Can a frozen radiator cause an engine to overheat?

But, without a steady flow of coolant/antifreeze, the engine will quickly begin to overheat, and could even explode as a result of the mounting pressure caused by blockages in the cooling system. In most cases of frozen cooling systems, the best thing to do is give the entire engine time to thaw.

IF WATER IS FROZEN IT NOT FLOW:

YES! because ICE has formed throughout the sytem, coolnat cannot circulzate properly! If possible, tow the car to a heated garage and allow to THAW OUT before starting! You risk leaking head gaskets if you do NTO do this! And even warping the head and stretch bolts! GOOD LUCK!

Yes that is why you need antifreeze in the Radiator

can a frozen radiator which means the coolant has froze to because of no coolant able to enter the engine , hold on give me time to think about it .. yep your an idiot ..

Probably. When the radiator is frozen it's because there isn't enough antifreeze in the coolant. Usually the motor is frozen too and the water pump impeller will be frozen. You'll ruin the water pump by cranking the motor over. On motors that have the water pump driven by the timing belt you can cause the timing belt to jump and bend all the valves. All of this because someone was trying to save $20 on coolant

Yes.  If the radiator is frozen up then the engine block is probably frozen up too.  So you start the engine and all the heat of the cylinders stay right at the cylinders.   If you got an aluminum head on the engine it most likely will warp.    Put the car in a garage that is above freezing and start it the next day.   THEN put in the proper mix of radiator fluid.  

Whenever an engine is cold, the thermostat closes, greatly reducing or stopping coolant flow until the engine starts to get hot. Ice and ice water in the block can act just like a closed thermostat.

Ice in the block will prevent overheating for the time it takes the ice to melt. Yes, ice is colder than circulating coolant. Other problems, such as slipping belts will alert you to shut off the engine to prevent more damage. As you wait, accumulated heat from the failed attempt will thaw ice in the block. If you try running the engine again, the ice may be melted and the block contains liquid. We don't know if this engine has a serpentine belt-driven water pump or cam belt-driven water pump, which runs off the flat side of the cam belt, not the toothed side, so the problem may be slight or extreme, resulting in just a lot of noise, or actual further mechanical damage.

 Why don't you come back and tell us your further experience in this situation and even reveal the make and model and year of the vehicle, plus the engine configuration if you know it. Respondents are assuming all the worst possible situations blindly, which may be of no help to you.  

You said before that the engine wouldn't run. Yes, you did. It has to run to overheat. If you manage to run the engine, it will melt the ice in its block which will flow to the radiator and thaw that. Heat blowing off the hot engine and hot water from its block will thaw the radiator, but ice may have already damaged the engine before you got it running. Tow the car to a shop where the damage can be assessed. All that could have been avoided if only you had added anti freeze to the radiator.

Yes, because the coolant can't circulate to cool the engine and if the radiator is frozen then the block is probably frozen too and will probably crack. 

That will be expensive, so always use a 50/50 antifreeze mix.

Yes.  coolant won't get to the engine block.  Heat just builds up.