Draining a quart and topping off won't require a burp.


The expansion tank is for heat expansion, freeze plugs are for freezing expansion. Removing the radiator cap prevents the use of freeze plugs in the blog for expansion.


Deionized isn't necessarily better than distilled. It's more a different process than better. I've never had an issue with distilled water in my cooling systems.


http://www.distilleddeionizedwater.c...stilled-water/

 

Making sure the cooling system will not freeze is serious business. A co-worker came to the site one day - his car spewing coolant on the ground. At noon he went out to fill the cooling system with water. Well, it was very cold. I offered to go to a store and buy him antifreeze. He declined. That car left the site on a wrecker and was taken straight to a salvage yard.

When water freezes it expands and become more powerful than the strength of a cast iron engine block. And because it is a solid it is not going to move to the reservoir.

Deionized water is just water that has had one mineral replaced by another - usually salt. Use distilled water for your mix.

 

That's actually softened water. DI and distilled can be exactly the same in water purity depending on the thoroughness of either method.

 

I know exactly what deionized water is and mrfred is correct. I don't drink so I'm having trouble coming up with an excuse. Anyway, I used to use a deionizer to polish water I then fed into a still just to keep the distilling apparatus from filling with the minerals tap water contains. So if done right I would still prefer distilled water. So, for a product of high quality it is a two step process. Who knows what you get when you buy it in a store.

 

Antifreeze gone science yo

 

Where I live water eats metal. There's scientific terms for it which I don't remember but tap water can either be corrosive or deposit lime in pipes. People in this town were drinking too much copper and the copper they were drinking was coming from of the pipes in their houses. Finally, EPA made the city add some chemical to prevent the erosion of copper pipes.

So, where is this going? I used to own two Trans Ams and they came with huge copper radiators. Back then I didn't know better so I mixed antifreeze with tap water. My radiators leaked so often I purchased a spare so that I would have something to drop in a car while the leaker went to the radiator shop. So, the water you mix with antifreeze is important.

 

Yea, using distilled or deionized water for mixing coolant is very important. Tap water has all kinds of crap in it that has no business being in an engine.

 

There's lots of debate on whether DI/distilled water is beneficial or required. Most coolant manufacturers now specify that tap water is fine because modern coolants have a very effective anticorrosion package. With that said, if coolant manufacturers had their choice, I imagine that they would prefer people use DI/distilled so that they could better tailor their coolant chemistry, but the average Joe is more likely to buy the coolant that requires less effort to use, i.e., the one that says tap water is fine. As a result, I think they beef up the coolant chemistry to deal with it, or as many manufacturers do now, coolant comes premixed 50/50 with water.

It has also been argued that DI/distilled water is not ideal because the low ion content will (and does) cause the water to suck up metal ions to bring the entropy back up. However, my guess would be that this might only be an issue for very high purity DI/distilled water and only if used without coolant. I think that in most cases, tap water is fine when used with a good quality coolant. Exceptions might be places in the world where there are obvious issues with significant mineral build-up.

Also, if anyone is curious, normal purified bottled water (without any minerals added back) passes the same purity tests as distilled water, and can be considered equivalent. In fact its made by deionization and is actually DI water.

So changing the topic a bit... Anyone have any experience with RMI-25? Its been discussed a few times in this thread, but less than I would have thought.

 

that's what I've read about DI/distilled as well - regardless, my coolant comes premixed. More of a question for the summer, where guys start running pure water + water wetter/other.

I've used RMI25, can't say I've noticed anything though -- but the car has low mileage anyway

 

All I've run for past 4 years, no problems. Get it at Walmart for like $10 a jug

 

In areas with particularly hard water, that is water with elevated calcium concentrations, the problem is when that coolant water eventually evaporates, the Ca ions stay behind. Sooner or later, the increasing concentration of Ca ions encourages the formation of hard scale - the enemy of any heat exchanging surface. As such, the use of distilled or deionized water, while not a necessity, is the best long-term option.

As for buying 50/50 blends (coolant/water), I see no reason to pay for water, although the coolant manufacturers love it.

 

Yea, def can't use tap water here in Vegas...lol. Can't even wash your car with our crap water unless you have some kind of purification system. It leaves water spots that you can literally feel..

 

hoping for a little help guys - i drained about a gallon of coolant from the radiator, it had actually all turned green from the RMI25 that i used in the system... i could only get about 3 quarts back in before the radiator was full, all while the car was cold.

i turned the car on in a variety of a/c on, heat on, both, etc. and about half a quart more came out, which i took care of. when i turned the car off though, the coolant retreated and i got another quart back in - leaving me at roughly half a quart down on what i took out. with the cap back on the heat worked, didn't test the ac.

anyway, end result is i'm half a quart down in coolant. suggestions? will i be able to get it back in once the car is totally cooled down?

overall glad i did this given how much rmi25 it looks like the car had in it.

 

I have a plastic funnel that happens to be a perfect tight fit in the radiator filler neck. The other day I installed a new radiator. After the hoses were reattached I did the following -
1. Fill radiator
2. Idle until the engine warms enough to open the thermostat. As the coolant heats but before the thermostat opens the coolant will slowly climb up and fill most of the funnel.
3. When the thermostat opens the coolant in the funnel will disappear and the radiator will be low. Fill again and cap.
4. Fill the reservoir if needed.
5. Check the reservoir in a few days, you may find it a bit low.

Most parts stores sell a funnel that connects in place of the radiator cap that you need to use the next time you fill your system to avoid the above hassle. So, if the engine has been run enough to open the thermostat and dump out the air all you need to do now is fill it up.

In conclusion, this is the standard method of filling the Evo cooling system.

 

thanks for the input. gotta imagine that it's gonna be low when I check it again, and i'll fill it at that time. basically I drained it when cold, then refilled as much as I could and found it didn't fill up. THEN, I turned the car on and let it run, at which point the coolant climbed almost all the way up and never backed down until I turned the engine off. once the coolant backed down I was able to fill it a bit, but by my calculations still 0.5-1.0qts low on coolant. Heater worked, blowing warm air. Will check it tonight or tomorrow to hopefully refill the remainder.

Thanks!