[Shop-talk] Frost heater/freeze plug

[John Innis]

We had a freeze plug do it's job.  This was on a 4-cyl MerCruiser I/O
block, 1980's vintage, which I THINK was just a reworked GM Iron Duke
motor.  Boat was out of the water for the season, but we got a sudden
freeze before we could flush the jacket.  One freeze plug came all the way
out, another came part way out.  No cracks in the block.

On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 12:07 PM Phil Ethier <pethier7 at gmail.com> wrote:

> You need to see the part of itself and not just the paperwork.
>
> Has anyone ever actually seen a freeze plug save an engine block?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 14, 2021, at 11:21 AM, Scott Hall <scott.hall.personal at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > This is mostly theory.
> >
> > One of my staff wants to stick a frost heater in his car--it's a Kia
> with a 3.3L engine (though I don't think that matters for the question).
> >
> > Since he thinks I'm a car guy--which in his head means I know everything
> about all cars--he's asking for help.
> >
> > He brought in the instructions and the heater itself. The instructions
> are pretty simple: drain coolant, "remove plug" (quotes mine--it just says
> "plug", so I'm assuming that's a freeze/expansion plug), screw in heater,
> refill coolant, etc.
> >
> > The heater to install is threaded. It says to torque it to 30 lb. ft.
> >
> > The plug he's removing probably isn't...I'd think.
> >
> > Obviously without rolling under the car, who knows? But I'm tempted to
> tell him to not start--the only way I know to remove a freeze plug is to
> drill a hole in it, then pull it out with something. If there are no
> threads behind it--and I can't imagine that a press-in freeze plug presses
> in to a threaded hole--then he's just going to need a new freeze plug to
> reinstall.
> >
> > So I guess my questions to the list are:
> >
> > 1) anyone ever see a threaded freeze plug? That would seem to defeat the
> whole purpose of allowing it to pop out.
> >
> > 2) anyone ever see threads behind a freeze plug? Perhaps the plug
> presses into a smooth port, and there are threads behind it?
> >
> > We called the manufacturer who confirmed that the part number is
> correct. It's used on several models so they couldn't say for sure other
> than, "it'll work". I'd hate to see this kid pull out a freeze plug then be
> screwed.
> >
> > YouTube similarly has nothing relevant.
> >
> > Anybody have any experience with this before I just have him drive over
> and roll under the car to see what I'm looking at?
> >
> > Thanks.
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