Surely its not just me..

[CADPoint]

I never even knew it was available...

 

[KEH]

Sorry for people with bad water. No problems this location. Two sources for well water. One, dig well enough to get so called surface water which is water in dirt down to rock layer. No problems for me, family's old rock lined well had the best tasting water ever. Unfortunately, rock lining was dislarged and new well had to be dug, which tasted ok after the concrete taste from the pipe lining went away. Other source of well water is to drill to the rock level, seal the well with steel pipe, then continue drilling. Usually cracks in rock layer are found with water in them. If lucky the drill goes into a large cavity with lots of water. However, my nearby neighbor had a well drilled and it was drilled to 1000 feet and it came up dry. In the past some municipalities drilled several wells around the town and piped the water to tall tanks to provide water pressure. Now the area has water systems that get water from rivers, using water treatment plants. This is western SC.

KEH

 

[Skyman]

As has been noted by others here already, I always have at least one old coolant jug on hand for mixing. Two quarts of coolant from a new jug, two quarts of distilled water from another, and it's ready to use. Takes all of two or three minutes. When my inventory of distilled runs low, I pick up more at the grocery store while I'm there to restock the pantry.

Regarding distilled versus tap water, for the minimal cost of distilled, it's a no-brainer for me. I've replaced all of the copper plumbing in my house, as a result of numerous pin-hole leaks through the years. The heater core in my 60-year-old car is copper, its radiator is aluminum, and its engine block and cylinder heads are cast iron. My other vehicles are a mix of cast iron and aluminum components in their engines and cooling systems. The pH and mineral content of our tap water are unknown to me, and I don't rely on those characteristics to be consistent over time.

An aside - I made refilling cooling systems easier by adapting this flip valve to the cap of an anti-freeze jug. Much easier to control the flow, and get it all into the cooling system, rather than getting some of it splashed around everywhere else, as seemed to always be the case previously.



Steve

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Our tap water for mixing appears to work well. When I was a kid on the farm my Dad used to use rain water for batteries and likely for mixing antifreeze. Our well water was loaded with iron and was brutal. When collecting rain water he waited till it had rained for awhile and then collected after the atmosphere had been freshened up a bit.

 

[like2wheel]

Look, people buy bottled water.
Any surprise premix antifreeze caught on?

 

[finn]

Like the lottery, pre-mix is a tax on people who are bad at math. And FYI, it's not a "$3.00" savings. One gallon of concentrate ($12 at WallyMart) and one gallon of distilled water (about $1) is $13 vs $21 for two gallons of the pre-mix. Since I have to pour both into the radiator when I service the car, there's no additional labor for "mixing". Your money, your call.

Not that simple. I topped of the recovery tank in the old Ram. Premix was $8.** at Walmart. Full strength was, I think, ~$10.** or $12xx / gallon, plus distilled water was about $1.25.

The truck needed about 3/4 of a gallon. The math says it cost ~\$8.00 to top off the reservoir with premix, but would have cost something like $11.xxor $13.** to use concentrate, plus find another clean container to do the mixing.

Plus, the distilled water is at the other end of the store, and they’re usually out of stock.

 

[reader2580]

I buy the regular antifreeze and distilled water for my converted bus. It takes 14 gallons to change the coolant. The expansion tank was basically empty on my daily driver and I just bought 50/50 since I didn't even need half a gallon. I had the car checked out and no cooling system issues found and they did a pressure test. Coolant level has been fine since.

 

[finn]

Sorry for people with bad water. No problems this location. Two sources for well water. One, dig well enough to get so called surface water which is water in dirt down to rock layer. No problems for me, family's old rock lined well had the best tasting water ever. Unfortunately, rock lining was dislarged and new well had to be dug, which tasted ok after the concrete taste from the pipe lining went away. Other source of well water is to drill to the rock level, seal the well with steel pipe, then continue drilling. Usually cracks in rock layer are found with water in them. If lucky the drill goes into a large cavity with lots of water. However, my nearby neighbor had a well drilled and it was drilled to 1000 feet and it came up dry. In the past some municipalities drilled several wells around the town and piped the water to tall tanks to provide water pressure. Now the area has water systems that get water from rivers, using water treatment plants. This is western SC.

KEH

Lots of work to save $3.00 on a jug of antifreeze, though.

 

[finn]

True, there are some that are pretty bad, but for over 30 years I haven't had any issues.

Sounds like she had well water. It is very eggy in some areas.

I've seen develpoments that have their own wells and their own water treatment systems. Most aren't anything more than a large water softener.

Nope. Municipal water

 

[Old Man Roger]

Nope. Municipal water

That's strange to get the sulphur smell from city water.

I wonder if you're not actually smelling the drain? They do get stinky when not used for a while, especially in bathroom sinks that have that little overflow hole at the top of the sink.

When you turn on the water, it goes down the regular drain, then it forces air out the over flow hole.

 

[mikedodge]

Not that simple. I topped of the recovery tank in the old Ram. Premix was $8.** at Walmart. Full strength was, I think, ~$10.** or $12xx / gallon, plus distilled water was about $1.25.

The truck needed about 3/4 of a gallon. The math says it cost ~\$8.00 to top off the reservoir with premix, but would have cost something like $11.xxor $13.** to use concentrate, plus find another clean container to do the mixing.

Plus, the distilled water is at the other end of the store, and they’re usually out of stock.

Except you'd still have half left if you mixed it yourself so it would have been more like $7 for that top up and next time you don't need to buy any so you're ahead of the game.

 

[kbeefy]

I never bought pre-mix until I lived where there is hard water.
Now I will buy it if distilled water isn't handy, but I keep a couple gallons of distilled on hand just in case.
It sometimes gets used for batteries or other stuff anyways.

 

[Skyman]

I never bought pre-mix until I lived where there is hard water.
Now I will buy it if distilled water isn't handy, but I keep a couple gallons of distilled on hand just in case.
It sometimes gets used for batteries or other stuff anyways.

Am I the only one who wonders about the quality of the water in the pre-mixed coolants?

Steve

 

[Old Man Roger]

Am I the only one who wonders about the quality of the water in the pre-mixed coolants?

Steve

Probably tap water.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I mean coolant has anti corrosive effect doesn't it?

 

[KEH]

I have in years past smelled the sulphur in water in the low country near Charleston, SC. I was told that the smell came from decaying vegetation in the swamps getting it the water, but I don't know and I don't know about the source of the smell in other areas.

KEH

 

[Old Man Roger]

I have in years past smelled the sulphur in water in the low country near Charleston, SC. I was told that the smell came from decaying vegetation in the swamps getting it the water, but I don't know and I don't know about the source of the smell in other areas.

KEH

Google says it can be from decay, bacteria, and even a chemical reaction inside the water heater. I guess alll of these can produce hydrogen sulfide gas. Who knew?

 

[PassnThru]

It depends. If I'm doing a flush and replace then I'll buy full strength. If it's just for maintenance then I'll buy premixed. At any given time I've got vehicles using at least two different types of antifreeze. If everything used the same stuff then it makes sense to mix my own but if I'm buying a gallon of full strength then I effectively have two gallons of antifreeze when I may never even use a full gallon. Around here it is difficult to dispose of antifreeze so the less of it I have on hand the better - and the less concentrated it is the better.

 

[finn]

Except you'd still have half left if you mixed it yourself so it would have been more like $7 for that top up and next time you don't need to buy any so you're ahead of the game.

Half left in a garage that I’m 2100 miles away from where I live for half the year.

And antifreeze that’s only good for the seventeen year old truck that I keep there. I don’t recall the last time, if ever, I topped it off since changing it. Probably been seven to ten years.

Exactly the situation that the poster above this one is in.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Half left in a garage that I’m 2100 miles away from where I live for half the year.

And antifreeze that’s only good for the seventeen year old truck that I keep there. I don’t recall the last time, if ever, I topped it off since changing it. Probably been seven to ten years.

Exactly the situation that the poster above this one is in.

That's some old antifreeze, I would recommend a drain and change.

 

[rooster59]

I can replace a water pump, thermostat, and flush the radiator in about an hour in an old Chevy small block. I not terribly concerned about the antifreeze. But getting to the water pump in a Honda V6 is quite a job, might as well replace the timing belt and tensioner as well. So I'll use exactly what Honda says to use, Honda premix. I think there were some issues with people mixing suspect H2O with the concentrate, leading to water pump issues.

 

[Old Man Roger]

And to be honest, if you flush a system, you can use any modern antifreeze, especially if you change it regularly[3 years usually]. Most of the issues come from mixing different types of antifreeze. Yes even in a BMW.

 

[PassnThru]

And to be honest, if you flush a system, you can use any modern antifreeze, especially if you change it regularly[3 years usually]. Most of the issues come from mixing different types of antifreeze. Yes even in a BMW.

That's a good point. Seems the problems I read about are about mixing different types. Still have to keep some of the correct type on hand though initially.

 

[mike93lx]

Plus, the distilled water is at the other end of the store, and they’re usually out of stock.

I'm with you. A couple bucks to avoid buying extra or walking unnecessarily? I'm on board

 

[finn]

Am I the only one who wonders about the quality of the water in the pre-mixed coolants?

Steve

Deionized / distilled water. Those plants have massive water treatment capabilities.

Interestind (maybe) anecdote. Ignore if it bores you.

Back in the early 90s we were supplying Diesel engines to an automotive assembly plant that made both passenger cars and vans. The production factory fill antifreeze was delivered as concentrate, in bulk, and was diluted to 50/50 at the plant prior to end of line vehicle cooling system fill. The antifreeze specified was a high quality product that met both the gasoline passenger car and HD Diesel spec.

We ran into a rash of low mileage cylinder head cracks in the monthly warranty review.

Ends up that the cooling cross drills in the valve bridge were all plugged with silicate dropout from the antifreeze. The quality control in the plant somehow failed and they weren’t adding water to dilute the full strength ethyl glycol to the required 50/50 mix, With full strength antifreeze in the system, silicates would drop out of solution in the hottest part of the cooling system, the valve bridge cross drill.

That led to metal temperatures exceeding the thermal limit of the cast iron, and subsequent cracking in relatively low hours.

It was an easy find, and lead to an almost immediate process change at the plant to only allow 50/50 diluted antifreeze on the premises.

 

[mike93lx]

Deionized / distilled water. Those plants have massive water treatment capabilities.

Interestind (maybe) anecdote. Ignore if it bores you.

Back in the early 90s we were supplying Diesel engines to an automotive assembly plant that made both passenger cars and vans. The production factory fill antifreeze was delivered as concentrate, in bulk, and was diluted to 50/50 at the plant prior to end of line vehicle cooling system fill. The antifreeze specified was a high quality product that met both the gasoline passenger car and HD Diesel spec.

We ran into a rash of low mileage cylinder head cracks in the monthly warranty review.

Ends up that the cooling cross drills in the valve bridge were all plugged with silicate dropout from the antifreeze. The quality control in the plant somehow failed and they weren’t adding water to dilute the full strength ethyl glycol to the required 50/50 mix, With full strength antifreeze in the system, silicates would drop out of solution in the hottest part of the cooling system, the valve bridge cross drill.

That led to metal temperatures exceeding the thermal limit of the cast iron, and subsequent cracking in relatively low hours.

It was an easy find, and lead to an almost immediate process change at the plant to only allow 50/50 diluted antifreeze on the premises.

No argument on the effectiveness of an engineered control like that, but I bet there was some bitching about the cost.

 

[finn]

No argument on the effectiveness of an engineered control like that, but I bet there was some bitching about the cost.

I doubt it. Most likely in plant labor and mixing equipment floor space and maintenance far outweighed the cost of having the vendor do the mixing prior to delivery. The industry as a whole has long sought to outsource what are considered non value added processes. Mixing water with antifreeze fits that bill. The vendor in question has a huge presence in the aftermarket as well as being a supplier for the auto maker’ privately labeled product, and does premix as well as virgin product.

Supplier contracts come and go, so I have no idea if the supplier at the time of the fiasco is still associated with that particular automaker, but there are only so many blenders worldwide.

 

[428PI]

With so little antifreeze I predict I'll be using in the future I may go the 50/50 route. I have been using concentrate on my older vehicles with distilled water and lately reverse osmosis water. Older antifreeze's recommended every 3 years and 36k miles. Now it's like 100k miles? I wanted to prevent having to replace heater cores like in my older cars. I haven't replaced a heater core since I had my 83 Capri and 83 Ranger. My daily driver is a 96 Lincoln Mark VIII with 314k and it still takes the old green antifreeze.

 

[Old Man Roger]

It gets acidic if you let it go too long.

 

[four.cycle]

 

[PassnThru]

It gets acidic if you let it go too long.

^^^^^
Dude - you have to mix it with asparagus water!

 

[Old Man Roger]

^^^^^
Dude - you have to mix it with asparagus water!

But then it smells funny when I pee.

 

[Jeepster04]

But then it smells funny when I pee.

And it happens IMMEDIANTLY.

 

[JSGAuto]

I needed to top off my truck. It drips/burns...its old.........whatever. Bought a gallon of concentrate from AutoZone. The clerk was concerned that I didn't grab the 50/50, and seemed to think I would have trouble figuring it out. He recommended the 50/50.......I had to practically persuade him to sell it to me. Weird.

 

[Skyman]

Autozone? Consider the source of that advice.

Steve

 

[mike93lx]

Autozone? Consider the source of that advice.

Steve

Yeah, probably a clerk that has dealt with an amazing amount of stupidity walking through the door and is trying to avoid having someone coming back yelling about selling them the wrong coolant

 

[Bucko]

I just keep the previous empty jug. I buy a new container of straight coolant, pour half into the old jug, top both jugs off with water. Bam! 2 premixed 50/50s, lol.

Same here. I've never bought a premix jug in my life. What is left over gets 50/50 written on it and it goes in the bedbox in the truck for emergencies.

 

[Milton Shaw]

When I was a teenager I worked at several places that would fill a vehicle with water when it was low in the summer and then run around like crazy trying to get them correctly winterized when it's already reached 20 outside. I glad I don't work with those nuts. I don't fill anything unless I am filling with 50/50. Some of you probably remember those cold chores from your youth.

 

[WhiteSSP]

Do the parts stores you go to sell distilled water? I don't think I have ever seen it, but it's been a while since I have spent more than a minute or two in one.

So that's another trip. Maybe next door, maybe across town. Some people pay for convenience, some spend a buck to save a penny, some wouldn't dare be "ripped off" like that. To each his own

I prefer being ripped off it it means less time I have to spend. I can make more money, so far nobody has figured out how to live longer as conclusively.

 

[PoorUB]

I generally buy just the undiluted, but once in a while, like on a trip when you need a top off and are in a hurry the 50/50 mix is handy.