Cooling: water vs antifreeze vs Water Wetter

[twas_brillig]

Redline offers a product called Water Wetter (see https://www.redlineoil.com/content/files/tech/Diesel%20Water%20Wetter%20Tech%20Info.pdf for a table in the lower right corner of page 1 showing Redline's measured impact of using water wetter).
Has anyone advice/data/comments on the impact on cooling of running antifreeze vs. pure water (or distilled/deionized)or using Water Wetter or other products? We run 50:50 antifreeze in our BJ7, to provide for winter storage. Would it be worthwhile replacing this each Spring (and reloading in the fall!)?
Thanks,
Doug

 

[Superwrench]

We saw a little better cooling with water wetter in racing engines. You can try it in addition to your 50-50 antifreeze. 50-50 is still the best and you can probably get by with 2 years. I don't know if I would drain every spring.

 

[Cottontop]

Whatever you do... Do NOT use pure (distilled and/or DI) water in your cooling system.

Distilled and/or DI water has no free radicals and is, therefore, VERY corrosive. If you think about it, sooner or later EVERYTHING on earth eventually dissolves in water. Distilled and/or DI water makes it worse.

I spent my career in electronics manufacturing (think circuit boards and electro-mechanical boxes) and we used DI water as a cleaning agent because it is a very good solvent.

Distilled/DI water LOVES to eat copper (think radiator).

I have several friends who race Healeys, Miatas, and open wheel cars and several of them use Water Wetter. I did not see any improvement when using it in my V8 Healey.

Do you have a cooling problem or are you just looking for things to spend money on?

Tim

 

[JodyFKerr]

Distilled/DI is fine in an automotive cooling system providing it has the appropriate buffer e.g. glycol.

I've used a 50/50 mixture of glycol and distilled water for years. Where we live you simply can't use tap water as it's got so much crap in it that it will literally block passages over time.

I tried water wetter on a car that used to overheat a lot. It overheated less. But that was one of those throwaway 80's buicks, so I think smashing it with a brick would have improved it.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I used to be a big proponent for Water Wetter, as I've seen it improve the marginal cooling on an MGB/Buick 3.8 swap I did years ago. However, this past spring, when working with the (Dodge) Viper community, it was accused of being very corrosive in their cooling system (all aluminum eng/radiator, steel piping). So I've since stopped using it.

BMW engines are mostly aluminum these days (the "old" 3.2 ///M engines have a cast iron block, and if you saw how big the bores are in relation to the bore spacing, you'd understand why) with some of the newest engines having a magnesium/aluminum composite engine block/aluminum cylinder head. BMW's recommended coolant interval, with their coolant, is three (3) years. At $20.00/gallon, it costs a little bit more than the garden variety Prestone-types, but it is formulated to be phosphate free, and doesn't harm the components. That's what I put in the Viper. Use this coolant 50%/50% with distilled water.

My own Healey? Truth be told, some of the BMWs that I drain the coolant out of still looks so clear (and it's blue in color) that I run it another year or so in my Healey__recycling it by straining it through paint filters.

Another reason for using an antifreeze solution, is to lubricate the water pump bearing(s) and seal. Water alone cannot do this, though the Wtr-Wtr may have addressed that.

 

[Superwrench]

Get some ph test strips and watch your antifreeze. Our race teams did this and we never had any problems. High Alkaline is as bad if not worse than high Acid. Some of these new 5 year coolants get so strong Alkaline that they eat everything up.

 

[tahoe healey]

darn, here we go again. I've used water wetter for 5 years now. I think its great. Its the water I'm now concerned about. Thanks. What do you thin of water for distilled purpose as sold in the supermarket? Not really distilled, but filtered.

 

[tahoe healey]

darn, here we go again. I've used water wetter for 5 years now. I think its great. Its the water I'm now concerned about. Thanks. What do you thin of water for distilled purpose as sold in the supermarket? Not really distilled, but filtered.

 

[John Turney]

Grocery store "distilled water" is just fine. It has been demineralized using ion exchange resin and is safe for cooling systems and batteries (if you have the kind where you need to/can add water). I would mix it with anti-freeze for lubrication, corrosion protection and freeze protection, especially where you live.

 

[WaltCasten]

I've used distilled water and water wetter in my Triumph track bike for several years now as regular coolants are not allowed by many of the track day organizations.

The only thing I noticed was recently when I trailered my bike to the dealer for service is that some of this "coolant" had leaked out of a loose hose clamp and turned to slush. It was at or just barely below freezing like maybe ~30 degrees F out that day. The water wetter must not provide <span style="font-weight: bold">any</span> freeze protection at all.

 

[TomFromStLouis]

I had overheating problems that would stall me out in the middle of intersections at rush hour. Flush and 50/50 with Water Wetter made those issues go away immediately. I will always use it.

 

[glemon]

Water is a better cooler than anti-freeze, but you do need the lubricating and anti-corrosive properties of the antifreese in your system for its long term health, I have found running 1/3 anti-freeze with 2/3 water with water wetter gives me about 5-10 degrees better cooling, other than arguable proper radiator/fan shrouding the cheapest easiest fix for minor cooling issues.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

I had overheating problems that would stall me out in the middle of intersections at rush hour. Flush and 50/50 with Water Wetter made those issues go away immediately. I will always use it.

Ditto on 50/50. I've always used a 50/50 mixture after being told to do so by mechanics with far superior car care knowledge than me. I was also told to put a tablespoon of brake fluid(I think...or maybe trans fluid), in the radiator for lubrication.
Patrick

 

[twas_brillig]

I need to have a 50/50 antifreeze mix for winter storage; the Water Wetter web-page showed a significant temperature difference between water-only and water combined with the Water Wetter; that prompted by comment about draining the rad each spring (anti-freeze mix in the winter for non-driving; water with Water Wetter and a water pump lube addition for the summer).
Dunno what I'll do next summer (if anything) but the discussion is sure appreciated.
Doug

 

[Bustren]

A freezing point of -27 centigrades or below offers a good corrosive protection, normally 45 % Glycol or more.
About the water:
- if you can drink it , it probably fits the engine as well.

brg Lars

 

[John Turney]

....
About the water:
- if you can drink it , it probably fits the engine as well.

brg Lars

Actually, if water is hard (contains a lot of dissolved calcium and magnesium), it is ok to drink, but will leave scale on the parts of the cooling system where you least want it (the hot ones).

 

[Randy Forbes]

Water you can drink, will kill an industrial boiler :wink: