Antifeeze or water?

[jboggess]

Hey there, just curious what you all put in your Model T's? For a long time i have been using just water, but for a couple years now i have been using antifeeze and havent had any issues. What are your thoughts?

[Will N]

Water is better at absorbing heat than antifreeze is, but it will boil at a lower temp, and the steam pockets in a boiling engine absorb no heat from the engine. Water has no anti-corrosives added, antifreeze does. If you forget to drain your engine of the water in winter your engine will crack. Stick with antifreeze.

[Dodge]

Just make sure the antifreeze is compatable with the solder that older radiators are put together with. Some of the new stuff will eat away the solder.

[rotorwrench]

I'd worry about corrosion more than anything else using water. There is water soluable oil and water wetter additives available to use water. I find it easier to use the standard old green type anti freeze 50/50 mix with water.

[redmodelt]

Ford didn't even recommend using just water in the later years. At the least use anti corrosive that you should be able to buy at most any auto parts store. Most of these old blocks have gotten pretty thin, don't compound it by just using water.

[jboggess]

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Thank you all, good things to ponder about.

[Model A Canuck]

Water is what was originally used back in the day

[rotorwrench]

They were new and relatively low cost automobiles back in the day. Ford was hoping folks would throw them away and buy new every couple of years or so but that didn't happen. The recession after WWI and the Depression era made them stick around a lot longer than Henry Ford would have ever imagined. Folks drained the coolant in cold weather and carried a water bag during the summer. Keeping a model T full of water was kind of like keeping water in a steam engine. They would blow it out as fast as you could put it in during a hot summer.