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anyone tried redline water wetter?

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Old 11-17-03, 05:58 PM
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Question anyone tried redline water wetter?

wassup everyone

did anyone tried Redline Water Wetter?? It comes in a clear bottle and the color of the fluid is Red or pinkish.

it helped alot on my friends yamaha r1. but yamaha aint mazda and r1 aint rx7.

so yea i just wanna know if anyone tried this. just want to get some advise from rotary experts.

thanks
Old 11-17-03, 06:23 PM
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That's like asking if anyone ever has had sex,

Of course many of us have used and still use it.
Old 11-17-03, 06:28 PM
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There are reports that some of the "big rotary mechanics" have said that Water Wetter degrades the coolant o-ring seals. I haven't seen any data posted to substantiate this, but I thought I'd throw it out there. I've had it in my car before I got a water temp gauge but haven't added it since I got my new radiator/water temp installed. I'll give it a try again and see if it makes any difference. If it does eat seals, well, I've got 75k on the motor already...
Old 11-18-03, 11:17 PM
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i dont think its needed for winter time, but i use it so do alot of people.
Old 11-19-03, 12:06 AM
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I'm a mechanic and I used to use WaterWetter for years. However, just recently I found out from a RedLine dealer that it is made specifically for race cars that do not run coolant in their cooling syst. (only distilled water). He said that it contains some of the additives but none of the detergents or ethylene-glycol. It's only purpose is to give the lower boiling point that is lost by not using coolant.

It does not keep your car any cooler. He said it does have that "placebo" effect, so they still sell it to the speed shops. He said they have started making a lot of money off the ricer crowd so they do not down play the myth. He says it will not have any affects on your car, negative or postive, as long as you run coolant in your syst.

I went to a machinist here in town that builds race cars himself. He said he uses WaterWetter in his race cars, but has something else for his road cars. He buys it in bulk and I think it is called Schaffer's additive or something. He gave me some to put in my RX7. I've only had it in my car for a few months but it seems to keep my temps down.
Old 11-19-03, 01:02 AM
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If you think Water Wetter is a placebo,....you just swallowed a bigger pill!! I use it and noticed a 5 degree difference in temps. I run a 30/70 coolant/water ratio. I also am a mechanic and witnessed the changes. Lesson here: Don't believe everything you here.

Last edited by BigIslandSevens; 11-19-03 at 01:04 AM.
Old 11-19-03, 01:10 AM
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I've tried it. Without quantitive evidence it's just snake oil though. I've done since switched to Evans so I have no need for it. For $8 a bottle I'd spend the money on Perrier' or just run Evans. My $.02.

Frank
Old 11-19-03, 01:28 AM
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I'm not using any right now since winter is here, but I ahve used it in the past.

I can't say if it works or not. But, I've run it in my car during the summers and I don't get overheating problems even in traffic, and it gets around 105 or so here in the summer time. Summer time I normaly go with 70/30 water/antifreeze mix withe a bottle of water wetter.

Dont have any numbers to back it up though.
Old 11-19-03, 01:57 AM
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How much is that evans you run? Pretty pricey yes? And from everything I read about it it runs hotter than hell. And spikes temps after shutdown past 250 degrees. Yikes!!
Old 11-19-03, 04:11 AM
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I have used water wetter and the off brand called Hyper Lube (I think, I was not able to find water wetter at that time). Both seemed to work, they lower normal day to day driving temp by 5 degrees, give or take a few. I have used both brands in my GSL-SE for years now. I have not seen any negative effects. The R-1 (yes this one is a MAZDA) I have just purchased, I was told the shop put water wetter in the new motor. I have not changed the coolant yet. I will put red line water wetter in it when the time comes. I think it helps, but just a slight bit, could be part placebo.
Old 11-19-03, 04:30 AM
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yep, on 3 cars, did not do jack
Old 11-19-03, 05:58 AM
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I have been using RedLine for a few months now, and I am not in a position to testify for it or against it (as I live in Greece I brought back a few bottles with me since I cannot find it here and it can get very hot here)

Anyhow, the point I would like to make is that it also states (apart from improving the transfer of heat via watter) that it reduces the localised hot/boiling spots in the engine, which is one of the most important causes of O-ring failure as I understand it. Don't most O-ring failures occur near the spark plug holes ?
Old 11-19-03, 09:27 AM
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I'm not trying to start any arguements here or anything. I just wanted to let everyone on here know what I heard from a reputable dealer of the product.

If it gives you piece of mind to use it then use it. It does not cost that much anyway.

All I'm trying to do is to get you guys to understand that there is no evidence for some peoples' claims. Even RedLine doesn't give any proof.
Have you ever seen any WaterWetter ads making any of these claims? I haven't.
Old 11-19-03, 09:52 AM
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O.K. here are the facts (chemically speaking)

1. Water (pure H2O) has the best heat transfer vs. boiling point characteristic of all fluids.
2. Any additive (coolant or other wise) with a higher boiling point than water will increase the boiling point of the mixture. The pressurized cooling system is designed for just that purpose, to increase the boiling point of the coolant. Once in gas state, coolant becomes useless for heat transfer, tha is the exact reason why it must remain in the liquid state, hence the pressure and additives.
3. Lower boiling point fluids (such as alcohal) evaporates too quickly, and once in the gas state, it will not transfer heat efficiently at all (due to the lack of molecular contact with the metal surface)
4. Water wetter performs the same general function as typical glycol coolants, raise the boiling point of water. It claims to chage the surface tension property (lowering) of water, and by doing so increases the liquid to metal contacting surface (in simple terms, that is how the fluid contacts a solid surface. If you pour water into a clear galss very slowly, you can see the center of the water being a little higher than the edge. You can see some serious surface tension if you get your hands on some mercury and look at how it sits in a glass) This is true, but is absolutely irrelevant in a dynamic fluid system, ie. flowing. (pour the water into the glass faster and see if you can still see the surface tension effect.) Water wetter will NOT give you a 5 degree drop over your standard coolant.
5. Evans NPG works on the same principle, by having no water at all, it sacrifices some of the heat transfer capabilities of water but gains a much higher boiling point. And because of the higher boiling point, in a healthy cooling system (proper flow) no prssure is needed. NPG does NOT run hotter nor cause temp spikes. NPG does ALLOW the engine to run at a higher temperature safely (because it doesn't boil as easily as water mixtures), this is desireable because of engine efficiency. The only reason the engine would run hotter is because of a faulty cooling system, not NPG. I personally have converted to the NPG 0 pressure system. My temperature have never exceeded 185F in 90-105 ambient temp, moving or sitting in traffic (the stock gauge has never even reached the middle). The temperature rise after parking is limited to less than 220F even during the summer.
6. Your engine temperature is regulated by the mechanical thermostat in the filler neck housing. It opens and closes based on the temperature of the coolant in the engine. So even if you have -10F coolant in you radiator the t-stat will remain closed and you engine will not be any cooler than the designed open temp of the t-stat. If the t-stat is fully open and you are still seeing high temperatures then you have a problem with your cooling capacity.
The ONLY way to make your ENGINE run cooler is to increase the flow of the coolant independant of the t-stat function. Some people have done this by drilling holes on the t-stat (this will also increase your warm up time during cold weather)
Old 11-19-03, 12:16 PM
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Will I ever use Water Wetter? My mechanic told me it does a lot of damage to the engine. Hmm...should I believe him? Hell yeah, he is one of the best rotary mechanics in the US.
Old 11-21-03, 12:28 AM
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I put Water Wetter in at 86k, O-ring failed at 94k. Coincidence? Most likely, but I've also heard that it's not good for our O-rings. Soooo, if there is no tangible difference or evidence to the contrary, then I'd opt on the safe side, which is NOT to use it.
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