Distilled Water in Radiator

Re: "Red Dawn" - "now get up there and ...."

My Water expert for my Reverse Osmosis machine says that "Pure water" such as distilled or RO water without minerals is in Laymans terms "hungry for chemicals " and will attack metals. This is probably the same as Dick M's information. Lloyd
 
I posted a reply a few years ago in the old Barn about "Hungry Water". This is real. I specified distilled water, corrosion inhibitor and steel tubes in a heat exchanger system for the old Champlin refinery in Long Beach, CA in the early 70's. The result was that we thought that we could save a lot of money by using distilled water and not specifying stainless steel tubes. We were wrong and all the tube bundles needed to be replaced after less than 3 years because of leaks. Corrosion rates are temperature sensitive - a 10 degrees C increase will increase the rate of corrosion by twice.
However, we are looking at block corrosion not radiator tube corrosion.
I would never use distilled or de-ionized water in the cooling system.
I always use distilled water in my batteries.
Vic :)
 
A plumber was fabricating a large copper tubing "gizmo" to attach a "MAGNETRON!" water "purifier" to my neighbor's plumbing. The "gizmo" was too hot to handle, yep, you guessed it, he tossed it in the NASTIEST of NASTY gutter water to cool it, then attached it the plumbing! No, I wouldn't fill my radiator from his Garter Snake Hose! Might contact a bad case of Impeller Magnetisis, resulting in reversing coolant flow! (}:|> lliB .W
 
Does anybody here think Henry used distilled water in them when they left the factory?? Does anybody who has had their battery serviced in the past 50 years at the corner garage (or dealer) think they always used distilled water??
Paul in CT
 
Joe,
I have been running distilled water mixed 50/50 with Prestone antifreeze all year round.
It provides -32F protection in winter and a higher boiling point than plain tap or well water in the hot summer months.

Mix 1 1/2 gal of distilled water with 1 1/2 gallons of Prestone (now making it a 50/50 % mix) It's good in the car for 5 years. No need to drain it in the spring unless you like to make work for yourself.
Prestone has all the rust inhibitor you need built into their antifreeze.
I have been doing this in all my A's for 28 years and they have never overheated and are as clean as the day they were built. Don't buy the "already 50/50 pre mixed" Prestone. It costs you more that way and has no distilled water mixed in, as they just use tap water if they dilute it at the factory.
 
I've been running 50/50 plain green coolant in my car ever since I got it. My grandpa, who had it before me, always used water. I flushed it using some NAPA products to get a lot of the grime out, and it's been fine ever since. No issues in 100 degree weather and no worries when it gets down to 0 or below at night.
 
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