Date:         Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:12:36 -0400
Reply-To:     "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: coolant system trivia
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

gary:

pure water is indeed a better coolant than either pure anti-freeze, or the
nominal 50/50 mixture; that is, better until it boils or badly corrodes
the cooling system. specific heats aside, water is much less viscous than
anti-freeze, and therefore provides not only greater flow, especially at
low rpm, but more turbulance, both of which enhance cooling.

assuming water pump and thermostat are in good shape, then even though
bottleneck is elsewhere, a cluge might be to use the recommended 50/50
mixture, but install a cooler thermostat and arrange for that cooling fan
to remain on high whenever the engine is running.

dan


On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 09:11:59 -0700, gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>I have been dealing with a conditon that I believe to
>be a plugged radiator.   I have ruled out most other
>cheaper fixes.   Over the past week I have isolated
>the radiator at the point of the rear most end of the
>big pipes and plugged them with corks and soaked the
>isolated system with 0.2M citric acid for a week.
>Flushing the system with hot water under house
>pressure gave a flow rate about 6 gallons per second.
>The first flush was very black and showed evidence of
>bits of aluminum from what I am hoping to be some
>after market sealer rather than the radiator itself.
>After flushing the system I filled with the orange
>stuff.   What I find intersting about the vanagon
>coolant system is that the flow rate for water alone
>is much faster than with antifreeze added.   This is
>reflected well by the (temperature at idle as seen by
>the gauge) TAI.
>The TAI with water alone is much lower and at position
>determined by the thermostat.   The low speed fan has
>no problem keeping the engine temperature on the red
>light dot even on a very hot day.   Once you add
>antifreeze the TAI goes up above the light unless you
>increase the rpm.   The TIA on a hot day(about 95)
>will respond more slowly to the cooling affect of the
>low speed fan.
>   My question is would I be better off adding less
>antifreeze and more water and perhaps adding some
>after market corrosion inhibitor and water pump
>lubricant?   thanks gary
>
>
>
>
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