bajaman

Ever since I did my last "o-ring-fix-in-a-can" at the beginning of the spring I have been running that mix of sealer and water. And the car runs and acts just fine, even in this 100 degree weather we have had.
I mean, no overheating, no loss of coolant, everything is just peachy!
One would think that with the boiling point of water being so much lower than that of ethylene glycol/water mix, that running water only would cause problems.
So far, that has not been the case.
Now I am just wondering what the hell I am gonna do come winter.....I will HAVE to go back to an anti-freeze mix then.

911GT2

Well, do you still have the AST? Cus wouldn't that trap the gaseuos H2O and then it'd condense once there was too much gas in there? Even if not, if the water has no where to expand too, it can't just become gas inside your coolant system, it would be in a constant expand/condense mode. But thats good to know incase I ever need to drive the car home with just water in it.

DamonB

Water exchanges heat better than water/coolant mixes and so actually reduces temps. The cooling system is also pressurized so pure water wouldn't boil at 100 degrees C anyways. Antifreeze is just that; an anti freezing agent and is not needed if your temps don't go below freezing. That said you do need some antifreeze in the system as it has corrosion inhibitors and helps lubricate the water pump.

I run about an 80% water 20% mix in the warm months and it makes a big difference in engine temps. For the winter I drain it and run as much antifreeze as I need to protect the motor.

Always use distilled water for coolant, your entire system will stay much cleaner.

AE_Racer

iTrader: (1)

With the block sealer, it says to use WATER only...he cannot use anything else, without risk of disturbing the seal...

bajaman

Yeah, as AE Racer points out, to use anything other than water will hose up my sealer.
I realize I can flush the sealer out of the system and go back to a mix of EG/water, but my past experience has been that the "fix" of the block seal goes away.

Of course I understand that what I really need to do is to fix the O rings correctly, but that whole rebuild thing just for that seems like such a damned bitch. Like I've said before, when an apex seal goes, you have no choice. This coolant O ring leakage is the slow death that just sucks. And when there is an effective fix like the block sealer, it just prolongs the inevitable.

apneablue

I have been running the block sealer since early this year with just water only. Like Bajaman said, everything is all peachy. I also wondered what the heck I was gonna do when the freezing temps rolled around. I figured it out! I am going to get a rebuild and get it over with. Figure I may as well while my rotors and housings are in good shape so I don't have to pay a core charge.

RonKMiller

You can always toss is some Red Lin Water Wetter. It has corrossion inhibitors and lubricant for the water pump. It will drop your temps even further and so far it has not impacted my Block Weld job.

apneablue

Wow Ron, I didn't know you did the BW-Job too. Are you going to run it till it dies or are you going to rebuild before it does?

apneablue

RonKMiller

I'm really chomping at the bit to do a rebuild, but I am interested to see how long it will last with the block weld. After two years I started to burn a little coolant, but I just tossed in another half bottle and left it there. Tight as a drum. Compression is excellent, so it will wait.

One huge downside - my heater core is now block welded forever., and I just know I'll have lots of coolant jacket cleaning to do. Thank God for Dremel.

apneablue

What are you going to do when it gets below freezing? will the waterwetter prevent a frozen block?

RonKMiller

Oh yeah, that's the other downside - except that living in Tucson I can pretty much fughedaboudit.
We get an average of 12 days a year where it dips slightly below 32F, and she stays pretty cozy in the garage.

I don't think Water Wetter has any anti-freeze capabilities. A frozen block - that would be the ultimate rotary bummer - but look at it this way, it would cure ALL your leaks!