Frost plug blowout

[daves70]

I just spent 2500.00 to rebuild my 440 engine. I got it back the last day of april. 2 weeks ago I bought a new O.E.M. 440 sixpack setup and put it on last saturday. Last weekend my wife and I went out to supper and icecream. Had all kinds of nice comments. An hour later we were coming home and the temp. gauge started getting hot. By the time I could get it pulled over the temp. gauge read 230 with no water in the system. The next day my son crawled under it and found the frost plug laying in the motor mount on the drivers side. The machine shop that put the plugs in is going to stand behind it and spend what-ever it takes to rebuild it. Has anyone ever had this happen to them where a frost plug comes out and trashes your motor? There is water-antifreeze in the oil and I am sick. The motor sounded like it was going to explode before I could get it pulled over, But an hour later it started and ran fine taking it home 10 blocks away. It still got up to 230 degrees with no water-antifreeze in the system. I had no choice but to drive it home as there was a severe thunderstorm bearing down on us. Let me know if you have had a similar experience. Thanks, daves70.

[Chryco Psycho]

440s are tough engines , the water may have damaged the brgs
 I would have had the car flat decked home , if you have damage it will be driving it home with no water but 10 blocks is no big deal you should be ok

[BB73Challenger]

 

Before I knew any better I had a motor that spent the water pump seal and leaked like CRAZY.
Like the kid I was i drove it till it seized/stalled, waited for it to cool and drove it the rest of the way home.
Changed the water pump and drove it for 2 more years ( only got rid of it because trany took a crap )

I know that was stupid, but man they are near indestructable.

[miketyler]

Hi Dave - its great to hear the machine shop is going to accept some responsiblity. Its important to determine whether the freeze plug was the cause or effect of your problem. Typically, I cant see a freeze plug falling out. They should be a .002" to .003" drive-in interference fit. They are meant to relieve stresses on the cylinder walls in the event of ice formation.

Unless you had one that was a loose fit, I find it hard to believe that under normal operating conditions it could be pushed out of the hole. I have heard of radiators becoming pressurized from a blown head gasket where cylinder pressure was being fed into the cooling system. Usually the radiator hose would blow first.

Check the fit on that freeze plug - if its a loose fit you might just chalk it up as that. Freeze plug falls out, engine overheats, damage ensues.

Let us know what the machine shop determines on this one

[1973challenger360]

But an hour later it started and ran fine taking it home 10 blocks away. It still got up to 230 degrees with no water-antifreeze in the system. I had no choice but to drive it home as there was a severe thunderstorm bearing down on us.

Um  push it, that might have taken less than an hour.

[wart1de]

Can't be seen pushing a mopar! 

[1973challenger360]

tell them you ran out of 114 octane and your pushing it home.

[hemi71]

I had a 440 block with an oversized freeze plug hole....the machine shop picked up on it when they assembled the short block, so they got the next size up and machined it down for a correct fit, then documented it on the bill so if i ever had to replace it, i knew what thay had done.

440's are tough, I've had several overheat with no long term effects, but I've always caught the problem before they ran out of coolant. Thats a good machine shop that will stand behind their work.   Good luck.