Hey just wanted to see it any one has ran water wetter from redline with distilled water compared to just running Dex cool 50/50. I know the Dec cool has the proper lubrication for the water pump, but what about water wetter?

 

Water wetter is just an additive to your normal coolant mix. It is not an anti-freeze by itself - you still need a glycol antifreeze.

I personally don't use it. There have been some chemical analysis' done on it and it has been shown to slime up the cooling system. A proper working cooling system with a normal mix of plain water and coolant is more than enough.

 

I could not find any "laboratory" proof of problems. Just the average "Joe" weighing in with a comment.

As far as slime was concerned, the only point location that kept coming up was the overflow tank. But with regard to that, I think the guy "sitedrifter" in this thread, summed it up best.
Water Wetter .... [Archive] - Dodge Ram SRT-10 Forum
"As far as slime... Look in any coolant resevoir on any make or model after a few thousand miles. YUCK!"

Interestingly enough something called Turbo Magazine did a test of additives. Shown here: Cooling System Additives - Turbo and High-Tech Performance Magazine

And the WW performed better than others when added to a water/coolant mixture.

Add to that, several posts of others weighing in about they have used it for years with good results.

I have read over the years, poor coolant condition leads to electrolysis. This article is helpful in that regard. How to test for electrolysis %u00AB Vehicle Enhancement Labs

I think you have to do your own testing to see what works for you. My personal opinion is if you don't like the temperature your system hovers at normally, change the temperature at which the fans turn on.

My Pick up had a manual fan with a fan clutch and temp was ok. After the body lift, obviously the fan and the shroud would not line up. So I changed to a double electric fan assembly. Have been very happy with it since it has a potentiometer to change the pull in temperature.

When I had my F-body I used this: JET Performance 60602 - JET GM Fan Switches - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Was very pleased with it.

With regard to Dex-Cool, I had it in my pick up and when I had a chance to replace it I did. Many here use it and love it. I never gave it a chance just cause what I had heard about it. May have been the truth, I don't know. What I think is since it's a long term coolant, many probably left it in TOO long and that is where the problems come from.

My preference is green 50/50 flushed every 2 years and replaced. The old time Ethylene Glycol. Never used with tap water, only distilled water or purchase 50/50.

However I think a better alternative is Propylene Glycol. If you look at several including Evans, it's made from Propylene Glycol and has the added benefit of NOT being toxic.

 

One problem with Water Wetter is that it cools best with plain water and works somewhat with less antifreeze than you are probably used to running and so there are probably very small benefits to adding it to a 50-50 mix of antifreeze/water. Even antifreeze/water mixtures cool better at 30/70 or less than 50/50, but at some point you will start to lose the protection of the antifreeze. You could maybe run a different summer mixture (changing it back for winter depending on where you live) or different mix for the track and have that work out for you. Some of the bike racers would just switch to WW and water for track days or summer riding.

 

Apparently you did not read the excerpt from the magazine test.
Cooling System Additives - Turbo and High-Tech Performance Magazine

 

Which part?

USE DIRECTIONS

One 12 ounce bottle treats 12-16 quarts of water or a 50% ethylene or propylene glycol solution. In smaller cooling systems, use 4-5 caps per quart. Add directly through the cooling system fill cap into the radiator or into the overflow tank. Do not open a cooling system while hot. For best protection for aluminum, replenish or replace every 15,000 miles. The anti-scaling ingredients in Red Line WaterWetter allow its use with ordinary tap water. However, using with distilled or deionized water will accomplish some scale removal in the cylinder head area. For maximum temperature reductions use the most water and the least antifreeze possible to prevent freezing in your climate. Even in summertime the use of air-conditioning can blow freezing air through the heater and cause freezing of the heater core unless approximately 20% antifreeze is used. Red Line WaterWetter is available in 12 ounce containers.

 

I dumped a bottle of the stuff(water wetter) in with my last coolant change. I have not noticed any difference. I used a Dex cool 50/50 mix(mixed with distilled water)......seems like a waste of money to me.

 

Its fine. I ran 2 bottles with tap water in my GTP. Worked like it was supposed to.

 

Ok. Imagine you have a stock bottom end forced induction car.

A single detonation event will kill your motor.

I use this, along with 40/60 antifreeze/distilled water, 160 tstat, meth/water inj, indexed plugs, fans turned to come on at lower temp, etc. As another tool to help stop my motor from detonating.

So far, I haven't detonated.

 

I don't recommend using water weter with a 50/50 coolant. The silicats in the product tend to clump together creating a gooie gel in the system. This happened to me in my Nissan. The $10 bottle cost me $300 in repairs.

 

Water Wetter is for use in race motors where track rules will not allow use of conventional coolant. When mixed with water it gives you the cooling benefits of glycol or other 50/50 mix, plus provides lubrication for the water pump without being a track hazard should there be a leak.

There is very little to no advantage to adding it to a 50/50 mix.

 

The problem is that the best coolant is pure water. It has a higher heat capacity than anything added to it, making it capable of pulling away all the heat an engine puts out. Why that is a problem is that it provides no lubrication for the water pump, boils at to low a temperature and freezes at too warm a temperature. The glycols, and it doesn't really matter if it's ethylene or propylene glycol, have a heat capacity that is too low. Run pure glycol and your engine will overheat. So we end up with these mixes that everyone has their own formula for. The ideal is to minimize the glycol content to the lowest level possible and mix it with pure water. 25% Antifreeze 75% water works fine in most places. I think 50-50 gets you to minus 33F. do you really need that where you live?

Water wetter and it's clones theoretically work by lowering the surface tension of pure water allowing better 'contact' between cooling water and engine passages. It does lower surface tension, I just don't know if it works.....and I've tried it.