Coolant

[manny]

what is it that all of you are adding to your just water in the radiator ?

[StephenB]

water wetter for me :) BUT you need to drain it in the winter or it will freeze!

Stephen

[titanium]

water wetter for me :) BUT you need to drain it in the winter or it will freeze!

Stephen


Does it get that cold in the Tampa Bay area?:D

[Chip42]

water plus a wetting agent like water wetter or purple ice.

and yes, sometimes water freezes in florida. I think it was the 2010 january nationals at sebring where ice was on the ground well into saturday morning. all of the citrus crops on the roads around the track were ice-covered too. they do that to protect the fruit from the cold...

[quadzjr]

During the driver school at RRR we were working in 2008 we actually had to drain some of the water/additive mixture to work in just a touch of anti-freeze. knowing nothing of winter-izing a car (all florida guys). We ran teh cars to work mix the anti-freeze in. Parked them inside the trailer, and left the radiator cap off.

It snowed that night and when we returned we could tell that a considerable amount of water was pushed out the radiator fill neck. I doubt that people up north have to go through this (there has to be an easier/better way), but I can only assume that the expansion of water when it started to freeze in the radiator pushed the water out and saved us from having to repair something in the morning.

[joeg]

Anti-freeze for me.

Too cold at many races to be foolin' around with just water or non-glycol additives.

[billf]

quadzjr,

Yes, we northerners do go thru the same thing...expansion of water in the radiator.

Interestingly, water exibits almost contradictory physical properties when in the process of freezing...contraction, followed by expansion. It is the second that causes ice (cubes or floes) to float above the water.

When water temp decreases, the water contracts, becoming more dense/heavier (warmer water is moved to the surface...lighter), and sinks to the bottom, or its point of neutral boyancy. When the water (use fresh, unsalted water as an example) reaches 32 degrees F, it begins to form ice. At this time, it expands, so that it is now lighter than the water around it, and it floats. The expansion mentioned is that which forces water out of the radiator/glass/pipes, or whatever vessel used to contain the water.

All this is happening at the molecular level, but is seen on the larger scale.

Back to Manny's original question, we used water and wetter. and in the north we use so much AntiFreeze, that we see how slow it is to evaporate when spilled. This means a long time on the track surface when spilled on the race track. Water will be gone in minutes, depending on ambient temperature, and AntiFreeze stays for days. Some tracks demand water as a coolant for that reason.

Good racing,

Bill:024:

[Tristan Smith]

I thought SCCA banned anti freeze in cars on track.

[joeg]

No Tristan, it is not banned by the SCCA.

Certain tracks do, however.

[DavidM]

Water with water wetter here as well. I put a 50/50 antifreeze mix in during the offseason not only for freeze protection, but also to keep corrosion down.

David

[Robbie]

I do the same as DavidM. I'll run water from May to October (April can be risky in the Front Range of CO) and drain the water as soon as it drops into the 30's at night in October and replace it with 50/50 water and antifreeze.

[MMiskoe]

We did the VIR 13 hour race this year but at the end of the race the car needed to have anitfreeze in it so when it got home it could sit safey in the trailer (there was 14" of snow on the ground at my house that day). So here it is at 11pm after the race is over and we're swapping coolant in the paddock. Two guys walked past and one asked the other "Why are those guys prepping the car now? The race is over." We just chuckled and thought "oh these southern boys".

[BruceG]

We did the VIR 13 hour race this year but at the end of the race the car needed to have anitfreeze in it so when it got home it could sit safey in the trailer (there was 14" of snow on the ground at my house that day). So here it is at 11pm after the race is over and we're swapping coolant in the paddock. Two guys walked past and one asked the other "Why are those guys prepping the car now? The race is over." We just chuckled and thought "oh these southern boys".

Had a beautiful RX7(12A) shipped from the San Fran area to Vermont in Dec a few years ago with a layover in Chicago due to a blizzard. Car had only water and water wetter in it!! Cracked a rotor housing. Living in Vermont where we have to have antifreeze good to -50F, I never thought about the west coast, north of LA> Not good....LOL

[jimbbski]

I race with MCSCC and since we run most of our races at BFR and they don't like AF we banned it some years ago. It's only a problem at the first or last race of the year (April, Oct.) if it gets cold. I usually drain the cooling system at the end of the season and add a mix of AF & water that's good down to zero deg. It never get that cold in my attached garage so I don't worry about block damage. Since the water & Water Wetter mixture I had in the engine was very fresh I saved it and will reuse it in the spring. What can I say, I'm cheap. LOL

[Gary L]

I will pass along some coolant experience that might benefit a few of you out there, but the majority can ignore.

I was on a well for household water supply while living in the OKC area and the water was really good, but admittedly slightly (and I mean slightly) acidic. No problems with humans or household plumbing, but using Water Wetter with that water was a big NO-NO. The mixture would stain the hell out of both the aluminum timing cover and iron block if you had seepage from the water pump or some other leak. It would leave behind a brown residue that simply wiped off when dry, but when the residue left, it typically took any paint with it.

I never had a problem when running plain water from the same source, only when I added Water Wetter. There's probably a simple chemical explanation for all this, but I never asked the manufacturer about it... I simply started using different water for the race car.

[Z3_GoCar]

I only use distilled water in all my cars. The street one's I do use the normal 50/50 antifreeze mix, and BMW coolant in the street BMW's. For the race car, I'll add a tiny amount of water wetter. I looked at the Royal Purple version (Purple Ice) and it says not to use with pure water only with antifreeze mix. So, I stuck with Water Wetter. Tap water has disolved minerals, commonly iron, calcium, and around here arsenic, which leave resudues.

[DavidM]

I failed to mention that as well. I only used distilled water, whether it's with antifreeeze or without. That's for the race car as well as street cars. I buy the concentrated antifreeze and make my own 50/50 mix. Cheaper that way.

David

[JS154]

I run plain water with water wetter, and just a little splash of antifreeze - a pint, max - the only reason is so if it leaks you can smell it, but it's not any slicker than plain water if it comes out on the track.

Antifreeze is slicker than snot on the track, I've seen more than a few cars spin in their own coolant where if it were just water it would have ben saveable.

In my own experience, I lost my coolant under my front tires coming out of the diving turn at Lime Rock. Same formula as above. If it was water and antifreeze - it would have been ugly scary, as opposed to one pucker-factor-5 halfspin-catch-recover.

In the winter I store the car with antifreeze, but I won;t go out on track with it.