Antifreeze

Tested all our tractors and
trucks today. All checked out at
10 degrees to minus 10 degrees.
With lows near 10 should I
worry?? Won't get above freezing
for 3+ days. Very unusual for
Alabama. I'm guessing that the
ones that show 10 won't freeze
solid at that temp??
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you are safe. ony thing is at 10 if started if could jell up. but sitting units i would not worry.

I know you don't get as cold as here in NE Indiana but I just use the premix 50/50 and it's good to -34. That way I never worry and never check. As a rule of thumb I was always told check and see what the record low temperature is in your area and make sure it is protected to below that. It is not worth the gamble to be right at the low you expect. You never know.

You should be fine. As others have said, it might slush up, but won't freeze hard. I live in MN and a few years ago I had to help a neighbor when we had one of those Polar Vortex things. A mile from home my pickup showed -37 outside and the temp gauge started climbing fast. It then started dropping fast suddenly. I realized my antifreeze was slushed up but started moving again. Nothing bad happened.

It is not only the low temperature but the duration of the low temperature. If it is 10 degrees for only a few hours then you will be OK. Also if it is in a shed or under a car port that will also keep the heat in and it may not get to the low temperature inside. With the numbers you gave us, I would not worry about it freezing to the point of cracking a block.

Should be fine. In 83 when we had a cold spell it went to a few below zero. About second day , the guy i farmed with asked me if i had put antfreeze in a certain tractor. Said i didnt know anything about it. He had blew a radiator hose and refilled with water. I didnt know it. It was a farmall 140.sitting in open sided shed. I bundled up want went up to him. Was enough antifreeze left in block that it was slushed up. We pulled it into heated potatoe house and thawed it out. No harm, no foul.

With where you are at, will you be colder than what they are predicting?

Your freezer should maintain around zero degrees. Might pull a sample and place it in the freezer over night with a thermometer. That should give you a good idea how safe you are.

I would worry about it but it should be fine. We usually go 50-50 up here in far north mississippi. It is good to -34F. Had a couple times where it dropped to -40F. Coolant turned to slush but didn't hurt anything. Water pump would not pump it. If you have to use that vehicle tomorrow I'd go out tonight, start it and let it run until it is warmed up.

10F must be really cold for you. We're set up for it and it is still really cold. Unless the highs have been below zero for a few days...

Riverbend you had a -40 Fahrenheit in Mississippi? Are you talking about wind chill factor?

Or you could drain some fluid and back fill with straight anti-freeze to lower the freeze point, and rest easier at night rather than gamble a costly radiator or block. Might be $10 or $20 well spent.

they didnt have either one bad reporting -40 wind chill no way

Gene I agree. -19F was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Mississippi. When I first read that that struck me really strange.

I tend to want to err to the stronger side of things. Dad is always telling me that good down to -20 is plenty. I had one time I was working for some guys up by Reece MI started home and with a cold head wind and about 0 out the engine had been setting all day in the yard. When I went to go home I got about 5-10 miles away and all of a sudden the temp jumped by the time I stopped and got out to check it had thawed out and was fine. Never do I only check to -20 on things . I figure we have had those temps in winter so I go to -30 and am good. With the semi on the over the road I would figure it needed to be a bit better so would mix for about -40 if I could. It gets cold in places like ND and ID and such so planned ahead for it. Never had a problem with it that way. I'd make it good for the 10 so you don't have to worry about it or at least to what you usually set it for in other things.

(quoted from post at 07:47:29 12/22/22) Should be fine. In 83 when we had a cold spell it went to a few below zero. About second day , the guy i farmed with asked me if i had put antfreeze in a certain tractor. Said i didnt know anything about it. He had blew a radiator hose and refilled with water. I didnt know it. It was a farmall 140.sitting in open sided shed. I bundled up want went up to him. Was enough antifreeze left in block that it was slushed up. We pulled it into heated potatoe house and thawed it out. No harm, no foul.

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I was thinking it was in the early 80's so 83 it may be. Those Buick Regal radiators only held 3/4 a gal of coolant I refilled one it came back during that cold spell heating when I look in the radiator it was shushed up. From that time on I made sure I could get at least a gal and a 1/2 of 100% coolant in every one I worked on.

In my hood -10 is the line I draw to be on the safe side. Slush may not damage it but it will heat up on ya.

-40 in Michigan I bet, not Mississippi....

Were are on the other end of the Mississippi River.

If it checked out at 10, and that's all it gets down to is 10, you should be OK. It could slush up a little, or not circulate through the radiator on a cold start because of it, but other than that it should be OK as far as not freezing up solid and busting something (block).

My only deal is with that, many testers (especially the floating balls testers), give you readings in increments of about 10 degrees. One ball is this. 2 balls is that. So if one of those testers gives me a reading of 10, how do I know if it is not actually 6 or 14??

A radiator is ussually not full when you take the cap off, if its not a pressurized system with an overflow reservoir. Most old tractors fit into this category. Always be a quart or two low from being ran at operating temperature and pushing the excess out of the overflow pipe with no reservoir. So, ... when I check one and it comes out to be border line or to weak for my liking, I'll just top it off with straight antifreeze (not the already 50/50 blended). Adding a quart or 2 of straight antifreeze will knock that test reading down another 10 or 20 degrees.
Note- ... If you add straight antifreeze to the system to strengthen the blend, you need to start the engine so the water pump can mix the fluid within the system. It will likely mix it before blowing the excess out the overflow (IF) it don't have a thermostat. Should be well mixed once you reach operating temperature. A thermosiphhon system works different. So this doesn't work as well in those systems. More straight antifreeze may be lost to overflow, and those systems have to run much longer to blend the coolant.

If you don't run tractor after adding the straight antifreeze, the straight antifreeze will just sit in there on top, and won't do any good because it's not blended with the rest of it. And also, you can not get another accurate test reading if the engine has not ran again since adding the straight antifreeze.

Ok you are just south of Memphis. Memphis coldest record temp is -13F. Coldest record temp here in Fort Wayne Indiana is -24F.

(quoted from post at 22:46:49 12/21/22) Riverbend you had a -40 Fahrenheit in Mississippi? Are you talking about wind chill factor?

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He's talking Mississippi river. Not state. If your on modern, you'll see where he's from.

I think he's from Minnesota, by where the Mississippi starts.

Well that would make more sense. His post said he was up in far north Mississippi. He didn't say it was on the north end of the Mississippi River. Big big difference in wording there.

Not on modern. The classic view used
to show where they're from. But he
said he was up in far North
Mississippi. Didn't say anything
about up at the north end of the
Mississippi. Don't make sense now

Drain radiator and black them into containers , refill after the chill is over.
Consider the copper in those 70 year old radiators does not have much elasticity (hardened) , will split tubes easy under pressure like ice .
If tractor is outside considering wind chill facing prevailing wind .