Two freeze plugs fall out on opposite sides of block?

[SS_Sean]

Back in October my car overheated. I got it home and it's been sitting there in the driveway since then. I found a freeze plug under the car last week, and upon further inspection found another had come out. They are the rear freeze plugs on the sides of the block. One fell out in the drive after it overheated, and one fell out between the starter and block.

I don't think this had anything to do with the block freezing and pushing the plugs out, as it doesn't freeze here in October, and it was a nice day this happened on.

There is no water in the oil, and no other indications of a blown headgasket.

I'm pretty perplexed on this one....

 

[azbob]

First you must verify the correctness of the sizing of the failed freeze plugs. Then you have to check all the others for proper installation/sizing. You didn't identify the freshness of the engine or the circumstances involved with the original overheat problem.
Something is definately wrong for two failures to occur similtaneously.

 

[SS_Sean]

The engine is new and has about 200 miles on it. The plugs are marked with a part number and 1 1/2, so I'm assuming they are 1.5 inches diam.

The circumstances surrounding the failure were I was driving down the road about 1 mile from my house and the car started overheating. I stopped and let it cool down and then drove straight home.

 

[DailyDrifter]

Some times engine builders will "stake" in the freeze plugs so they dont fall out. Basically they take a punch or chisel and deform the plug while its in the block.

 

[SS_Sean]

Bit of a mystery here. I called napa and they said the block calls for 38mm freeze plugs. I think 1 9/16 is close, but mine are 1 1/2". Anyone have info on this?

 

[bison]

They should go in really tight. You likely had he wrong ones in there. If those came out at highway speeds at WOT and spryaed coolant all over you will lose control of the vehicle and crash. Your lucky you noticed this problem now

 

[LOT]

I bet

they are the ones with short shoulders. The older ones with the wider or longer shoulders are getting harder to find. Less surface to seal with. I have always used 1.5 in. brass so I doubt size is the problem. Don't want to scare you but check for a crack between the 2 freeze plug holes.

 

[SS_Sean]

Alrighty then. Not sure why it happened, but I glued them back in with permatex indian varnish crap. Wow that stuff stinks. Anyway, to put a fresh charge on the battery and will fire it tomorrow.

 

[Pronto]

They should go in really tight. You likely had he wrong ones in there. If those came out at highway speeds at WOT and spryaed coolant all over you will lose control of the vehicle and crash. Your lucky you noticed this problem now

I have a friend that has a Duster drag car that lost a freeze plug at about 330' mark. I happened to be videoing it from behind. He spun around about half track and backed into the wall at about 80mph. He got shaken up but the frame got bent and ruined.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Just curious, what pound radiator cap are you running?

Also mentioned b4, did you figure out why it overheated?

 

[mikestertwo]

Alrighty then. Not sure why it happened, but I glued them back in with permatex indian varnish crap. Wow that stuff stinks. Anyway, to put a fresh charge on the battery and will fire it tomorrow.

Did you put new ones in or reuse the old ones? It's not a good idea to put used ones in. They will probably pop out again.

 

[V8Assassin]

Back in October my car overheated. I got it home and it's been sitting there in the driveway since then. I found a freeze plug under the car last week, and upon further inspection found another had come out. They are the rear freeze plugs on the sides of the block. One fell out in the drive after it overheated, and one fell out between the starter and block.

I don't think this had anything to do with the block freezing and pushing the plugs out, as it doesn't freeze here in October, and it was a nice day this happened on.

There is no water in the oil, and no other indications of a blown headgasket.

I'm pretty perplexed on this one....

Call Bamford, he has some experience in this matter

Sorry just couldn't resist

 

[rmar]

I glued them back in with permatex indian varnish crap.

Good stuff, I have been using it for years.

 

[SS_Sean]

It took some umph to get the freeze plugs tapped back into place, so I don't think they were knocked in as far as they should have been. Who knows. Builder may have taken a phone call, and forgot, or whatever. Anyway. I'm confident they are done right this time.

The radiator cap is a '15 lb closed system' AC Delco cap.

 

[SS_Sean]

...and she runs....

 

[ijames]

And just to reassure you, NAPA's 38 mm=1.496" so they were also right, they would just have been a smidge tighter .

 

[GNTIM]

The fact that 2 plugs blew, or any on a new engine really alarms me. Usually if pressure is high in the cooling system, a hose will blow first. Weakest link breaks first. Maybe wrong plug or improper install. I would really look hard at the rest of them. I prefer deep skirted, brass plugs.

 

[SS_Sean]

Thank you for looking after me, and I did check them all. The rest were fine. I don't have an answer as to why, but I can say that when I re-installed them they were tight and I used a large socket to tap them in. It took some effort to get them knocked in.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've heat cycled the motor and checked and double checked and all looks well. I'll do some street miles before I hit the track this spring.

Thanks again, guys!!

 

[S2V6RACER]

Call Bamford, he has some experience in this matter

Sorry just couldn't resist

Yeah, and he was going faster than you ever have when it happened... :tongue:

 

[V8Assassin]

Yeah, and he was going faster than you ever have when it happened... :tongue:

Was he, or was he going to be if they didn't, hell it doesn't matter. I wasn't trying to open our can of worms again, Sorry Ted!