Does my Car need Anti-Freeze

[marklbucla]

I'm out here in Alabama from sunny Southern California for my first winter. So...I don't know anything about Anti-Freeze. Will my car need it if it routinely gets down to ~30 degrees F? What if it goes down to ~10 degrees F?

[grampster]

Your car probably has antifreeze in the system from it's birth.  Go to one of the big box auto parts stores and by a tester.  They're pretty inexpensive.  They're sort of like a turkey baster and tells you the level of coolant in the system.

[cfabe]

If you have straight water, and the temp drops below freezing, well, it freezes. Which can do a number of things from no damage at all to crack the engine block. Follow grampster's advice, or to be safe, have a garage flush the system and refill it with the proper mix. Shouldn't be expensive to have done.

[marklbucla]

I always have the oil and fluids checked at the local mechanic or dealership. That ought to have the AntiFreeze level taken care of then right?

[K Frame]

Antifreeze does two things...

It both lowers the freezing point of the coolant and RAISES the boiling point.

Both are incredibly important. Which one is more important depends on the region of the country in which you live.

[grampster]

Yep, next time you go to the Speedy Lube for Oil and Lube, pay for the complete go over, checking fluid etc.

[jsalcedo]

Antifreeze also lubricates your water pump and helps prevent it from rusting.

Be sure to change your thermostat! If your car has over 50k miles If it locks up you will blow out your water pump.

[brimic]

Be sure to change your thermostat! If your car has over 50k miles If it locks up you will blow out your water pump.

The worst that will happen if yoru thermostat sticks is your car will overheat and the expanded coolant will run into your overflow tank (thermostat stuck shut). If it sticks open, your heater will not work in winter.

[Brad Johnson]

The cooling mix also has anodic properties that minimize corrosion and electrolysis. Doubly important in today's cars where you not only have a greater mix of metals than in older cars, you also have high-energy ignition systems and all the electrical goodies grounded through the block. Electrolysis will quietly kill an engine from the inside out in very short order.

I've seen an intake manifold that looked factory fresh on the top, but looked like it had been dipped in acid on the bottom. An old farmer had lost his coolant when a hose burst. He refilled the system with water only and never thought another thing about it. That is, until water started weeping through the surface of his intake. The rest of the non-ferrous metal surfaces in the cooling system were equally eroded.

Brad

[280plus]

What everybody else said...

[client32]

The worst that will happen if yoru thermostat sticks is your car will overheat and the expanded coolant will run into your overflow tank (thermostat stuck shut). If it sticks open, your heater will not work in winter.

If you catch it very quickly, I'll agree.  Otherwise, there is a lot of damage that can be done.

If you are taking it to a dealer or mechanic, they should be checking it.  The cheap tester will tell you everything you need to know.  As for all of this thermostat stuff, watch the temp gauge.  After keeping an eye on it for a while, you will figure out how long it takes to get to a certain temp, and where it should stay.  

My wife has a new vehicle, and the temp stays at 210.  That just seems crazy to me.