What happens if I drive without antifreeze in my car?

Question

What happens if I drive without antifreeze in my car (no water / no antifreeze)? This is my main question. I've added some follow up questions that are specific to my situation but for the main question I just want to know in general what happens.

HISTORY
Let's say someone thought that the low antifreeze light was the low windshield washer light and drove a 12 mile trip to work and home from work in the middle of winter for a month? What happens if they drive in the summer?

UPDATE
For the record, for me, I realize now that I was driving with low antifreeze except for maybe one or two trips (of about 40). I believe a few trips I ran completely out because the temperature shot up 10 to 20 degrees over the span of a mile. I pulled over as soon as I noticed this and could pull off the road or into a gas station and added coolant.

I was able to take it in to get fixed. The mechanics ran pressure tests on it and found the coolant leak in the water pump. They replaced it and it's running fine since then. However, the engine seems to knock / rock very loudly sometimes at start but eventually dies down but that may have already been happening. I don't know. Anyway, no leaks.

NOTE
I took it to one shop and I said that I had a radiator leak. They ran pressure tests and said the radiator and water pump were leaking. I took it to a second shop and they said that only the water pump was leaking. Is the first shop's pressure tester unreliable?

Answer 1

Without water and without antifreeze or just without antifreeze? I'll assume that you mean without either, but there is a big difference.

This is really simple though. The engine will overheat, quickly, and the seals and gaskets will give out, letting fluids leak in and out of places they should or shouldn't be (like the radiator and water pump, for starters). Eventually, parts of the engine will stop working all together and depending on how long you let this go on for, the engine will need to be taken apart and repaired or it may just need to be melted down for scrap metal, to put it simply.

Answer 2

I think you're fine but you need to get your leak fixed.

Based on the comments on the original question:

Oh! I've been checking the overflow tank! :P I remember that being empty once. I'll have to check the radiator the next time the light goes on. To answer your question when I would fill it up it was never more than one $10 container from the gas station.

This sounds like a slow leak of coolant from the system but not one that is terminal. There are two situations where this would really worry me (and did when I was driving a Mustang with a slow radiator leak):

1. If I didn't bother to mix the coolant properly and had a period of serious cold weather without a lot of driving, giving the coolant a chance to freeze in the system. In fairness, I was young, dumb, poor, engaged and in graduate school. None of those are conducive to proper maintenance.

2. If the weather got really warm and I was driving around at slow speeds, not letting the radiator get a chance to do its job. That situation is a prime candidate for overheating which will progress to the point of destruction (as described by @hillsons).

For clarity, I strongly recommend that you don't look for a coolant leak using your bare hand around a hot engine. That's an excellent way to get a terrible steam burn.

Instead, try wrapping a white paper towel around a wooden dowel. If the paper towel starts getting wet / turning green, you found the vicinity of the leak. If the dowel gets cut in half, the leak is really bad....

Answer 3

A dry radiator and cooling system will cause overheating that is likely to warp cylinder heads but will certainly take a lot of life out of your car. The long term damage is impossible to even see let alone fix.

First of all, why do we have antifreeze? Or even a cooling system? Well, water vapor (steam) does not cool very well, liquid does, and the presence of air pockets in the cooling system prevents the proper circulation of the antifreeze mixture through the water pump.

We prevent steam production (those air pockets) by preventing the fluid from boiling in the first place. We do this by increasing the boiling point of plain water by putting it under pressure. We also add "antifreeze" (also called "coolant") which apart from freeze prevention also increases the boiling point.

So the car's pressurized system plus antifreeze keep the liquid from boiling into vapor. The liquid then absorbs heat and prevents overheating. The liquid then passes through the radiator where it sheds its heat, then circulates back to the block and heads to take more heat out of the engine.

Without antifreeze in you car you are running an all-vapor system! Waste heat cannot leave the engine. An air-cooled engine at least has the benefit of cooing fins. You don't. So the temperature of the other fluids, metal parts, seals all quickly rise to dangerous levels.

Then it is simply a matter of time before you get the problems of running hot: detonation, oil turning into solid deposits, metal warping (aluminum before steel) and so on.

Your automatic transmission shares a radiator with the engine to cool the transmission fluid, so without antifreeze in a functioning radiator you are going to quickly overheat the fluid (a kind of special oil) in the transmission: causing deposits to build up in tiny passages, poor shifting, and ultimately damage to the transmission.

Modern cars can detect this overheating with a temperature sensor and put the car into a "limp home mode" that limits engine speed but it's a race against time before major damage is done. If not catastrophic damage that leaves you stranded.

Without extensive testing, you don't have any way of knowing exactly when damage will occur. You certainly have more time on a cold day, but 30 degree or 90 degree day, the car is going to run up to 300+ before long without antifreeze.

Answer 4

Assuming you mean with just water and no antifreeze, as long as the outside temperature does not drop below 0°C, nothing bad should happen. If the cooling system is otherwise in good shape, plain water should be sufficient to keep the engine cool. If the radiator is partially clogged, or the thermostat isn't opening all the way or is not opening until the temperature gets much higher, or if the water pump is not working at full strength, then having plain water (which boils at a lower temperature) may lead to overheating. You might also have an overheating problem in extremely hot climates. In any case, the engine temperature gauge on the dash should show you whether you have overheating; if the temperature is below the mid line, it's safe to keep driving.

If on the other hand you mean with no fluid at all, it's almost certainly impossible to drive the vehicle without major overheating and engine damage. If you have a really small 4 cylinder engine and the outdoor temperature is well below freezing, however, you might be able to get by with just air cooling as long as you keep moving fast. I wouldn't try it unless you're prepared to rebuild or replace the engine, though. :-)

Answer 5

my car ran for 5 minutets without coolant then stopped running severly heated up I left car to cool then topped up with coolant car seems to run ok

Answer 6

If your radiator has a leak or is emptying.

First check the hoses and hose seals to ensure all are properly on and none are dangling loose.

Second. There is an easy fix additive. Radiator leak fix. It is liquid you can mix with your coolant to seal off any leaks.

Third Consider replacing your radiator if it is old. Make sure your motor casing isn't cracked or than you haven't ruin your engine internal seals. If that is the case you need to junk the motor.