Coolant vs water

[96VS355]

Wondering if anyone can help with this one?

Some say "use coolant," some say "use water plus corrosion inhibitor only."

The motor in question is a 355 stroker with a slight rebore but standard radiator and clutch fan which seems to be on a bit more since rebuild last sept, spends a lot of time doing freeway kms, but also a lot of time going hard getting to normal speeds, and regrettably also a bit of time in traffic from time to time... From an engine cooling point of view, any thoughts?

If inhibitor is better, can anyone recommend a good brand?

 

[social]

hey man, i do the whole mix water with the pure coolant thing, noticed a 1/4 difference in engine temperature, definitly go the coolant, i to be honest dnt really see the difference in using premade coolant or mixing them, everyone to their own i suppose, just dont use straight water...bad idea..

 

[VR38]

Inhibitor is to stop everything corroding away like the pitting in ur manifold, timing case cover and thermostat housing.

Coolant is used for freezing temperatures to stop the water freezing.
Some top end coolants can slightly decrease running temp with a wetting agent as an additive.

IMO Always run the best inhibitor you can afford and the rest as needed.

 

[POVRTY]

anti freeze, anti boil..........explaines its self i think

 

[apoc585]

anti freeze, anti boil..........explaines its self i think

wat he said. best way to go

 

[96VS355]

Raised boiling point is an unmistakeable property of ethylene glycol, and I live in Sydney, so freezing isn't really an issue for a car that is garaged, but I'm more concerned about how efficiently the heat is dispersed once it's gained. Does a manufacturer prescribed mix of coolant (which already contains inhibitor of course) and water take longer to lose the heat it gains from circulating in the motor via a radiator setup than plain water and an inhibitor that doesn't alter the boiling point? I heard rumours that at some stage the V8 supercars used only water in their radiators for the reason that it lost its heat quicker than ethylene glycol and water mix.

Cheers.

 

[commsirac]

Raised boiling point is an unmistakeable property of ethylene glycol, and I live in Sydney, so freezing isn't really an issue for a car that is garaged, but I'm more concerned about how efficiently the heat is dispersed once it's gained. Does a manufacturer prescribed mix of coolant (which already contains inhibitor of course) and water take longer to lose the heat it gains from circulating in the motor via a radiator setup than plain water and an inhibitor that doesn't alter the boiling point? I heard rumours that at some stage the V8 supercars used only water in their radiators for the reason that it lost its heat quicker than ethylene glycol and water mix.

Cheers.

Whatever coolant you use, its ability to lose heat will be exactly the same as its ability to gain heat.
What you have possibly heard rumours of is that the heat capacity of a 50/50 coolant mix is less than that of pure water, which is correct. Does this translate to higher operating temperatures, if used on older cars that were not specified to run on a glycol mix... maybe, the coolant flow needs to be higher using a lower heat capacity coolant and the water pump on an older car may have been designed right on the limit of minimum flow.

Running a modern car on straight water may not be a wise thing to do. The water pump is designed to pump more coolant, if using a lower boiling point fluid such as water, then a pump operating at a higher speed could create cavitation.......

 

[VR38]

The pressure applied to the system via the cap raises the boiling point way above that of any coolant.
I worked in the radiator industry for several years and still are not sold on the "idea" of anti boil.
Wetting agents on the other hand, like redlines water wetter may well have some benefit over coolant reducing running temp in a pressurised system.
Whatever you decide to run make sure it has a good inhibitor.

If your car is running hotter than normal I suggest you find the problem as no additive, coolant or what have you, will give you a magic fix.

 

[commsirac]

I worked in the radiator industry for several years and still are not sold on the "idea" of anti boil.
.

The engineers that design the cars are though!

If there was no point to the current 50/50mix they specify in recent times, why would they do it?

Its not simply automatic antifreeze protection for those that go into the snow country, just a 20% concentration of glycol would suffice if that were the case for our climate.

Redline water wetter(redline, I think it means what happens to you bank balance if you use their snake oil products), it can help when using straight water to make better contact, what theY dont tell you, the same effect can be had by adding a squirt of dishwashing liquid or a cup full of glycol.

 

[burnz]

their is no such thing as anti boil, raising the boiling point is only hiding an underlying probem.
given enougth heat it will boil.

strait water has the best thermo condutivity, but you will need a sacrifitial annode for the rust.
rust is a living organism!!

pitting of alloy componats is electrolosys mostly caused by bad earthing on after market accesesory's.