I have read that using straight water with a super coolant additive will run cooler than any mix with antifreeze, and lubricate just as well. My 77 is a warm weather car and I have disconnected the heater core and removed the lines. I have two questions:

1. Is this true?
2. If it's true , can I sufficiently drain the radiator and engine of my current 50/50 mix by removing the lower radiator hose?

 

straight water and water pump lube is all I ever used on the #1 below, I did try Water Wetter once but it made no difference, pull the pipe plugs on both sides of the block to drain whatever is in there now.

 

Don't know much about these "super coolant additives", but if your cooling system works well, you would probably have no problems running straight water, even without it, as far as overheating is concerned. Anti freeze is mainly exactly that, it won't freeze and crack your block in the wintertime, which is a concern up here in the north. Way back when, antifreeze was mainly alchohol (people used to drink the stuff, I've heard!) It didn't do much for boil-over, obviously, but it did keep the coolant from freezing. Do these super coolant additives lower the freezing point of the water?

Scott

 

It is a fact that water transfers heat, therefore "cools", better than a water/antifreeze mixture.

 

What problem are you trying to fix?

 

If you are going to run water, use distilled with an anti-rust additive.

 

Thinking more about this, and FWIW, I live in Florida and have always run the 50/50 mix of distilled water and Prestone. In 25 plus years of owning the car, I never had an overheating problem. The temp was always in the area of 195-200 degrees.

 

I use Zerex racing super coolant and distilled water.

The Water wetter additive tends to leave a chalky type film inside the coolant system. I've tried a few others but always go back to the Zerex additive.

 

i've always heard ...and used just water with a splash of anti freeze....

 

Here is an interesting site regarding the freeze/boil point and capacity of ethylene glycol to hold heat. It seem to take more heat to warm a solution of the antifreeze and water, than water alone to boiling point. Plus the solution has a higher boiling point than water.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/et...col-d_146.html

 

It won't cool any better when the thermostat is regulating the engine temperature.

 

Ethylene Glycol products not only lower the freezing point of the water, it also raises the boiling point of the water. Although it may not raise a whole lot, it might be the difference between a boil over and not.

If you're going to run pure water, you sure hope you never get over 212 degrees.

 

Cooling systems are pressurized because as the pressure in the system increases, the boiling point of the coolant increases also. Pure water, at a system pressure of 15 psi, boils at approx. 250 deg F. Antifreeze mixed in would increase the boiling point 15 or 20 deg, but you don't want to be operating at 250+ anyway.

 

Many of these new LS1 alum. block motors stay at 200-210 and above. The radiator cap keeps pressure which increases the boiling point.
Make sure you cap is working well. New one is not very expensive and may fix your problem.

 

Yes, increasing pressure increases water's boiling point, as in an old-fashioned pressure cooker, which allows water to boil at a higher temperature, thereby cooking the food faster. The opposite effect can be seen in this video, where water is brought to a boil at a low temperature by reducing pressure:


Science can be pretty cool, man.

SCIENCE!!!!!

Scott

 

Always use a mix of antifreeze and distilled water at 50/50 ratio. If you use tap water you will have more possibility of corrosion occurring in the radiator or heater core in the future

 

If your not having any issues now stay with the 50/50 mix, water/antifreeze

Neal

 

Unless you are trying to get by on the cheap, use the appropriate mix of antifreeze/coolant and change it at the recommended intervals.

The reason products like Water Wetter exist is twofold: 1) It serves the needs of racers who are prohibited from running antifreeze in the cooling system. Antifreeze is very slippery and if this coolant hits the track, it has the same affect as oil on the track, and; 2) Water has very high surface tension. What this means is that beyond allowing water bugs to walk on top of it in ponds, it does not make saturated contact with most other surfaces. If the water can't make good contact with a surface that is not water, then it also can't efficiently conduct heat away from that surface and transfer it to the metal in the radiator. What Water Wetter does is lower the surface tension of the water to allow it to make full contact and transfer the heat from the engine and into the radiator.

Guess what? Antifreeze also has very low surface tension. It also has corrosion inhibitors and water pump lubricant. And, as has been mentioned above, it also raises the boiling point of the coolant.

So, unless you are running on a track that prohibits antifreeze, there is simply no good reason to not use it. And precisely to your question; NO! Water and Water Wetter (or any other product promising the same result) does not cool better than antifreeze. It works only with water and will do nothing when added to antifreeze.

 

You might want to read the blog that De Witts has, "What coolant should I use with an aluminum radiator?" Interesting even if your radiator isn't aluminum. www.dewitts.com/blogs/news

 

This has turned out to be a very informative article for me. I went further with the link to Engine Timing 101. I learned and confirmed a lot. It's worth a look. Thanks for the original link. http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/016...ing101.pdf?806