Gday. This is just a quick question. The other day i was about to leave for work and i needed water and i didnt have time to boil any so i just put in straight tap water. Now I've heard that apparently it can corrode your block or something and ive been a bit concerned about it. but then i relised that once your cars running the coolant gets really hot anyway. So my question basically is if i put in about half a litre of tap water will it hurt my car? and also does it get hot enough to actually boil the impurities out of the water? thanks Nick
I put tap-water in my VH for 5 and a half years. It eventually died, but that was more to do with playing rally-driving once too often.
Yeah but good in the good old days of straight engines. They didn't have any alloy components. Unlike the V6 buicks with the valley housing and timing covers. Alloy and water don't mix too good.
Damn man, I'venever put any other sort of water but tap water in any of my cars radiators. Oh sure, if they have an alloy head or something I'll put in the correct green stuff for anti-corrosion, and be very careful about not mixing brands, but the water is tap water. Never had a problem, never will, unless you live somewhere with an abnormally high mineral content or you have heavy "hard" bore water, and even then I am not sure.
Like Perth. Tap water from NSW and Vic tastes like it has sugar in it when you are used to Perth water. I don't put it in my car as it will kill it.
I put in demineralised water mixed with anti-freeze.. It's $1.50 for 2 litres.. Just a preventative measure..
Boiling does not remove impurities. Boiling water might remove biological impurities, or at least kill them. However, it is the mineral impurities that promote corrosion. Boiling the tap water just boils off some of the H2O, leaving a "higher" concentration of mineral impurities. In the short term, a small amount of tap water should have negligible impact as there should still be sufficient active anti-corrosion additives to suppress the potential impact. If you or a previous owner has been slack re radiator flushes and fresh co0lant, it could make things worse. However, I would certainly not delay the next radiator flush and new coolant. Best option is the de-mineralised water mentioned above, or even distilled water, or approved coolant. I keep de-mineralised water and approved coolant in the shed. I guess it might also depend on how long you intend to keep the car, and whether you care about the next owner.
