• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Using distilled water in the cooling system

Share this page

K

karls59tr

Obi Wan
Bronze
Country flag
Offline
I have been using 50% distilled water/35% antifreeze/15% water wetter in my TR3 as I heard that racing drivers used that mixture.Seems to run cooler with that concoction. Now I hear it's not a good idea to use distilled water at all because it can cause damage because it lacks certain "ions"? There is a whole written blurb about it by Rislone on the internet but maybe they are just trying to sell product?????
 
The battery is the only place that needs distilled water. Water "wetters" have been shown to be less efficient at heat transfer than plain water.
Bob
 
I have hard water at home, so used 50/50 distilled and antifreeze. Not noticed any issues over the last 5 years or so, and would think less likely to get calcium build up in cooling system. Cheers, Mike
 
mgedit said:
I have hard water at home, so used 50/50 distilled and antifreeze. Not noticed any issues over the last 5 years or so, and would think less likely to get calcium build up in cooling system. Cheers, Mike
Click to expand...
I haven't noticed any issues either. The Rislone article in regard to distilled water causing problems seems to make sense scientifically but they may be talking about using 100% distilled water in the cooling system? I would think that a 50/50 mix using antifreeze would probably negate any downside to the distilled water?
 
50/50 antifreeze and distilled water is the best, and that is what the premixed antifreeze is. All calcium and bicarbonate ions in the water will need to be passivated by the corrosion protection chemicals in the antifreeze. So harder water just depletes the antifreeze by that amount. - Never heard of water "wetters" but it sounds like snake oil.
 
These and other cars have worked just fine with the standard 50% antifreeze and tap water. If they don't, using distilled water won't fix them.

I regularly return to the adage that we often used in my aerospace-industry days: "better" is the enemy of "good enough."
 
Just found an article in Motor Trend from '07 that described tests of 4 "wetting agents". Concluded that they did lower operating temperatures in antifreeze/water mixes. Efficiency of plain water was reduced by the additives.
Bob
 
Last edited:
Water wetter is used for racing because antifreeze is not allowed. I use distilled water and antifreeze for street cars. There is a difference between distilled water and and deionized water.
 
So many opinions on what to put in the radiator. Bought new, my old Ranger pickup, 1986, has more miles on it than I could count. Only used around the farm now and the rad fluid has only been changed one time in it's existence. 50/50 mix of Green antifreeze and tap water is all it's ever had. My tractors get the same mix. Of course the newer vehicles get what the factory calls for due to warranty. Funny but I don't have problems with my cooling systems. The TF gets the same as the rest. (y)
 
+1 distilled. In a system with an overflow tank, I doubt it matters much if at all. In an open system like the TR2-4, you get localized hot spots that boil the coolant...in which case tap water would tend to leave deposits and scale in the system. Ask your wife if she uses distilled in her clothes iron. If she does...I bet it's clean as new. If she doesn't, warm it up and hit the instant steam button. You'll see how much scale comes from tap water! I also change the coolant in my "special cars" annually, as the coolant gradually becomes acidic. In my "daily driver" cars, I only change about every 3-5 years.
 
Back
Top