Water Wetter For Coolant! Work?

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stevechumo

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I'm having a considerable issue with overheating in hot weather, and I'm thinking if anyone has tried Water Wetter to lower the coolant temp. I just bought 2 bottles but waiting for any on-hand experience. Anyone uses it with good result, bad result?
 
Steve, I've always used Water Wetter as one of those "insurance" things. Haven't done any before/after testing, however.

One thing you might try also is to reduce the % of coolant you use to the bare minimum needed to keep the engine from freezing in cold weather. Pure water is one of the best coolants known to man, and has a higher specific heat figure than any other fluid. Anything you add to water actually reduces its ability to carry heat away. So a 50/50 mix of coolant & water is actually less efficient at transporting heat from your engine than a 10/90 mix.

Also suggest you run a higher pressure radiator cap, as the reduced % of coolant will result in boilover at lower temps, but the higher pressure cap will counteract that.
 
Thanks for the responses, gents.

I actually don't have heating issue with the turbo that much. Everything is shielded and I can touch the manifold, turbo heat shield, and downpipe pretty quick even when the engine is fully hot. They're wrapped up. The heat from the radiator after being pulled by the fans is far hotter than the turbo heat around the turbo.

I think I have too much coolant "Toyota red coolant" to water ratio. I also filled it to the full line of the resevoir. I'll drain some out and add more pure water in to make somewhere like 30/70. Then 2 bottles of Water Wetter. California isn't a ice-free state. :D
 
Steve, here's a handy table to show how much % coolant you need for freeze protection. I would think anything over 20% coolant would be unnecessary for Cali?

BTW, the boilover protection is with a standard 15 psi radiator cap. The boiling temperature will go up with a higher pressure cap.
 

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Seems like larger cooling system is required ?? Either another radiator ?? Or bigger original ... To be more applicable to your power levels..
 
Don't mistake anti-freeze for corrosion protection.

You may find 20% of Toyotas's red coolant isn't enough to stop the engine turning into powder.

I'd be doing some research before watering it down too much.
 
So according to the coolant & water mix, it seems more coolant will lead to a higher boiling point, but its disadvantage is it doesn't transfer heat out as quick as water. Ummh! When the coolant/water combination boils, will it create more pressure (its volumn expands when boils) and adds the stress to the block?

So is it more desirable to have a lower boiling point (engine runs cooler with more water), but it'll boil easily? Or is it more desirable to have a higher boiling point (engine runs hotter "looks more scary on the gauge" with more coolant), but it'll boil slowly? For example, a 240 degree F boiling with more water and a 270 degree F boiling with more coolant, which will cause the warping easier?

As Rod mentioned, corrosion is my concern, too, especially when I have a radiator hose made out of steel.

I can go with bigger radiator (even I'm using the stock size aluminum radiator with 3 electric fans, 2 pullers and 1 pusher, a 13 lbs cap, a 175 F thermostat), but I'd like to keep the A/C condensor in front of it. I just bought a vented carbon fiber hood and hopefully it'll help vent out the heat much quicker. This 1UZ in the SC400 engine bay really soaks heat. In the hot weather "85 F" and with the engine leaving cold overnight, the engine and its surround get really warm, and it feels like the engine has been running for awhile in the winter.
 
Personally I would try and ascertain the minimum anti freeze/corrosion inhibitor (it doesn't freeze where I drive - ever) I can get away with and run that. So I guess I'm more worried about corrosion.

This would give you the protection you need and keep the water content as high as is reasonable to aid cooling.

Make sure any air that gets into the intake for the radiator actually is passing through it. This means blocking any holes/openings the air can by-pass the radiator though.

Also ensure your puller fans are fully sealed against the rear of the radiator.

If I had an SC400 one thing I would never remove is the hydro fan. When that sucker turns on it can suck small children and mediun sized dogs into it. I have no idea of the flow of the fan but the noise and air movement is quite something.
 
Rod's right about the corrosion inhibitor. There are commercial products out there that reduce or retard the onset of corrosion, which should be used if you're running reduced coolant levels.

An easy way to test for galvanic corrosion is to use a common multimeter.

Take the cap off the radiator (cool or warm engine only!) Set the multimeter on its DC volts scale, connect the negative lead to the battery, and put the positive lead into the coolant. Don't let the positive lead touch the radiator, however.

If you measure in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 volts, your system is generally OK; if it's between 0.3 and 0.5 volts, it's suspect, and if it's over 0.5 volts your system needs attention soon.

It's well known now that the use of regular tap water in the cooling system of any aluminum enigne should be avoided. Only deionised water should be used. Distilled water in the past was thought to be nearly as good as deionised, however it apparently has an ion imbalance that can actually cause accelerated galvanic corrosion! Hence the use of water that has been "deionised", and not just distilled.

Fuchs Silkolene, or "No-Rosion" products are common corrosion inhibitors that can be added to the cooling system to retard galvanic corrosion.
 
Thanks for all the tip on this, gents. I'd believe the electric fans that I'm using are too thin and weak and they don't move the heat out of the engine bay fast enough, while the heat is still building up inside it. And the engine bay is too tight for the air to be moved out. When I compare the stock fans to these skinny fans, they're a lot stronger than the electric fans even at idle. I love the stock fan, but I gotta remove it to gain room for the turbo. I hope the vented hood will help.
 
water wetter does work. Will it lower temps 25 degrees? No, but 10 degrees less under load are not unheard of. The trick is to run 100% water with a whole bottle of wetter to raise the already high boiling point of the pure water. the concoction has both lubricants and its own antifreeze element.
 
Basically, I only need the temperature to stay below 210F or 200F preferably. I never let the temperature go passed 225F, but it always scares me when it keeps climbing to 225F and could be more if I don't stop the car and pop the hood. :mad:
 
It's running actually rich and the wideband gauge always shows around 10.5 under boost. And even if I don't boost, it's always in the range of 14.8 or maybe low 15 under regular driving/cruising. And I don't boost very often because I have this heating issue. Mitch tuned it for me.

I've prepared for most things that I could think of to prevent the heating and it still occurs. It could be the Cometic head gaskets that don't have enough coolant holes and their coolant holes are smaller than the OEM gaskets. Therefore, the coolant doesn't have enough room for travel. I already suspected this before I put them on, but well, I may be wrong. :eek: If anyone has any Cometic head gaskets and the OEM head gaskets on hand to compare, you'll see that.
 
One little trick that is done on Supras is to remove the rear most seal for the hood (the one closest to the windshield). This then leaves a space that hot air can escape. I've honestly not seen any difference with my car, but some swear by it.
 
One little trick that is done on Supras is to remove the rear most seal for the hood (the one closest to the windshield). This then leaves a space that hot air can escape. I've honestly not seen any difference with my car, but some swear by it.

Doubt this will work John as a well known high pressure point on most cars...in fact there are a few intake systems that take their entry point from this high pressure zone......same goes for raing the rear of the bonnet on spacers :rolleyes: Probably just cool dorifto stying that needs justification ;)
 
What about an engine oil cooler and remote filter setup? Cooler engine oil running over the cams, rods and crank may help to draw away some of the heat out of the block as well as keeping your oil down to safe operating temps at the same time.

I hope Cobber and gloverman don't mind me volunteering their names, but I think they have engine oil cooler setups, they may able to shed more light on this. Some other guys have provided some good info too in this thread: http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11729
 

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