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Date:         Thu, 6 May 2010 19:31:06 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Coolant/preparedness was: RE: stainless steel coolant pipes
Comments: To: Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <010401caed7b$029e4e90$07daebb0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Sounds like you have a good approach for coolant.

Add to the SW states all the plains states, and parts of others. It all depends on the rock substrata and precipitation. Limestone and related = hard water. Low ppt. = hard water. The combination = very hard water. And the local ppt. may not be controlling. Depends on where your water comes from.

I took the advice of a good many other list members, and since I didn't know for sure, despite my van having a rebuilt engine installed 30K miles before I bought it (per paperwork the PO provided), and replaced all the coolant hoses, every last one, along with several plastic connnectors (all I could find). Well, I didn't replace the heater hoses in the dash. My van is a '91 GL Campmobile. I just thought, I don't want to get out on the road, and have to replace a hose, and coolant, and ........ .

Of course, I'll likely have to do something else at an inconvenient/difficult time and place ;- ). DMc

---- Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > --snip-- > I have always used tap water. > I have never lived where the water is hard. > Just west coast tap water. > --snip-- > > The west coast is a big place... our tap water is very hard, as is most of the water you'd get in the 7 or 8 southwestern states. > I carry two gallons of distilled water (less than $2 almost anywhere), and two gallons of undiluted antifreeze. It seems these days that just about all of the labels have "compatible with all engines" and a number of other non-specific claims, but I've found the cost between the "cheap" stuff and the "good" stuff to be negligible. > I happen to have a gallon of diluted in the van right now, just because. I also carry "puke buckets" because my kids get carsick from time to time, so along with some other odds and ends I could replace my coolant on the fly in most cases, and if not I'd have two gallons of emergency drinking water if I needed it for that. > I consider that a good trade-off in terms of weight/space, so I don't use the pre-diluted stuff. > I was just telling somebody that when I was swapping out my alternator recently I bumped a small coolant line that lies under and to the right of the alt and the thing just cracked and crumbled. I just recently completed an almost 1K-mile trip; I'm amazed that the thing just didn't blow off. That's both lines from the heads to the bleeder ring that've gone bad in recent months, so I'm gonna check the rest of the ring and the other small hoses. I guess that's just another thing to add to the two-year maintenance cycle. > > Cya, > Robert

-- David McNeely


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