[urq] Water Wetter Observations

[Brandon Rogers]

Hey guys-
Full Park City UPG report to follow later, but here's a something to think about/debate WRT Water Wetter.

I poured a bottle of Water Wetter into my system last Thursday evening- the night before the big trip to Park City, in anticipation of sustained high revs through the desert-like country.  This was against my motto of no new variables immediately before a big event....

To make room in the coolant reservoir I had to remove some of the apprx. 50/50 mixture.  I did disconnect the small line from the top of the rad to the reservoir in an attempt to let some drain, but very little came out and I reconnected.  Some air may have entered the system at this time.

Fast forward to Friday morning.  After having driven for about half an hour on the highway-(60-70 mph-some uphills certainly) I looked at my temps and the gauge showed about 250F!  I pulled right over and popped the hood.  I had never seen temps this high.  When I popped the hood the engine compartment was not very hot- at least not like you'd expect if the engine were about to boil over.  I loosened the overflow cap to let some air out.  I turned the car on again and the gauge went to only 215-220F - the high side of normal for this car.  So we got going.  About 15 minutes later the temp gauge went towards the 250F mark again and I decided to drive through it and within a couple minutes it was back to ~210F - where it stayed for hours.  Intermittenty through out the weekend, the temp gauge would indicate close to 245F-250F for a few minutes - then once I saw that when it went to a normal reading, it dropped like a rock - like from 250F to 215F in less than 10 seconds.  After a few episodes I think I found the pattern- it would show high on flat sections or uphills after some somewhat sustained low load - ie downhill.  But not always.  A few times I turned the heat on and it did not seem super hot - a sign that the water temps weren't really that high- it was a gauge thing.  So I'm thinking either A) I have a sticking thermostat B) the Water Wetter is affecting the sender's reading or C) the Water Wetter is making the thermostat react slower to the water temp change.

Thoughts?

Brandon
'84 ur 20V w/ stock urq rad/aux rad