Worried!

Tom Wesenberg said:
. . . Running an engine for 10 minutes is doing the engine harm. You're filling the engine and exhaust with condensation. That's exactly how I locked up two engines back in the 70's. That was a costly lesson.
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If you want to avoid the problem Tom describes, put a tablespoon of oil down each spark plug hole (now) and turn the engine over a few times with the hand crank, spreading the oil over the cylinder walls. Instead of starting the engine, just turn it over a few times with the hand crank. If you trickle charge the battery, you could use the electric starter.

I say "now" above, because some of the moisture that condensed in the engine from your short runnings is working to rust the rings to the cylinder walls. The last thing you want three months from now is a stuck engine.

Archie
 
Fascinating post! Nobody here uses antifreeze, only a little soluble oil for the sake of the water pump maybe. Thank goodness I don't live in such a hostile environment.:eek:
 
Ok, thanks....I never noticed the 50-50 before, I always bought the regular and put the gallon in and add the rest with water....I paid 23.00 dollars for it so I assumed it was what I used to buy.....never thinking it was watered down! Now you guys don't like the light bulb in there either?
 
31 Model A said:
From reading above, I guess letting your A sit in a cold garage and then warming the garage up to do work, creating condensation on the engine and almost everything else is not good either. I have wondered about this when I would heat up the garage to do some things.
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If you warm the garage up without introducing moisture by use of a vented heater, by heating the air you're reducing the relative humidity in the garage. And decreasing the possibility of condensation.

If it wasn't condensing before heating the air, then it won't be condensing once the air is warm.

If you use an unvented heater, such as many gas radiant or portable kero units, part of the combustion products of these is water vapor which MAY create an issue of condensation on cold metal parts.

No, correction WILL create an issue of condensation. You'll notice it first on those parts farthest from the heater which remain cold, but are exposed to the warm and humid air.

Of course by the presence of you yourself in the garage, you're introducing moisture through transpiration from your moist little body. However, the decrease in relative humidity by heating the air probably far exceeds your puny transpiration.

Joe K
 
Tom Cavallaro said:
Ok, thanks....I never noticed the 50-50 before, I always bought the regular and put the gallon in and add the rest with water....I paid 23.00 dollars for it so I assumed it was what I used to buy.....never thinking it was watered down! Now you guys don't like the light bulb in there either?
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50/50 Is so they can charge you more for water and save you the time of making it 50/50...
 
no i dont like the light bulb... what if fuel started leaking one drop will cause an explosion. the bulb wont stop the motor from freezing...
 
Joe K said:
you're introducing moisture through transpiration from your moist little body. However, the decrease in relative humidity by heating the air probably far exceeds your puny transpiration.

Joe K
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No problem there, I use deodorant.......... :D
 
Last time I priced it at NAPA, 50/50 was right at half the price of 100%, so it was/is really just a convenience thing.

Having said that, NAPA isn't the place to buy the stuff anyway. If you are looking for "cheap", WalMart or even Krogers have the same name brands for quite a bit less money.
 
I may mix my antifreeze a little strong, 2 gallons of 100% Preston and the rest water in all my "A's". Never look back or worry. They run cool, never lime up, or freeze. I remember my Dad always worrying and fretting about whether he had enough antifreeze in the vehicle to keep it from freezing. I remember his old Chevy froze up and busted the head once, and he was always having the radiator freeze up while driving down the road because he never got the freezing point below the coldest the thermometers read in our area. When he was good for -10* and it was probable -5* the fan drawing cold air through the radiator it must have been -30* and always froze up and blew all the water out. I never did get it across to him what was happening. That's why I always go strong on antifreeze and save on heads and blocks and troubles on the road.
 
Fred said:
What ??
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The 100% is priced a dollar below the 50/50 mix per gallon around here. 50/50 mix is half water. So, you are paying twice the money for the antifreeze.

Or put another way, buy a gallon of 100% antifreeze, cut it in half with a gallon of distilled water, and you have two gallons for what you paid for one gallon of 50/50. The math 'don't' lie.
 
Ethylene Glycol anti-freeze, traditional Prestone, recommends a 50/50 mix for all but the coldest conditions possible. The 50/50 mix however is good for -34 F.

Consequently, they sell the 50/50 premix because it is what they recommend and it also makes it easy for the modern day imbecile to use, assuming of course that no water has been added to their radiator and it was previously mixed at 50/50.
 
Take it from somebody that lives in Northern Ontario and had already experienced -30°F weather this winter already and -61° F in the winter of 1982, and using the chart below - you will have no problems with a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze to water. In the winter of 1982 when I experience -62°F (-52°C) I was using a mixture of 60-65% antifreeze to water and had no issues.

In fact a mixture of 70% antifreeze to 30% water will protect down to -72°F.

On the other hand, a 100 percent antifreeze solution (no water mixed in) has a freezing point of only 10 degrees F. above ZERO, it could turn to pure slush when outdoor temperatures drop lower than that.

So it is always better to mix water with the antifreeze - use the guidelines in the table below -a 50/50 mixtures is probably the best to use - This will also increase the boiling point of the solution and you will have less likelihood of boiling over in the summer especially in the south. In fact any new car purchased will come with an antifreeze/water mixture which is optimum to the car. Just refer to your owners manual with your modern vehicle.

FREEZING POINTS FOR SOLUTIONS OF ETHYLENE GLYCOL

GLYCOL % BY VOLUME Freezing Point °F °C
​
12.5% 25°F -4°C
17% 20°F -7°C
​
25% 10°F -12°C
32.5% 0°F -18°C
38.5% -10°F -23°C
44% -20°F -29°C
49% -30°F -34°C
52.5% -40°F -40°C
70% -72°F -58°C
 
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Back in 1982 when I experienced -62°F or -52°C, I had no difficulty starting my car. Of course it was equipped with a block heater and battery blanket. It was one of the few vehicles that started in my town of 2500 people. The car was just very stiff to get moving and very hard to shift the manual transmission - I was driving a 1974 AMC Hornet at the time
 
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