gm recommended orange dex-cool for the 6.0 truck, it has a tendency to plug up radiators , went back to green stuff with regular tap water, no more cooling problems
I used the green old stuff 50/50 and change it out with fresh every 5 years. Never any problem with my flatty
Sorry Blues, I didn’t think the Buick bill meant that towards you. I took it that he was just talking the marketing industry in general. You know bottled water and such. And I realize that some people really have crappy water,,,,good drinking water is a blessing. We are fortunate to live in a country like we do,,,,and all water here is not good. Many cities are way behind in their infrastructure,,,,really sad. The reason I don’t buy premix is for what he mentions,,,,I have very good water here and can’t justify the extra money for half water. And I have always had excellent service from mixing my own,,,again,,,maybe I have just been lucky. I appreciate all you say about the intended uses and the potential pitfalls that could happen. Makes sense to me,,,,I just choose to go another route,,it doesn’t necessarily make me wrong either,,,or you. Thank you for all you do. Tommy
what he said!!I absulutly cant spell and wasn't trying to be personal .in any way , to anyone . I do KNOW the most important thing is to flush and replace with anything every few years . that being said I have 10 or more cars that are ALL overdo except for my latest love . kinda goes that way around here. oil changes/lube /cooling systemis almost a full time job . and ad insurance and reg. no wonder im poor ….but never bored . no insult to anyone though . we all have our way of doing things ,and im sure people wonder about me .did I mention everyone should paint their car red !!! black sucks!
Distilled water is cheap and better than tap water for the mixing, but out of curiosity, where do you get deionized water? I'm assuming it is not available to the general public, thus the recommendation to use the premix. I guess I'm with the previous poster who mentioned they don't trust the manufacturer uses diionized water unless it's specifically stated as such on the packaging.
I believe you can purchase it from most tropical fish aquarium supply stores. It is basically RO water, most people probably have friends with RO system if they don't have one themselves, I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving you a gallon or two.
Just read this entire thread and may have missed it , but when I purchased an aluminum radiator the directions said “distilled water only” so now I use it.
After reading all this information and seeing a lot of rust in my coolant I have decided to flush the system and start again . Can anyone give me an idea of coolant volume for a flat head v8 ? Many thanks Simon
This may seem like a sacrilege but I use regular old tap water from the Mustang, OK well. Mixed with the cheapest antifreeze I can find and even that usually has a mixture of multiple brands. It's a science I created years ago. So, far I haven't had a cast iron block corrode in half. Oh and I usually forget to change it for 100K plus miles. I usually trade off the car with the same exact antifreeze in it that it started life with. Oh, the humanity!!!!!
Wouldn't it leach the hard water deposits? I dunno. Before the weather turns bad I cast a wary eye on the coolant systems in anything that can freeze. It's been a couple years since a flush. Instead of a 2 year complete drain & flush I decided a while back to drain and replace half annually. The radiator & hoses holds almost exactly 2 gallons. If careful don't even spill a drop on the floor. Close drain petcock back up. Pour one gallon of fresh concentrate in the radiator and a gallon of water. Run engine for 1/2 hour to mix thoroughly. Anybody find fault with my amazing labor saving strategy? I did use a gallon of distilled intended for batteries that was on the shelf, you guys must contribute to OCD.
Yeah next year I'll have more motivation, I'm sure. It does seem to cure that nagging feeling the core plugs will rust out or something if I don't do at least something. Supposedly the anti-freeze never wears out, but the additives and corrosion inhibitors do.
I wonder if those will fit into the side of a SBC block, you know the plugs just above the pan on the sides. Might be too long.
Ordered, thanks! There was just another thread mentioning not to use distilled water, which I too just put in. So confusing, so I'm going with the anode.
I can attest...depending on region, water differs. In one place, water would flash rust iron aggressively, turn brown in no time. Antifreeze, as mentioned was great stopping this rust process. (water) I use water distilled from my central air cond for racing... no rust, eworks great. I get about..8gal per week in summer, in my okder 4400sq ft shop, 35gal per week....
interesting that in my better halfs 2000 Ford Ranger the engine had a problem with the thermostat while she was driving home, the state police had it towed to a local garage. They replaced the tstat, and managed to crack the tsat housing. They "sealed" it with silicone. It still leaked, she brought it to the dealership her Father sold Lincolns at, they replaced the housing. When the mechanic ran it to test for leaks he observed a leak at rear of engine. Hmmm, no hoses etc there, thought it might be a head gasket. Reached down to feel where it leaked his fingers went thru the block! Truck had just over 60,000 miles on it. Her 2008 f150 rotted out at the junction of the manifold and the block. Manifold not available (v6), and the dealership said they would not warrantee that the block would seal even if the manifold could be found. New engine time. Did I mention I am a chevy guy?
The only water to use in your radiators is normal soft water....What scales in cooling systems is calcium and magnesium deposits...If you use distilled water always run Anti-freeze because pure water is natures solvent and it will attack metals....Worked in a steam plant and we never used distilled water just soft water and condensate return from the boilers for makeup water.....
Excess NaCl is a common concern in water softening chemistry and closely monitored when used in boilers. I'd be especially cautious using in my cooling system with contact of iron, brass and aluminum for sure.
Not sure but.......'I think it's considered a sin to drink islay scotch with anything OTHER THAN ice cubes". Jus say'in........... 6sally6
If a car is going racing, I run straight water all Summer, and only antifreeze in winter, unless I can drain block, sometimes leave it drained.
I dated a girl once in college, asked her how often she changes her oil, she laughed, who changes oil, I trade the car before it needs serviced...every few years. A NASA Engineer.
All this talk, so I went out and put Winter Anti Freeze in da wagon, going to be 30s deg F, next week.
I've read this thread several times and am still a bit confused (not the first time) about what common water to mix with antifreeze. Only one member, hemihotrod66, mentioned using soft water, which is recommended over distilled on several other internet discussions. Leaving pre-mix and R.O./deionized out, why not soft water over distilled?
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