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Old 07-05-2020, 10:31 AM   #20
saxman657
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Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 73
Default Re: Radiator Overheating

Quote:
Originally Posted by eagle View Post
Many people still use tap water for their radiators, this is where it leads. A couple things to be aware of, you probably already know this: 1. Advance timing as much as possible until you hear it ping then retard just until the ping stops. Pay attention to pulling a hill, don't let it ping. However, don't retard it too far, it will overheat and won't have good power. 2. Run the coolant just high enough in the radiator to cover the tubes. 3. Use distilled or RO water. I always use 50/50 antifreeze, your choice, but it NEEDS some sort of rust inhibitor. 4. If the radiator is plugged and doesn't clean out readily with a good flushing solution, replace it. It will be marginal at best. 5. Your use of a coolant filter is a great idea, especially with a new radiator. A new radiator won't work if it's all plugged up. 6. (this is advice for ALL repairs, and I don't heed it myself as often as I should) Don't be cheap! Don't FIX it, RESTORE it. Every repair should be brought back to original specs.
I'm looking at using "Royal Purple Ice" as a cooling system optimizer and conditioner. Supposed to drop temps by up to 25 degrees. Says it fights corrosion, electrolysis & erosion. Funny thing is, it says to use bottled filtered drinking water, not distilled water! Straight from the Royal Purple folks:
"All forms of water are corrosive, but some can be more aggressive in the way that they corrode soft metals like distilled, demineralized or deionized water. Distilled, demineralized and de-ionized water are completely stripped of minerals, and that is why they are so aggressive in the way that they corrode. With these forms of water being completely stripped of minerals, they basically have developed a very aggressive ionic hunger, and they “want” to put minerals back in their structure. This is why distilled should only be used in mixtures containing at least 50% or more of antifreeze.

The best and preferred type of water to use whenever running straight water or a higher water percentage coolant mixture in the cooling system is bottled filtered drinking water. The reason why bottled filtered drinking water is a much better and less aggressively corroding choice of water form, is because it has a very small amount of minerals and that tends to pacify the water’s ionic need to dissolve and absorb minerals, like aluminum or the older soft copper/brass radiators. This makes bottled filtered drinking water a much less corrosive form of water and the form preferred in straight water or higher water percentage coolant mixtures. Mineral scaling issues from using bottled filtered drinking water is virtually nonexistent, because the mineral levels are quite low."

I'm no chemist, but does this sound right? First time I've heard someone tell me NOT to use distilled water.
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