to give it a quick run,
..

Better put some clothes on though - it's cold out there!

johndaman66

MarkoC wrote: »

Theres so much false information in this forum, no wonder why people are so smart after reading those posts

A lot of suspect information here alright. I'd consider the oil and perhaps even moreso the coolant to be the two most important things to keep in check in a car. Its quite extraordinary how many people pay so little attention to them after paying thousand for their motor. Coolant is not that terribly expensive and you are getting very good bang for your buck if your engine remains in one piece! On a really cold night a blanket over the engine won't do a whole lot for you if anything if the car is not going to be running for a considerable spell... Plus I'm sure somebody would drive of eventually with a blanket over the engine, particularly if more than one person were to be using the same car.

Bit pointless saying dont start the car if you think you only have water in it. If the freezing temperatures are going to crack your head they will have done so at that stage anyway. Starting or not starting it at that point wont make any difference.

Clare Bear you would probably get a pretty good inkling if you have sufficient coolant in your system by feeling the pipes into and out of the radiator on a very cold morning before you start the car. If they feel as if there is liquid inside you are probably alright but if they feel kinda solid with ice, thats not very good...Do bear in mind that, thats hardly scientific and coolant will deteriorate over time, loose its properties and need to be changed just like your engine oil, albeit over a longer period of time. Its a pretty bad garage that would not be able to test your coolant for you.

Also, if you are relying on your car for work on Monday morning, I'd be inclined to start it in the interm and ideally give it a spin...otherwise you might have trouble starting it as this cold weather does little for car batteries.


Last thing!...Somebody mentioned that most filling stations would sell coolant. I tried 6 or 8 of them last weekend but to no avail. Ended up geeing some in a motor factors.

Divorce Referendum

MarkoC wrote: »

No needs for the blanket. Where these faitytales coming from ?
Cars in colder climates handle - 30 without any problems if proper coolant is in but in Ireland you need a blanket with -7 ?
Theres so much false information in this forum, no wonder why people are so smart after reading those posts

Im pretty sure he was talking about a situation where there is no coolant in the car. I think a blanket would be quite useful then wouldnt it???

Tom Slick

Divorce Referendum wrote: »

Im pretty sure he was talking about a situation where there is no coolant in the car. I think a blanket would be quite useful then wouldnt it???

Seriously doubt it.

johndaman66

Divorce Referendum wrote: »

Im pretty sure he was talking about a situation where there is no coolant in the car. I think a blanket would be quite useful then wouldnt it???

Not necessairly the way I would have taken it. I am of the understanding that the car is in use. If you don't have any coolant in it that not good but if you don't have any coolant or water in it you won't do any terrible mileage until you are in serious trouble.

Edit: My apologies Divorce Referendum, I thought you said in your initial post a situation where there is no coolant or water in it. Still though in this sort of weather if you are leaving the car sitting overnight I sincerely think a blanket is realistically not going to do much if anything for you...a couple of hours and it might make a difference alright I'd be thinking

Divorce Referendum

@ Tomslick Ya sure just leave it without the blanket it would be much better:rolleyes:. My father actually used to do this during the eighties with this old escort with similar temps to this weather. It never froze. If you cant access antifreeze like clare bear has said earlier in this thread then I would be sticking a blanket on to do what I could.

Tom Slick

Divorce Referendum wrote: »

. . . If you cant access antifreeze

It's usually referred to as coolant, for the reason that it does more than just prevent freezing. There's no reason not to have it in your car, winter or summer.

Divorce Referendum

Tom Slick wrote: »

It's usually referred to as coolant, for the reason that it does more than just prevent freezing. There's no reason not to have it in your car, winter or summer.

Are you not reading what anyone says. I know that and a terrible lot of other people know it but some dont as we have seen from some threads here. If there is a situation where there is not coolant/antifreeze in the car I would be covering the engine best I could.

It does happen as unbelieveable as that may seem to you.