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Date:         Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:06:00 -0800
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      About coolant
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

[Generic automotive content only but possibly useful to someone with a Vanagon]

Mrs Squirrel and I asked my son if he'd like to join us last night for some shopping and dinner. He agreed (free food to unmarried 21 year-old boy sufficient motivation to get him to go out with parents for the evening).

Over dinner, he related that he was worried about the cooling system in his Jeep. During summer he had been running distilled water with some kind of anti-rust/wetting agent in it and hadn't changed it out when winter descended. Last week he found the coolant had turned into slush and the engine was quickly overheating so he had friends drive him around until he had a chance to drain some of the coolant and add antifreeze. Car seems to be fine now, although there is a bit of steam rising from a location he can't see without some dis-assembly.

Anyway, that's the not point.

The point is when I asked him why he hadn't been running a 50/50 blend of water and antifreeze all year 'round, he said that distilled water cooled better and that's important to him when he off-roads in summer. he had apparently picked up on this bit of information on some off-roading and Jeep forums.

I've never heard that distilled water cools better than water+antifreeze, but I don't know much; so I said I'd run this by some smart guys I know who might be able to get to the bottom of this. While I'm waiting for them to get back to me, I thought I'd ask the folk on this list.

Does distilled water (plus wetting agent and other undefined additives) help an engine stay cooler on hot days than water+antifreeze?

-- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Bend, OR KG6RCR


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