AntiFreeze Leaked Out - Can I drive 20 feet?
 

I tried to start my 1987 300D when it was 11 below during the past couple of weeks(Chicago, IL). It did not start but primary cause was battery that was already run down (another story). The next day...I noticed antifreeze on the ground and my antifreeze tank in the car was empty. I am not very experienced but suspect some rubber either cracked (when shaked at -11) or my water pump went out. My car is in the driveway but not in the garage where I would ideally want to work on it, i.e. in a warm environment where I can jack up car.

My question is....can I start the car and run it for the 3 minutes it will take me to get it into the garage or will it overheat or will I run something? I tried pushing it but had very little success with the snow and ice.

Oh...yeah...if anyone has any ideas what might have gone wrong...I would appreciate the suggestions.

Thanks.

you should be good if your just pulling it into the garage. Just turn the heat on high.
Where was the antifreeze sitting under the car?

You have NO risk of overheating with that short of a distance. I was getting about 2-3 miles out of my 300 when the main pulley fell off the engine limping home.

It will take several min. at those temps before the tstat opens anyway. Now the question is did you have a good mix of antifreeze in the car?
Are you sure it didn't freeze up?

You should be fine driving it 20 feet.
Good luck getting it started.

Q: Good mix of antifreeze?
A: I had my antifreeze changed about 1 year and checked more recently than that so I hope that it had a good mix of antifreeze in the car.

Q: Where was the antifreeze sitting under the car?
A: I noticed it running from somewhere right under drivers side door (behind left front wheel) and off the pavement and into the yard (darn). Tonight, I took off both underneath protection plastic panels under car so I could get better look at what was going on. I found some minor puddling in some pockets of the protection panel just beside the left front wheel(this was the farther back panel). I believe I also saw some slight puddling in the bottom of the front plastic protection panel. I was looking closely around the radiator and water pump but did not see too much there. Only a slight bit of slightly green oily substance on top of the water pump....maybe 5 drops of it. All around the radiator looked very clean (of leaks)..ofcourse some pipes are rusty.

tighten the clamps on the radiator hoses.

I sure hope something didn't freeze and crack.