Water instead of Coolant?

[Kershaw]

probably the block, head, water pump, radiator, hoses, reservoir, you know... those COMPONENTS. dont be a dick when it's not necessary. now.. flame stamar all you want. i was hoping i'd get away with not reading his amazing advice but someone had to quote it. :P distilled water is better than coolant in an area that does not see freezing temperatures. but if you plan to run it all the time add water wetter.

i ran distilled water in my last e30 during the summer while i chased a small leak. when i found it i fixed it and switched to coolant.

[lolcantturn]

probably the block, head, water pump, radiator, hoses, reservoir, you know... those COMPONENTS. dont be a dick when it's not necessary.

it's a really sad moment in my r3v life when all of my posts come off as me being a dickhead




but i was actually asking a valid question lol :/

never seen the effects of water corrosion on any car i've worked on, thats why.

[Kershaw]

then you've never seen a car that was run on hose water for 5 years.

[lolcantturn]

I seriously haven't. Worst "build up" ive ever seen was brown shit around the inside of radiator hoses.

[slammin.e28]

I seriously haven't. Worst "build up" ive ever seen was brown shit around the inside of radiator hoses.

That's just algae that was put in there to keep the water fresh and clean. No worries. Pond water FTW.

[CabbE30]

the block, head, water pump, radiator, hoses, reservoir

All these.^^^

I used a coolant cleaner and mixed it with water and let them soak for a good day after flushing everything out that I could. Then flushed some more until I felt that everything was clean.
Ideally, I would have replaced the hoses and radiator but I believe I got it clean enough. They're easy to replace in the future though if anything were to fail.

[lcoleman]

I believe all of these "coolant and distilled or your engine will be DESTROYED" people are Chicken Littling a little too hard.

Electrolysis is an electrochemical process, nothing more and nothing less. Understand this and you'll be fine. If you want to run straight water for 10 years and never change it, of course you're gonna have problems. The same is true with distilled/coolant, but to a far lesser degree. Distilled water is used because it has a higher electrical resistance than ionized water, no other reason. It also begins to ionize and pair up with other molecules as soon as it is exposed to them in your car's cooling system (more accurately, the metal cooling passages in radiator and engine). Antifreeze raises the boiling point and lowers the freezing point, but it is not as effective for heat transfer because it has a lower specific heat than pure water. Racecars on racetracks don't use coolant at all, by the way...it makes the tarmac slick if there's a leak/crash/boilover/whatever. Just water and Water Wetter or equivalent for lube and to increase thermal capacity (specific heat). They also flush it frequently, so no electrolysis.

tl;dr version: use straight water, keep it topped up and bled, fix your issue, and flush/fill with the right stuff. No worries doing that whatsoever.

[dannyyisntt]

I use a combination of my own tears and ky lube. Cools excellent.


But really dude, just fix the leak. Water corrosion from tap water can get nasty, so like everybody else says, use distilled.

[stamar]

I believe all of these "coolant and distilled or your engine will be DESTROYED" people are Chicken Littling a little too hard.

Electrolysis is an electrochemical process, nothing more and nothing less. Understand this and you'll be fine. If you want to run straight water for 10 years and never change it, of course you're gonna have problems. The same is true with distilled/coolant, but to a far lesser degree. Distilled water is used because it has a higher electrical resistance than ionized water, no other reason. It also begins to ionize and pair up with other molecules as soon as it is exposed to them in your car's cooling system (more accurately, the metal cooling passages in radiator and engine). Antifreeze raises the boiling point and lowers the freezing point, but it is not as effective for heat transfer because it has a lower specific heat than pure water. Racecars on racetracks don't use coolant at all, by the way...it makes the tarmac slick if there's a leak/crash/boilover/whatever. Just water and Water Wetter or equivalent for lube and to increase thermal capacity (specific heat). They also flush it frequently, so no electrolysis.

tl;dr version: use straight water, keep it topped up and bled, fix your issue, and flush/fill with the right stuff. No worries doing that whatsoever.

The chance that the guy read through all that teenage crap to your post is small. Hes long gone Im sure.

[Exodus_2pt0]

I use a combination of my own tears and ky lube. Cools excellent.


But really dude, just fix the leak. Water corrosion from tap water can get nasty, so like everybody else says, use distilled.

The only time I've personally heard of distilled being absolutely necessary was when Dex-cool first came out.

Other than that, if you change your coolant every 30k like you should, then tap water is fine. As pointed out before me, once you pour your distilled water into the radiator, it's not any different.

[Cabriolet]

your tap water which is "hard" water has a ton of minerals and electrolytes in it. the reason you don't want to use that in your car is that those electrolytes carry a charge and as they pass over the metal in your car, they eat it away. and then that combined with all the minerals coating other parts of the engine, reduces the cooling efficacy of the car and wears out other parts like the water pump, m42 heads, etc. if you cant afford the OEM coolant you can run straight distilled water, tops a buck a gallon.

from experience, it's very easy to spot a car that has been running tap water. there is a ton of rust around the cylinders ( on the coolant side) and the thermostat housing there will be a ton of white calcium buildup/causing all that crap to stop working correctly.

[slammin.e28]

I replaced my thermostat housing on one of my M30s 'cause it had a hole eaten through it where the hose attaches.

Tap water bro. I'd rather put bottled water in there.

[s14pwd]

The only time I've personally heard of distilled being absolutely necessary was when Dex-cool first came out.

Other than that, if you change your coolant every 30k like you should, then tap water is fine. As pointed out before me, once you pour your distilled water into the radiator, it's not any different.

Of course its not necessary, neither is engine oil, it all depends if you want a car that runs for a few years vs a few seconds.

Seriously, use distilled water its like $2 to fill the whole system, and as everyone said it will give better heat transfer and prevent the buildup of mineral deposits.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Of course its not necessary, neither is engine oil, it all depends if you want a car that runs for a few years vs a few seconds.

On the contrary, I have personally run engines for 45 minutes without oil in an attempt to get some bearing material in the pan. Got one flake, which was good enough for warranty authorization.

On a serious note though, i'm pretty sure your comparison only applies in a question of "should I put coolant into my radiator or leave it dry?"

If you change your coolant regularly, you will not notice a difference between someone using tap/distilled water. Hell even the guys at Nissan technical school relayed info from the Nissan Engineers that it does not matter. Only time it made a difference was all those gunked up Dex-cool cars that were topped off with tap at the dealerships. They changed their formula since then.

I'll go with my technical training, and throw some tap water in with green coolant and change every 30k. It does not matter if you use distilled or tap, you will be fine. This whole discussion is just building a mountain out of a molehill.

edit to add If you have "hard" water, then use distilled. /end

[lolcantturn]

On the contrary, I have personally run engines for 45 minutes without oil in an attempt to get some bearing material in the pan. Got one flake, which was good enough for warranty authorization.

I need to hear the rest of this story.