[theaftermath06]

Hey all,
Tonight I went out to fill up on gas and on the way back home steam started pouring all over the place. Well the cap popped off of the antifreeze resevoir and of course blew AF everywhere. I stopped and called wife to bring AF and stuff. Filled up AF again and recapped and went... well it blew off again and got lost. By this time i had ran out of antifreeze and the Cat dealer was already closed so I had to fill it up with water and put a piece of rag down in the resevoir to cap it just to get it home. Well it blew the rag out a few times (which i was suprised it built that much pressure because the rag was in there tight). My question is how can i drain the water out to make sure it dont freeze and crack something? Can I just take the cap off the radiator to leave room for expansion? Ive looked at taking the hose off but I know there will still be water down in the cooling system. When I looked at what could of caused the cap to strip I noticed that the neck with the threads for the cap was melted a bit and caved in, possibly even cracked at the seam. The only thing that I did when I filled up was added some fuel deicer to the fuel, I bought the deicer from the gas station, it was for gas and diesel engines so I would think that would be fine. Could the deicer that I used make the engine run hotter in turn building more pressure in the cooling system? I know that I shouldnt have used water but I didnt think I could use regular auto AF and I had to get the sled home... Any advice or help is greatly appreciated! The sled is a Arctic Cat 1996 ZRT 600.

Thanks again,
Northern Michigan Snow Junkie

 

[NewfieBullet]

Remove a hose at the lowest point and you'll get most of it to drain out.
There's no reason you can't use regular automotive antifreeze in your sled.

 

[snofrog]

first off I would say that your waterpump has died to be confirmed when you pull the water pump cover ,hopefully it wasnt the oilpump that tied up as it takes out the bronze gear on the crank when it does .secondly I would get the straight water out of there asap unless it will be in a heated garage as it will freeze and take expensive things out with it. you can pull the lower radiator hose or there is a drain on the water pump cover .M

 

[FreezerBurnt]

no harm using water as an emergency coolant

aka better then nothing

BUT drain it out as sooon as possible if left out in the cold

it will freeze and might crack something

I know of guys using Gatorade or even Beer to top up the antifreeze so they can make it back

but like SnoFrog said check your water pump

 

[theaftermath06]

Thanks you guys for the help, gonna put AF in till morning then check out the water pump... Thanks again!

 

[paul yarek]

Thanks you guys for the help, gonna put AF in till morning then check out the water pump... Thanks again![/b]

before you do anything check the thermostat.

 

[team wisz]

something i will add,when useing fuel deicer make sure you use the metanol free stuff.methanol can do bad things to your engine.it will make your sled run hotter,i always use the alcohal stuff.i am a truck driver,i used to use methanol hydrate in my diesel fuel.it works well for not allowing fuel to freeze,however eventually i burnt out some injectors,in a big truck this is a very expensive thing to fix.after talking to the mechanic that fixed the truck he said methanol hydrate is not a good choice as i burns to hot.the alcohal stuff i use i a little more money to buy,but is not that much different and it should be a little easier on your engine.

 

[oldyeller]

Make sure you run the engine to mix the anti freeze with the water already in there.Just dumping it in won't necessarily prevent the engine from freezing and cracking.

 

[63November]

Lots of good advice given. I've used even coffee or tea from a thermos and know that some will even use the recycled version of the same. One thing that wasn't metioned was the fact that alcohol itself has some anti-freeze properties - it was the original engine antifreeze before glycol came into use. That is another thing that could be used especially if one was concerned about water trapped inside and freezing. Obviously, getting the coolant out well is the best idea until you can get the problem corrected and everything refilled.

 

[theaftermath06]

Thanks again all for the solid advice... thankfully I got some of the water out and added pure AF and it didnt freeze...whew! Now with the water pump, Snofrog you said to remove the cover to confirm the waterpump has died, can you elaborate a bit... im very new to sled repair but im learning and dont want to screw anything up in the process. Also i fired her up when i put the AF in last night and let it run for a bit and sure enough the rag didnt blow out but steam was coming out of the resevoir hose pretty good... Thanks again

 

[snofrog]

take the pipes off and on the front of the motor between cylinders 1 and 2 on the block you will see a waterpump cover I think there are 5 phillips screws holding it on .take the cover off and rotale the crank by hand (just grab the clutch to spin it over ) to make sure the impeller is spining with the crank .also make sure the impeller isnt just spining on the shaft . there are other reasons you could be building heat/steam such as paul said a thermostat or a bad head gasket .but this motor is known for what I am saying in the waterpump .been there done that and got that t-shirt , good luck and if you have ANY questions feel free to ask away. M

 

[theaftermath06]

HAHAHA, I want a tshirt...laff, cool thanks Snofrog, I will check it out this week and let everyone know. Thanks again