Fill up coolant with tap water?

[wolf_06]

My 08 accent coolant is a too rich a bit, my fault, put non pre-mix in last summer.
Can I just add tap water or is this a big deal?

I tested a 50/50 coolant and its good for - 38 ish, and mine can go way more down -38, which mean is too rich.

Is tap water that bad??

Need to be educate on coolant a bit.

Thanks!

 

[callbay]

I always use distilled water. It's very inexpensive, less than a dollar a gallon.

No telling what's in your tap water that might be damaging in the long run.

BITOGers do it better.

 

[eljefino]

Yeah you definitely should get it at least 30% water or the freeze point starts getting worse again.

Tap water is all over the place in quality. I'm lucky my home well is about 5 miles from Poland Spring's pumping & bottling plant.

If you have a lot of minerals in your tap... like you wouldn't want to drink it... I'd reconsider putting it in your car. Otherwise, have at it! AF instructions say "mix with clean tap water": they know what they're talking about. Any minor issues will be buffered by the anti-corrosion adds in the coolant.

 

[exranger06]

+1 Distilled water is so cheap, there's no reason not to use it.

 

[wolf_06]

So a Dasani would do the job ?

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
My 08 accent coolant is a too rich a bit, my fault, put non pre-mix in last summer.
Can I just add tap water or is this a big deal?

I tested a 50/50 coolant and its good for - 38 ish, and mine can go way more down -38, which mean is too rich.

Is tap water that bad??

Need to be educate on coolant a bit.

Thanks!


I use tap water....and we got the hardest water around where I live. It will be ok, but its better to use distilled water so you dont get scale build up.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
+1 Distilled water is so cheap, there's no reason not to use it.


Agreed.

 

[wolf_06]

how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?

 

[BISCUT]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: exranger06
+1 Distilled water is so cheap, there's no reason not to use it.


Agreed.


+ Another

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?


Only you remember how much pure AF you put in.

Best answer is to get a refractometer... the floaty balls aren't accurate.

Or start over from scratch: look up your capacity in your owners manual, flush with water, then final dump & fill use pure antifreeze. Usually the radiator and hoses: what comes out when you drain the rad, is 50% of the system.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?
If you just topped up wut pure I wouldnt worry. Did you do a full flush and refill?

 

[Cristobal]

Get distilled water. Where I live, Smart & Final and Walmart have it dirt cheap.

 

[wolf_06]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?
If you just topped up wut pure I wouldnt worry. Did you do a full flush and refill?
Nop

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?
If you just topped up wut pure I wouldnt worry. Did you do a full flush and refill?
Nop


You should be more specific if you want an accurate answer.
Was it a top off? If yes, how much did you pour in?
Was it a full flush? if yes, what is the capacity of the cooling system?

Very simple questions that if answered, will give you the correct amount of distilled water to add, no guess work.

If you're not sure what's there, I would wait for spring and do a full flush with distilled water and then add a proper amount of concentrated coolant.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?


You need to be aware of your concentration, so Id add slowly. It seems that you know the concentration is way off, so Id add a decent amount at the start, but still be VERY conservative. Dont want to over dilute, especially in Canada.

Add some, drive a few days, test, repeat.

 

[wolf_06]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?


You need to be aware of your concentration, so Id add slowly. It seems that you know the concentration is way off, so Id add a decent amount at the start, but still be VERY conservative. Dont want to over dilute, especially in Canada.

Add some, drive a few days, test, repeat.
Yeah I just added half a bottle of water to start, now how long does it take to get the water mixed up with the rest of the coolant do I need to drive for like an hour or so?

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
So a Dasani would do the job ?

NO. Dasani is NOT distilled water. Neither is Poland Spring, Aquafina, etc etc. Those are all spring water or mineral water. They have minerals and other stuff in them, either naturally or purposely added to the water to make it taste better.

Distilled water on the other hand, is just plain water with nothing else in it. It is purified through distillation so any minerals and other stuff is removed. THAT is what you want for the radiator. Basically, you need to look for bottled water that specifically says "Distilled Water." Anything that says "Spring Water" or "Drinking Water" is NOT what you want.

 

[FoxS]

Distilled water yes, but I think an overall better course of action will be to do simple drain and fills with 50/50 or whatever target concentration you want.

The more of these you do, the more the whole system gets to your desired concentration, and you are getting fresh coolant in to replace the expired coolant.

I have testing strips that also guide me, but if its easy enough to DIY, then drain and fill with fresh 50/50 is good maintenance.

If the system has been neglected then using a flush chemical followed by several drain and fills with distilled, followed by a drain and fill with 100% coolant that gets you to 50% of system capacity, then top up with distilled.

If you follow this method, be sure that you can add x% of the systems capacity with coolant in one fill.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: wolf_06
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: wolf_06
how much should I pour in the reservoir at the time? half a bottle?


You need to be aware of your concentration, so Id add slowly. It seems that you know the concentration is way off, so Id add a decent amount at the start, but still be VERY conservative. Dont want to over dilute, especially in Canada.

Add some, drive a few days, test, repeat.
Yeah I just added half a bottle of water to start, now how long does it take to get the water mixed up with the rest of the coolant do I need to drive for like an hour or so?


Did you fill it in an overflow bottle, or straight into the radiator?

If the radiator, its probably fully mixed after one time where the car gets to full temp and is driven a bit.

If in the overflow, its anyones' guess... But Id at least let it go five full cycles up to full temp and down to stone cold... Use a meter to verify status. You want the entire system to be at the same concentration, not just local.

 

[gathermewool]

Man, you're making this very painful for us. Quantify "bottle," and tell us where you added it, please.

We still need you to tell us how much straight coolant you added, even if it's just an estimate.