adding redline water wetter

bobbys9350 said:

i couldnt find a radiator cap so i put it in the resivoir. will it do any good there? is there someplace else to add it? thanks!

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Well, I think you just wasted it? In the reservoir it won't get into the radiator. This is just for overflow. I haven't look today, but there must be a radiator cap somehwere? Look in your owner's manual and check.

BTW, I love that stuff. I haven't put any in my 05 yet, but will when I do my 1st major overhaul.

Dave...

I dont think there is a radiator cap, the resvoir is pressurize.

The instructions say you did OK.

http://www.redlineoil.com/whitePaper/17.pdf

Are we talking about putting Water Wetter in an 05? Unless you have some serious mods I don't see the benefit.

• No temp decrease - The computer will control the temperature by utlizing the fan. If the Water Wetter decreases the water temp, the computer will just leave the fan off longer to get the temp where it wants it.
• No knock sensor/octane benefit - since you added it to the coolant you are still going to see higher head temps, which result in knock sensor activity

Maybe I just had a really long day and meetings that bored some of my brain cells to death, but I just don't see the benefit of just "adding" it to the car. Now if you drained the system and used water + Water Wetter I could see the benefit of lower octane requirements.

To really reap any benefit you ould need to drain, flush, then fill the system with straight water + Water Wetter

bobbys9350 said:

would it hurt it AT ALL to fill with just water? i just cant start then car when its cold out right?

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You lose the corrosion resistance of the Anti-Freeze and lower the boiling point and raise the freezing point.

I know Drag racers sometimes run straight water, but they change the hot water out for cool, fresh water at each run.

Re only using water: Can you imagine how hot your motor would get in the summer on a road trip, even if it were only 90 degrees out. Ouch! Bye, bye motor.

gp001 said:

Are we talking about putting Water Wetter in an 05? Unless you have some serious mods I don't see the benefit.

• No temp decrease - The computer will control the temperature by utlizing the fan. If the Water Wetter decreases the water temp, the computer will just leave the fan off longer to get the temp where it wants it.
• No knock sensor/octane benefit - since you added it to the coolant you are still going to see higher head temps, which result in knock sensor activity

Maybe I just had a really long day and meetings that bored some of my brain cells to death, but I just don't see the benefit of just "adding" it to the car. Now if you drained the system and used water + Water Wetter I could see the benefit of lower octane requirements.

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I have the same question. Just doesn't seem that it will make any difference in a modern, un-modified engine. Unless you are going to make a LOT more heat than the cooling system was designed for or change the cooling system to reduce weight/frontal area it doesn't seem to make any sense.

You are forgetting that coolant also helps lubricates the water pump just water would be ok as an emergency buy not otherwise. The only racers I have heard of using just water is demo derby cars b/c it is required.

Actually, water has better thermal conductivity properties than antifreeze. So straight water will cool your car better and more efficiently than a 50/50 water/antifreeze mix. Water Weter also helps the heat transfer by raising the nucleate boiling point, in other words, the little steam bubbles that form when it gets really hot at the heat transfer points. So water wetter added to your coolant should help it run a little cooler. I noticed a few degrees drop in standard operating temperature in most vehicles. Water wetter also has anti corrosion properties, so used properly, there will be no added corrossion from using just water wetter/straight water. Water wetter also has lubricative properties, so it's good for the water pump bearings.

Antifreeze will keep your coolant system from freezing, that's the only advantage from using water/water wetter mix. Water wetter has no anti freezing properties.

But, for standard day driving, the stock coolant system is more than adequate. Most race tracks don't allow antifreeze, because it is very slippery when spilled on the track, and very hard to clean up. I would be happy with the stock coolant mix, so I don't have to drain and change every winter when it starts getting cold.

a lot of this may depend on where you live.

(warning, science lesson approaching)

I live in Houston, without antifreeze/antiboil in my car in the summer the coolant would boil off slowly until there was not enough liquid in the motor to keep it cool, then it would begin to boil off very rapidly. When water boils it creates steam, which can create a lot of pressure. that pressure has to go somewhere, so it goes out the pressure cap on the overflow reservoir. eventually enough boils off to no longer keep the engine cool enough and the temperature goes up. Since water is a good conductor of heat, it absorbs that heat and boils. Transitioning water to a gas absorbs quite a bit of heat. Unfortunately water vapor is a very poor conductor of heat, so with steam in the engine block that heat is no longer being whisked away, but with each combustion it's adding more heat, boiling the water faster and faster, eventually a head warps and a head gasket is blown.

I used to live in the frozen north of northern Michigan. Up there was the opposite problem. I could run in the summer with just water because it seldom got above 85 degrees. The winter was a different story. If I didn't add antifreeze to the radiator before winter set in I'd be in trouble.

This can have effects ranging from a shredded serpentine belt because the water pump froze solid (this has happened to me) to a cracked engine block. Water is wierd when it freezes, it actually expands when it freezes rather than contracting like most materials. This is due the the frozen crystaline structure. It's why Ice floats, because it's less dense than the water around it. This expansion in an engine block is most likely to blow the freeze plugs (small plugs on the engine block designed for this purpose) but could be as bad as cracking an engine block.

When an antifreeze says "protection from -76 deg F to 262 deg F" that means when properly mixed that antifreeze/antiboil has lowered the frezing point from 32 deg F to -76 deg F and raised the boiling point from 212 deg F to 262 deg F.

And that is Space Monkey's automotive science lesson for the day.

Hatchman said:

Actually, water has better thermal conductivity properties than antifreeze. So straight water will cool your car better and more efficiently than a 50/50 water/antifreeze mix. Water Weter also helps the heat transfer by raising the nucleate boiling point, in other words, the little steam bubbles that form when it gets really hot at the heat transfer points. So water wetter added to your coolant should help it run a little cooler. I noticed a few degrees drop in standard operating temperature in most vehicles. Water wetter also has anti corrosion properties, so used properly, there will be no added corrossion from using just water wetter/straight water. Water wetter also has lubricative properties, so it's good for the water pump bearings.

Antifreeze will keep your coolant system from freezing, that's the only advantage from using water/water wetter mix. Water wetter has no anti freezing properties.

But, for standard day driving, the stock coolant system is more than adequate. Most race tracks don't allow antifreeze, because it is very slippery when spilled on the track, and very hard to clean up. I would be happy with the stock coolant mix, so I don't have to drain and change every winter when it starts getting cold.

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I think that pretty much sums it up.

What is the boiling point of water under 16 lbs of pressure?

What is the boiling point of 50/50 water-antifreeze under 16 lbs of pressure?

Don't waste $$$ on things like this? Spend it on performance or appearance items.

Water will boil at 250 F at with a 14 psi cap. So until your engine temp gets to 250 F you will not boil any water.

A 50/50 mix will only be -29/222, could not find it under pressure, but it will be somewhere around 260F. Pure propylene glycol is <-60/370, so why not use it pure you ask. The viscosity increases dramatically as the glycol increases. 14 for the 50/50 mix to 180 for the pure at 40F. I doubt our water pumps could even pump it at 0 F.