Water Wetter + water ONLY?
 

Hey guys, I was talking to some muscle car guys at a local speed shop, and alot of them run 2 bottles of redline water wetter and straight water in their car for the summer time. They said the water wetter acts a lube and anti corrosive for the water pump too so I wouldn't need any antifreeze in there. You guys think this woudl be ok for my FD?

Also at my work we have a product called 40 below Which sounds like its suppsoe to achieve the same effect as the water wetter (except the 40 below claims a temp drop of 40 degrees as oppose to the redline which claims 10-25 degree drop). You guys think this would yeild the same effect as using the water wetter?

I highly doubt there would be any advantage to adding water wetter to straight water. Don't do it! It sounds risky. And as far as I know the point of running water wetter is to help compensate for the crappy thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol.

In some older threads, you'll read about people saying that Redline Water Wetter doesn't do anything as well as people running only water + water wetter.

If you have an aftermarket temp gauge, I would say try it and see how your temps look. I've heard good things about Royal Purple's Purple Ice. I'm going to give that shot and see how it works for me. Most, if not all, of these coolant products say they will work with or without anti-freeze in the system. However, I will still run some percentage of anti-freeze myself.

I did it. It's great for cooling but bad for your pump. It alone doesn't provide enough lubrication. You should run 15% coolant with one bottle of water wetter. Also water and water wetter alone will start to rust the metal tubes by the throtle body and elsewhere. Take my word for it. It cools best by it self but is better for the car with coolant.

Assuming this is an accurate source, then I stand corrected.

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/redtech3.htm

GOOD ADVISE

There is some BS here:
http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/redtech3.htm
"Water has twice the heat transfer capability when compared to 50% glycol antifreeze/coolant in water"
That is NOT true (and impossible BTW)

yeah for that I was thinking dump in an extra bottle of water pump lube.

if anyone would care to donate a temp gauge I'll be happy to do before and afters :)

Hmm... I was at this car shop (not a rice shop) picking up some Redline tranny fluid. They guy there said that Water Wetter only works if you are using only water.
That's the first I've heard of that. I'm sure he knows his stuff though. The shop had lots of cool stuff. There was a race car being built that was in the shop. Pretty cool.

It eats the rubber seals between the rotor housings..Don't use it.

Why is this impossible? I don't know for sure whether or not it is true, but I do know that the heat transfer properties of water is good (relatively speaking) and ethylene glycol is pretty bad. That is why we don't run 100% ethylene glycol.

I've heard this but does any one actully ahve an proof that it happens? or at least a chain of logic that says so?

I've used Purple Ice and 1/3 coolant but without an acurate water temp gauge I can't tell you what a difference it made. I did it from reading similar things about water cooling more efficiently without the coolant and I certanly don't need antifreeze in CA when it never gets below 58. The problem that makes me nervous is it lowers the boiling point and in our cars it doesn't take much for the temps to skyrocket. That Redline article mentions using a 23psi cap to compensate but I don't think our OEM lines could handle that high a pressure.

Some rebuilders have linked water wetter to degraded coolant seals, although no direct correlation has been proven. Either way, always run anti-freeze. Not just to raise the boiling point but also to provide anti-corrosive properties. Water alone is very corrosive (even de-ionized water), and I would not trust two bottles of water wetter to alone provide enough protection. The less anti-freeze your run, the harder it is on the internals of the car, this includes coolant seals. Also, less anti-freeze increases localized boiling, and its localized boiling that kills seals, not temperature alone. Thats why people running evans coolant can run such high temperatures, they don't get any localized boiling. Remember, 230F is not hot, its the localized boiling that goes along with it that is. If you need to run straight water to cure overheating problems, either fix the cooling system or upgrade it, thats my recommendation.

My computer is the biggest peice of %&#(*. Sorry everyone.

I'm sure someone has stated (either above or in the attached links) that water by itself is a better coolant than any mixture of water/anti-freeze/water wetter. The deal about anti freeze is, well, it's there so the shit doesn't freeze. Water wetter to some is just snake oil and just a way to waste money, I'm inclined to agree. The main reason NOT to run just water and wetter is that the water pump needs some lubricity to maintain bearing life, water and the wetter don't provide that, but the anti-freeze does. If you lived in Arizona, and your car only saw above freezing temps, you could run only water and maintain cooler temps, but your pump would suffer premature bearing failure as a result.
If you are looking for the magic bullet, just run a good anti-freeze/water mixture or maybe even Evans, and flush your system regularly, add an aftermarket radiator and do the fan mod, also make sure all of the fan solenoids and control apparatus are functional as well.
My $.02

Regards,
Frank

Here in South Fla average temp 70F+ you can run very little antifreeze, just enough to lubricate the water pump.I have run straight water plus water wetter for 5 years now in my 1973 240Z with zero problems this is with the original motor , the radiator is rust free plus the original water pump hasnt failed yet.In my FD I run 20% antifreeze the rest water wetter and distilled water cant really tell any temp drop though.

Julio I also live in SoFla but dam the temps reach around 90' (no joke people) newer cars dont seem to have a problem with it but my 3rd Gen and Monte do. Mid-day is like death to both of them. Im going to look into an electric fan to cool heard it does wonders.

i am with you one that one juliof, i am in tampa and i used to run water wetter and water in my honda with a stock radiator a larger motor and turbo charged and she ran nice and cool...
-Keith

so how about, 2 botles of water wetter, 1 bottle of water pump lube, and then water? or do you guys still say 20% coolant, and the rest 1 bottle of water wetter + water?

Watter wetter will lube the water pump. I think in hotter climates the FD smallish cooling system is a serious weak point.First upgrade has got to be a larger radiator or any increase in water capacity.As far as cooling fans go the stock fans are good but the turn on temp is way to high, I think Mazda designed the cooling system maybe more biased toward colder climates?

Mazda Motorsports recommends 90%/10% mixture for racing. BUt, they remind you to either drain or use 50%/50% for long term use to prevent corrosion & (of course) freezing

Flyrx7

Saw ur sig ... and i must say ..... nice security system ahah

All water wetter does is break down the surface tension of water. It allows it to get into smaller spaces.

I don't know about any side effects, but that is its main purpose.

hehe. The German unit is only active at home, but the Austrian one is on all the time ;)

Frank