Re: water for coolant

[cobram@juno.com (Cobram @ Juno.com)]

 "G. Benedikt Rochow" <rochow@segosf.hlo.dec.com> writes:


>Hm, when I tried to have the Audi dealer here top off my
>car with coolant mix (I didn't feel like doing the mixing
>myself right than, and wasn't sure about teh coolant to use either),
>they sent me to the parts counter to get antifreeze, "and just mix it 
>50/50 
>with water" - "What about the distilled water? (i.e. where do I
>get it?)" - "no, you can just use tap water for that."

Unless you're in an area with hard water, tap water
works just fine. Boston area water is just fine for
mixing with anti-freeze, been doing it for 30+ years
on everything, including finicky moto-cicle engines
with no adverse effects.  Anti-freeze is plain ole
anti-freeze for the '84 5KS.  Prestone works just
fine.  Besides, how many jugs of "distilled" water 
did you spy at the dealership? They don't even bother
using distilled water for batteries 90% of the time.

There are areas of the country (middle Missouri comes
to mind) where the water has LARGE amounts of mineral
deposits in it that would be probably be very 
harmful to a cooling system over time.  

As for coolant color, it's like I posted a few weeks
ago, straight from the horses mouth (bulk coolant
distributor) the stuff has NO COLOR when it gets to
him, he can make it any purdy color the customer 
wants. It's the mix that's important.  He even supplies 
the coolant with no color to some MB dealers. Whether 
they color it there or use it clear I don't know. Most
dealers use bulk coolant (large drums) when available,
a little factoid most customers are never aware of.

BCNU


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