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Safe to run straight distilled in cooling system?

J_dude

J_dude

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Just did my rad flush this weekend, waiting for a new T-stat to show up so I just filled the truck with distilled. Question is how long can I run this for before it starts to corrode things... The reason I ask is I may not be able to get the right T-stat this week as I am very busy with work and also getting ready to go to a wedding that is a 9 hr drive away this weekend. Or should I just fill it with coolant and accept the fact I will lose a little of it when I put the T-stat in? Maybe that’s a better option as opposed to corrosion in my engine.

Thanks guys,
Jude
 
Distilled water is the best to use compared to tap water. but like Mike says, use the coolant. you won't loose much when changing the stat. plain water distilled or not will cause rust fast but it will also get hotter than having coolant in there..

word of advice, if you just flushed it, pull your coolant bottle off the truck and wash n shake lol I had a LOT of NASTY 💩 in mine that I never saw until removing it. all that crap settles at the bottom
 
The way I understand is the coolant will prevent corrosion.
Distilled water will need ions and will take it from the engine metal if the coolant is not there so it will corrode faster than you think.
I would just get the right coolant concentration.
The t-stat is up on top, you should not loose too much coolant putting the t-stat.
What t-stat are you going to use for the 9 hours trip?
My question is do you have to drive it without t-stat?
Otherwise, get a rental if you don't have other vehicle.
 
Just do the 50/50 mix with Prestone Prime Conventional Green antifreeze.
You will loose like $2.50 worth.

Then when you do the thermostat, add in the two bottles of water wetter- NOT THE DIESEL type. You want the regular water wetter.

prestone.com

Prestone® Prime® Conventional Green Antifreeze + Coolant

Prime Conventional Green antifreeze+coolant is the original coolant. This low silicate formula, when used as directed, will provide protection for a minimum of 1 year.
prestone.com prestone.com

www.redlineoil.com

WaterWetter®

Unique agent for cooling systems that doubles the wetting ability of water
www.redlineoil.com www.redlineoil.com
 
Will L. said:
Just do the 50/50 mix with Prestone Prime Conventional Green antifreeze.
You will loose like $2.50 worth.

Then when you do the thermostat, add in the two bottles of water wetter- NOT THE DIESEL type. You want the regular water wetter.

prestone.com

Prestone® Prime® Conventional Green Antifreeze + Coolant

Prime Conventional Green antifreeze+coolant is the original coolant. This low silicate formula, when used as directed, will provide protection for a minimum of 1 year.
prestone.com prestone.com

www.redlineoil.com

WaterWetter®

Unique agent for cooling systems that doubles the wetting ability of water
www.redlineoil.com www.redlineoil.com
Click to expand...
And there ya go, the water wetter to make YOU feel better.

Folks this stuff is classic snake oil. Does absolutely nothing, but yes it won’t hurt your engine.
 
dbrannon79 said:
Distilled water is the best to use compared to tap water. but like Mike says, use the coolant. you won't loose much when changing the stat. plain water distilled or not will cause rust fast but it will also get hotter than having coolant in there..

word of advice, if you just flushed it, pull your coolant bottle off the truck and wash n shake lol I had a LOT of NASTY 💩 in mine that I never saw until removing it. all that crap settles at the bottom
Click to expand...
Well, wish I had done that earlier, drained the distilled out and it was pretty dirty, which I thought was strange because after all the flushing I did last weekend it was coming out nice and clear, so I pulled the bottle out and gave er a good rinse and boy you were right, it was just filthy in there. Lol
 
if you look on the under side of the engine about the middle area of the block near where the oil pan gasket is, you'll see a pipe plug on both sides. you can remove those and be able to completely drain the block of any sludge
 
another good tip is to pull the upper half of the radiator shroud so you can get in between the cooling stack. leaves and other debris will find it's way between the ac condenser and the radiator. also if yours had a trans and oil cooler in the front, pull the front grille every so often and clean behind them and the condenser. blow it all out with the air compressor.
 
dbrannon79 said:
another good tip is to pull the upper half of the radiator shroud so you can get in between the cooling stack. leaves and other debris will find it's way between the ac condenser and the radiator. also if yours had a trans and oil cooler in the front, pull the front grille every so often and clean behind them and the condenser. blow it all out with the air compressor.
Click to expand...
Haha funny you should mention that, when I pulled the rad (condenser was ditched a long time ago) there was an enormous pile of dead grasshoppers in front of/underneath it, had to get out my shop vac to clean them up. I’ll try to post a picture. 30D22065-6A93-4650-8947-527B51E23A67.jpeg
It seems they all hit the rad and later dropped to the bottom as there wasn’t many actually on the rad when I took it out. This year has been the worst I have ever seen for grasshoppers, they’re everywhere.
 
Big T said:
And there ya go, the water wetter to make YOU feel better.

Folks this stuff is classic snake oil. Does absolutely nothing, but yes it won’t hurt your engine.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Water Wetter DOES work. You just don't have the education to understand basic physics, chemistry and thermal dynamics and lack the experience working with racing engines, also, to understand why it works. So everything you can't understand is "Snake Oil" when it isn't and leaves you vunerable to real Snake Oil because you can't tell the difference.
 
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