90/10 collant mixture

snake109

New Member
Dec 2, 2004
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Austin TX
thats what i got in the mustang *eek*. the previous owner must have drained the system and put staight antifreeze in it. thers no contaminents in the fluid and its not acidic so im wandering if its ok, it never freezes here either.
 
i beg to differ there bhuff30, straight water will not cool better than a water/coolant mix. water by itself will boil at 212*F. when you add coolant, it raises the boiling temp depending on the ratio of mix you are making. using coolant in the system also acts as lubricant.

in texas, i would say to prob use a mixture around 70% distilled water, and 30% coolant.
 
Yes, the boiling point of pure water is lower, but it is going to be higher than 212 based on the fact that the system is pressurized. (same reason water boils at a cooler than at altitude, less pressure). My reference book shows the boiling point of pure water to be 250F with a 15psi rad cap. Besides, if all works correctly, you will never reach the boiling point.

As for the reason water cools better... it can hold more heat than glycol. This allows for a greater heat transfer.

If that doesn't help, please see point 2: http://www.streetrodstuff.com/Articles/Cooling/Cooling_Suggestions/

jerryD said:
i beg to differ there bhuff30, straight water will not cool better than a water/coolant mix. water by itself will boil at 212*F. when you add coolant, it raises the boiling temp depending on the ratio of mix you are making. using coolant in the system also acts as lubricant.

in texas, i would say to prob use a mixture around 70% distilled water, and 30% coolant.

For your 90% glycol mix... might wanna get at least half the old coolant out, and fill it with water. That street rod forum actaully recommends 25% for a case like you where freezing is no danger.
 
bhuff30 said:
My reference book shows the boiling point of pure water to be 250F with a 15psi rad cap. .

Can you post the book title and author, or pm it to me?

I am always looking for books like that.

Flush the coolant system and use the proper mixture, 50/50.

jason
 
Any text book for Thermodynamics has this basic information. This is in the form of tables in the back of the book, with tons of other information like vapor pressure and enthalpy.



vristang said:
Can you post the book title and author, or pm it to me?

I am always looking for books like that.

Flush the coolant system and use the proper mixture, 50/50.

jason
 
Unless my local weather forced otherwise, I would probably use 30-50% glycol and 50-70%. Running regular water will cause the whole cooling system to corrode fairly fast. The timing cover that came off the old 289 in my '68 was paper-thin in some areas from using no antifreezee.