I just wanted to touch base with soem of you or everybody that reads the board, some basic at home vehicle maintence. I had got a call from hornetfan tonight, had some more trouble with the van, it had overheated. So I went to where he was, and checked it out, come to find out a freeze plug is bad and is leaking in turn looseing water and over heating. A freeze plug is a plug that goes into the block that if a motor has water and not a right mix of antifreeze will pop out letting the ice expand without cracking the block.

With winter that way it has been, I want to remind you to check your antifreeze, make sure it has a good green color, if it looks light green to clear then there is not enough in there, and risk it freezing. There are also testers you can buy for about couple bucks, find them at walmart. They will tell you how much of a mixture you have.

Its also good to check the hoses to make sure they don't bust or leak. You will have 4 hoses in the cooling system, 2 big ones going to radiator, 2 small ones that connect to the heater core, which give you heat in the car, either of those 4 can leak or bust.

If you see green fluid on the green its a sign of a leak, or could be overflow from being too hot. If you see antifreeze on the ground you need to find where its coming from, if the front of car its around the raditor, if its in the middle of the car or firewall as its called could be the heater core area.

Some people think a loss of anitfreeze is cause for a blown head gasket or other major problem, like what hornetfan was told, but in turns out its only a freeze plug leaking and loosing anitfreeze that way.

Its still cold out there, keep your cooling system in check, don't want to be stranded when its freezing outside.