Distilled water in aluminum radiator, yes or no?
#21
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Distilled is the only water to run. If you live in a town that has good water you MAY get by without any troubles. However at our shop we use nothing but distilled and antifreeze. The water in our town sucks and I have seen it eat up radiators, intakes and freeze plugs when used straight in less than six months.
#22
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I called and talked to the royal purple guys today about this very thing and was told that distilled water is only bad for a BRAND NEW ALUMINUM radiator. Once a radiator has been run for a few hours with coolant (which contains additives to protect aluminum) then it is fine to run distilled water but tap water would be fine too. They also recommended at least a 20% mix of coolant to help with boil over protection.
...I was reading this thread last week when i was looking into it so i thought i'd share even though its pretty old.
#24
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Everyone has to stop talking to these genius's at Royal Purple and other manufacturers, their just wrong.
There's nothing wrong with hose water unless its coming from a well thats simple dirty and nasty.
If hose water hurts aluminum radiators in any way, which it does NOT, then thousands of cars would be having trouble every day in this country. Radiators would be on back order for months.
Buying distilled water is a waste of money. My radiator looks brand new inside, hose water is all it gets. My car is 11+ years old. I mix in a half jug of Dexcool, the rest is hose water. Runs cool as a cucumber all the time.
That Kit Car Cobra has an engine issue he needs to fix. Probably a blown head gasket if he's boiling over.
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There's nothing wrong with hose water unless its coming from a well thats simple dirty and nasty.
If hose water hurts aluminum radiators in any way, which it does NOT, then thousands of cars would be having trouble every day in this country. Radiators would be on back order for months.
Buying distilled water is a waste of money. My radiator looks brand new inside, hose water is all it gets. My car is 11+ years old. I mix in a half jug of Dexcool, the rest is hose water. Runs cool as a cucumber all the time.
That Kit Car Cobra has an engine issue he needs to fix. Probably a blown head gasket if he's boiling over.
.