Bob, While AZ does have hard water, it is not really that corrosive. if the innards were eaten away that badly, it most likely was plain water and not coolant mix that was run through that engine. Karl Wolz Phoenix ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Keezer" <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 1:17 PM Subject: Re: distilled water & wbx reliabilty
The engine in the '87 I bought blew from overheating I have discovered. The Vanagon was from Arizona,a state that has hard water, and this water ate the insides of the water pump out. The impeller had a 1/8" gap between it and the housing, and the walls of the pump was severely pitted. It looked like it was eaten away by acid.Or is there a different explanation? My guess is that the coolant wasn't being pumped at required pressure. The engine overheated on a mountain pass and destroyed the piston, head and case. We have rain here in Washington-would this be safe to use in the cooling system? Robert 1982 Westfalia 1987 Wolfsburg
----- Original Message ----- Wrom: WCONEUQZAAF Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 4:22 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: distilled water & wbx reliabilty Rico Sapolich wrote: > > In a message dated 2/17/02 12:49:43 PM, developtrust@HOME.COM writes: > > << What is the rationale for distilled water. >> > > The cooling system requires deionized water. Although I would think that > distilled water is also deionized, I slept through too many analytical > chemistry classes to have any meaningful knowledge of the matter. I imagine > that deionized H2O allows the additive components of the antifreeze to > function as was intended by the chemists' formulation. > > Also, deionized H2O is offered by antifreeze manufacturers at inflated prices. > > Rich Distilled, deionized, and demineralized water will all work about the same for our purposes. Water can be deionized or demineralized with a filter. The ones I use to purify the water for my H. S. chemistry classes cost about $60 and are good for about 80 gallons.(Chicago water, YMMV) Less trouble than operating and cleaning a still. Distilling is better at removing organic impurities like benzene, gasoline, etc. but I'm mainly concerned about the calcium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, etc. compounds. These impurities which give us "hard" water can contribute to deposits in the cooling system which decrease flow thru the radiator and coat metal surfaces in the engine decreasing heat transfer. When I pulled one of the heads on my 91 about a year ago and saw the corrosion, pitting, and deposits built up, I started using distilled water and long life phosphate free Prestone or Havoline. Larry A.Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com |
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