Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

New BowTie block, radiator, hoses, & water pump. Is it worth the cost & effort to put distilled water in for coolant? I will be running some Redline water wetter.

The benefit of distilled water is that it does not have dissolved minerals that will produce scale buildup. The disadvantage of distilled water is that it wants to dissolve everything.

The solution is to use a good coolant (anti-freeze) which will protect against corrosion and scale buildup. There is a very slight loss of heat transfer properties but is compensated by the higher boiling point. A higher pressure cap will also protect against boiling by raising system pressure.

Water wetter is crap and should not be used, in my opinion. It is only a surfactant and is not needed. It does not protect against boiling and leaves unwanted deposits.

Does your class of racing prohibit the use of glycol based coolants?

David

This is a drag car and I don't want to run anti-freeze. Using a 16 lb cap.

I use ionized water because our tap water here has way to much calcium in it and will adhere to the walls and create inproper heat transfer which in turn the motor will run hotter, i have no issues with ionized water.....cost me about $5 to fill the car and rad up so no big deal

What about bottle water ?

Fishman

Where do you find ionized water?

DO NOT USE DISTILLED WATER IN A VIRGIN BLOCK!!!!

If you use distilled water in a virgin block (not had anti-freeze in it) the water will try and remove minerals from the metal and "eat" any aluminum it comes in contact with.

In my case we put distilled water and "Ice" in a brand new A-460 block with aluminum SCJ heads. No anti-freeze and sure enough, bad things started to happen. The cooling system "pressurized" all by itself, sitting in the trailer. Built up so much pressure it would push hoses off radiator and intake!

We were using Royal Purple "Ice" so I called Royal Purple. Tech told me exactly what to do to fix my problem. We flushed and refilled the entire cooling system with "filtered" water and anti-freeze. Ran the motor until we were sure the cooling system was now coated with the anti-freeze (which would nuteralize the effects of distilled water on surfaces). Then we removed the anti-freeze and put plain filtered water only into the cooling system and sure enough no more problems with the cooling system.

If you use anti-freeze you can use distilled water but don't use distilled water by itself or with Ice or Wetter, you won't be happy with the results.

Bruce

why do people not just want to run 50 -50 water and anti freeze? what is the advantages / disadvantages of runing anti freeze verses water?

I don't like anti freeze because if you spill any it doesn't dry up clean like water. It has a sweet smell and is sticky-plus its about $10 a gallon now.

That said I use it.

I use the orange stuff dex cool or whatever it's called

Tod74 wrote:why do people not just want to run 50 -50 water and anti freeze? what is the advantages / disadvantages of runing anti freeze verses water?

If you drag race and dump anti-freeze on the track you are going to make lots of new friends!

Best to use plain water; it will evaporate off the track and not leave any slippery spots.

David Redszus wrote: The disadvantage of distilled water is that it wants to dissolve everything.


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Dave,not trying to be a smart ass,but could you please explain how distilled water can be corrosive?

On my last motor,I had been running distilled water and Redline Water wetter only(two bottles),and after 6 years running it this way,my block and heads looked as new as the day I first put it together.

I really thought that this was as good as it could get.

I was very happy with how clean the block was,no rust or staining at all.

Now, I might have to re-think my options for my new motor which is all aluminum.

Thanks,

Steve

How about a cap or plug with sacrificial metal to prevent corrosion? I see a couple companies selling them, just as boats use to prevent corrosion on the expensive parts.

SideWinder wrote:Fishman

Where do you find ionized water?

I live in canada and i buy ionized water at a place called canadian tire but i imagine you could buy it at some local grocery stores or a place that sells bottled water...costs $1.99 a galoon

not trying to be a smart ass,but could you please explain how distilled water can be corrosive?

If you use distilled water in a virgin block (not had anti-freeze in it) the water will try and remove minerals from the metal and "eat" any aluminum it comes in contact with.

Actually I mispoke. When I said not to use distilled water I meant not to use it just by itself. It works fine when used with a coolant. I use distilled water in all my cars with a coolant replenishment additive sold to the heavy duty trucking industry.

Straight water is a problem since it has a low boiling point and can produce local steam pockets which then overpressurizes the system and results in an overflow coolant loss.

Some aftermarket coolant additives can be used but should only be used in a new, clean system.

Note that bottled water, or mineral water, is about the worst thing you can use. Much better to use water from a water softener.