Draining Anti-Freeze
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=192479
Printed Date: 04 Apr 2026 at 7:56am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Draining Anti-Freeze
Posted By: Ranse
Subject: Draining Anti-Freeze
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 4:05pm
| I was going to temporarily drain the anti-freeze in my D10. I drained the radiator first. When I tried to drain the block not a drop came out. This may be a stupid question, but will the block drain out through the radiator? Otherwise I can't understand why I got nothing from the block. Thanks. |
Replies:
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 4:12pm
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the antifreeze will run out of the HEAD and BLOCK down to the level of the radiator hose connection on the water pump... You may still have a quart or two in the block.. possibly below the block valve.. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: B26240
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 4:46pm
| I'll bet the lower part of the block is packed with sludge. |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 5:14pm
| Remove petcock and ram a piece of #9 wire up in there to free it up. |
Posted By: Ranse
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 5:14pm
I just wonder if a quart or two is enough to crack it? The antifreeze that was in it was good to +5 degrees. According to our forecast for this weekend that might not be good enough. That's why I drained it.
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steve(ill) wrote:Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 5:46pm
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being 60 years old the "CRUD" idea is well founded... remove the petcock and rod it out as mentioned, just to make sure.... yes, there will be a little left over and freezing should not break the block as it has room to expand. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 8:09pm
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Yep, always pull the petcocks and rod them out good, sedimentation not only prevents drainage, it rapidly degrades cooling system performance. As to wether a quart or two will CRACK the block, YES... especially if that quart is intermixed with crud. Happens ALL the time, especially with marine engines... the crud makes the water into mud, which keeps it nicely in one area as the crystalline structure builds. Water reaches it's maximum density at about 39F, as it freezes, it becomes less dense (it's expanding, right?)... expanding to about 9% greater volume, and it can exhibit well over 100,000psi of expansive force while doing so. An aside note, one of the biggest mistakes people make with marine engines, is proper winterizing process, which includes removing the petocks and rodding out the passages at the end of each season. Most mechanics are lazy now, and instead of pulling the drain plugs and rodding them to drain the blocks, will just drop the drive in a garbage can of anti-freeze, which gradually becomes more and more diluted with block water and crud as they proceed through the 'fleet', the last boat being practially unprotected against freezing, and ALL blocks gradually building up the bottom half with crud, and after 6-7 seasons, blocks start cracking, and engines start overheating, requiring replacement (now out of warranty). In all my boats, cars, trucks motorcycles, generators, forklifts... I may have flushed and scrubbed out cooling passages that would likely never have caused a problem, but I've flushed some out that were so dam-packed tight with crap, that they were NEVER gonna cool right, and once cleaned out, fitted with new frost plugs, gaskets, water pump rebuild and thermostat, ran like they were brand new.
------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 19 Dec 2022 at 10:32pm
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I agree with DaveKamp… I normally would start to drain the radiator and than the block right away to make sure it will drain out… I’ve seen rocks (when I’m flushing for the first time) plugged in those petcocks that took a hammer and punch to get them out. ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD, 1963 A-C D17 series 3, several Allis garden tractors 
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Posted By: Oldwrench
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2022 at 7:00am
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While the above advice is correct for cleaning out the cludge in the block, for your immediate need of freeze protection, why not just refill the system with a 50:50 pre-mix? At your temps, even if diluted with several quarts of your old 5 deg stuff, you would have plenty of freeze protection. |
Posted By: corbinstein
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2022 at 9:01am
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Old car folks have the issue after 50 years or so of having the remove the freeze plugs and blasting the whole works of crud out of the system. Usually in the summer tho. Do what the good Dr. Says and give it the ol Coat Hanger.
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