Overheating 2.4 in extreme cold

[twiggy]

Hi to all
Excuse the newbie question but I wonder if anybody can shed light on why my 2.4 TD hilux (on a K plate) overheated today. It was fine yesterday when 8 inches of snow fell. In 4 WD mode it got me from work when everybody else appeared to be sliding off the road. I went to use it today (after temperatures fell last night to -11) but after about a mile it overheated. The temperature gauge went into the red so I pulled over, popped the bonnet to find the engine coolent boiling. I let it cool down and limped her back home. Before I went out, the engine was idling for about 10 minutes as I tried to defrost everything. One thing I did notice was the air coming out of the vents was cold. It normally heats up pretty quickly.
Any help would be gratefully received. We've had serious cold spells before and she's been fine.

[Apache]

Probably lumps of ice in the cooling system. Sounds like your coolant doesn't contain enough antifreeze. You need to remedy that ASAP.

With a bit of luck you haven't done any damage.

[twiggy]

thanks

Thanks for that. Absolutely right. Nobody told me that the temperature in Pershore went to -20 the other night (!!??). Have drained system and topped it back up with new. Running like she always did now.