[Shop-talk] Frost heater/freeze plug

[Scott Hall]

That's exactly what the instructions say--right rear of the engine.

So you're thinking "plug" doesn't mean a freeze or expansion plug but
rather just a threaded port into the coolant jacket?

That would make more sense to me.

On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 11:35 AM Donald H Locker <dhlocker at comcast.net>
wrote:

> I would look for a threaded plug into the coolant jacket in a shop
> manual. I remember planning to buy a block heater for my wife's Scion
> and the instructions actually had a drawing of where the plug was (in
> this case it was above the intake manifold in an "odd" location.)
>
> In any case, if they are talking about threading into a plug, it isn't
> going into a core plug hole, which are smooth. (No reason to thread it;
> that just costs money.) I read somewhere that the port is in the "rear
> right position" so passenger side of the engine, toward the firewall.
> (If I find more, I'll followup.)
>
> Donald.
> --
> *Plain Text* email -- it's an accessibility issue
> () no proprietary attachments; no html mail
> /\ <https://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil.shtml>
>
> On 2021-01-14 12:20 p.m., Scott Hall 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.
> >
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk/attachments/20210114/c483f696/attachment.htm>