Coolant temperatures while towing

[Frank Enstein]

A 50/50 mix can make the engine run hotter. Water transfers heat 4 times as well as antifreeze.

i recommend a mix of DRINKING water from the grocery store (distilled can leach minerals from the engine per several radiator manufacturers) and antifreeze (Dog safe if possible) to achieve a 0 degree freezing protection OR 10 degrees colder than the vehicle will ever see on a coolant temp tester.

You need 0 degrees minimum to prevent corrosion and to lubricate the water pump.

The dog safe (Propylene Glycol) cools the same and is safer for the environment if spilled.

I recommend using Justice Brothers Radiator Clean and after flushing JB Radiator cool along with a bottle of Redline Super Cool with Water Wetter.

If it still gets hotter than you like A high flow thermostat BRA-330-195 thermostat is the Summit part number and a high flow water pump will likely take care of it.

When you run within 5 degrees of the thermostat opening point al all times that's as good as it gets.

Too much antifreeze is my #1 cause of overheating in my tech calls for over 25 years.
Not enough ignition timing (not in your case because the computer handles it) is a close second.

 

[Schurkey]

Sometimes colder than -40 in the winter, sometimes hotter than 100F in the summer.

I have run 80% antifreeze in various vehicles, although now with Global Warming (for which I thank God) I've moderated to 50 or 60 percent antifreeze.

If the antifreeze percentage is causing you overheating problems, there's something WRONG with the cooling system.

 

[udidwht]

A 50/50 mix can make the engine run hotter. Water transfers heat 4 times as well as antifreeze.

i recommend a mix of DRINKING water from the grocery store (distilled can leach minerals from the engine per several radiator manufacturers) and antifreeze (Dog safe if possible) to achieve a 0 degree freezing protection OR 10 degrees colder than the vehicle will ever see on a coolant temp tester.

You need 0 degrees minimum to prevent corrosion and to lubricate the water pump.

The dog safe (Propylene Glycol) cools the same and is safer for the environment if spilled.

I recommend using Justice Brothers Radiator Clean and after flushing JB Radiator cool along with a bottle of Redline Super Cool with Water Wetter.

If it still gets hotter than you like A high flow thermostat BRA-330-195 thermostat is the Summit part number and a high flow water pump will likely take care of it.

When you run within 5 degrees of the thermostat opening point al all times that's as good as it gets.

Too much antifreeze is my #1 cause of overheating in my tech calls for over 25 years.
Not enough ignition timing (not in your case because the computer handles it) is a close second.

???
What!

Distilled is the safest in terms of corrosion resistance in terms of plain water. Don't know where you heard otherwise from. Do not go lower than a 30 percent coolant vs distilled water ratio.

If anything the OP needs to look at the front side of the radiator to see how clean the exterior of the radiator fins are before making a decision on further. Try cleaning the exterior fins of the radiator out first before anything else you just might be surprised....https://www.gmt400.com/threads/condenser-oil-cooler.59140/post-1260762

 

[South VA]

???
What!

Distilled is the safest in terms of corrosion resistance in terms of plain water. Don't know where you heard otherwise from. Do not go lower than a 30 percent coolant vs distilled water ratio.

It's interesting. After reading @Frank Enstein 's post, I searched on using distilled water for automotive cooling systems, and found diverging opinions. Many, and maybe most, advocate using distilled water, which what I have always believed to be the best. However, a few others vehemently advise against its use. One example of the latter is below:

Why You Should Never Use Distilled Water in Your Cooling System | Rislone

Many people have "heard" that distilled water is the best water to use in a cooling system. This is wrong! Let us tell you why.

rislone.com

There were a number of mentions of using demineralized and/or deionized water, including this one:

Which water is Best for Coolant? Tap, Distilled, or Deionized Water?

If you’re someone that likes to take good care of your vehicle by yourself, you’re sure to come across the need to keep the cooling system of your car in a

americandreamautoprotect.com

Tap water, however, varies widely in terms of its mineral content and pH. Our well water, for example, has a high mineral content and is somewhat acidic, around 5.5 5.8 pH. It eats copper pipes, which is why the house now has only plastic plumbing. For those reasons, I won't use it in my cooling system.

However, I suppose that one could make a case for purified drinking water, as I assume it would be roughly pH neutral and have a comparatively low mineral content, unless minerals were added for taste. I'd think it would be much better than plain tap water. FWIW, for folks on city water, bottled water also wouldn't contain chlorine.

From what I'm reading, the case for using distilled water isn't as clear cut as I once thought. But I'm still leaning towards using it.

If anything the OP needs to look at the front side of the radiator to see how clean the exterior of the radiator fins are before making a decision on further. Try cleaning the exterior fins of the radiator out first before anything else you just might be surprised....https://www.gmt400.com/threads/condenser-oil-cooler.59140/post-1260762

Thank you. This is a basic step that I have not yet taken. I will do so.

 

[Caman96]

It's interesting. After reading @Frank Enstein 's post, I searched on using distilled water for automotive cooling systems, and found diverging opinions. Many, and maybe most, advocate using distilled water, which what I have always believed to be the best. However, a few others vehemently advise against its use. One example of the latter is below:

Why You Should Never Use Distilled Water in Your Cooling System | Rislone

Many people have "heard" that distilled water is the best water to use in a cooling system. This is wrong! Let us tell you why.

rislone.com

There were a number of mentions of using demineralized and/or deionized water, including this one:

Which water is Best for Coolant? Tap, Distilled, or Deionized Water?

If you’re someone that likes to take good care of your vehicle by yourself, you’re sure to come across the need to keep the cooling system of your car in a

americandreamautoprotect.com

Tap water, however, varies widely in terms of its mineral content and pH. Our well water, for example, has a high mineral content and its somewhat acidic, around 5.5 pH. It eats copper pipes, which is why the house now has only plastic plumbing. For those reasons, I won't use it in my cooling system.

However, I suppose that one could make a case for purified drinking water, as I assume it would be roughly pH neutral and have a comparatively low mineral content, unless minerals were added for taste. I'd think it would be much better than plain tap water. FWIW, for folks on city water, bottled water also wouldn't contain chlorine.

From what I'm reading, the case for using distilled water isn't as clear cut as I once thought. But I'm still leaning towards using it.

Thank you. This is a basic step that I have not yet taken. I will do so.

Makes you wonder what coolant manufacturers use in 50/50 pre-mix.

 

[South VA]

Makes you wonder what coolant manufacturers use in 50/50 pre-mix.

I just looked at a few, and found that Valvoline uses deionized water in its premix, AC Delco Dex-Cool uses "specially filtered water," and O'Reilly's uses distilled water.

Wish I remembered more from my chemistry classes.

 

[Frank Enstein]

IIRC the recommendation came from DeWitts, Griffin, and C&R radiator companies.
They recommended against mineral water because of too many minerals.
So drinking water is the Goldilocks. Not too much and not too little.
They used to recommend distilled water but found that it leached metals from the radiator.

 

[Supercharged111]

I was told distilled PH is too high to run it without antifreeze (as in race car), but was ok to mix. Sounds like we ought to be targeting PH ranges.

 

[fancyTBI]

I just started using distilled water. Before when I needed to refill a system I would use it straight out of the garden spigot - straight well water. When I opened up the 4.3 that had this treatment at least twice it was surprisingly clean from what I could see. A deeper dive may have told a different story.

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

I was told distilled PH is too high to run it without antifreeze (as in race car), but was ok to mix. Sounds like we ought to be targeting PH ranges.

I thought the issue was NEVER to run ANY water as a stand alone coolant w/o some sort of additive package to provide corrosion protection and/or anti-cavitation protection (to name at least two). Check me if I'm wrong.

A third-party additive package, RedLine's WaterWetter, is to be used with water. It provides additives but no "antifreeze" (glycol).

Finally, certain antifreeze additives (Sebacic Acid, and others) can only be mixed with distilled water. This is why certain coolant formulations (Honda's, Toyota's) come pre-mixed, i.e., because the additive package can't tolerate being post-mixed (by the end-user) with hard water. This is discussed in Prestone's Patent 5741436, here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5741436A/en, where they say:

"Sebacic acid and higher di-carboxylic acids, tend to have poor solubility in antifreeze formulations using hard water."



See the Motor Magazine articles, the second one (below) talks about hard water.

Coolant Confusion: It's Not Easy Being Green ... or Yellow or Orange or ...​

https://www.motor.com//magazine/pdfs/082004_04.pdf


Relearning the Alphabet: Making Sense of the Cooling System Scene
https://www.motor.com/magazinepdfs/082010_08.pdf

Both these should be required reading for any shade tree mechanic, IMHO.