Did you read any of the things I posted? The amount of metal that the gallon or so of distilled water will remove from the inside of that engine is miniscule. It will quickly become saturated with the metal and be done. This will not corrode the engine.
Besides, there isn't much aluminum in tap water anyway. And in a lot of water, no iron. So tap water is going to leach out just as much of these two metals as distilled water would, depending on how much is in the water to start with.
This is such a total non-issue as to be ridiculous. IF you have continuously replaced distilled water continuously washing over a metal surface for a prolonged period of time, yes you can get corrosion. But unless you are running straight distilled water and are changing it out every other day, then its just not going to happen.
The city water in Milwaukee has almost no mineral content as does a lot of municipal water originating from surface supplies. Are these people suggesting I use Perrier water instead?
Originally Posted By: Analyzer
Looks like we have a good debate going on here! I remember an article in Sport Rider magazine that I read not too long ago about radiator leak issues.
In essence the main debate between the two is that tap water has mineral content, and with that the minerals have ions and an electrical charge. This of course can lead to corrosion or a buildup of minerals within the coolant lines/passages. So the use of distilled water that has lost its mineral content would henceforth solve the problem, but the issue with distilled water is that since it is stripped of all minerals, the water has a chemical need to replace the lost minerals, thus acting on the aluminium or other metals it comes in contact. In a nut shell, here is a quote from the article that was forwarded to Royal Purple for a technical response:
"The company responded that under normal use, chemically, distilled/demineralized/deionoized can be corrosive to aluminum components. This is due to the fact that the water is stripped of all minerals (being left with just about only hydrogen and oxygen, H20 ) and the water has a chemical need to replace the minerals, it is hungry so to speak and it will happily take the aluminum. This is a chemical attack. Further, they state that the cooling tubes and fins are aluminum and don't need much corrosion to leak.
The response goes on to say that distilled water is a holdover from when cooling systems consisted of brass/copper radiators and steel in the engine and water pump. The Royal Purple company recommends filtered drinking water or tap water, preferably the inexpensive grocery store bottled water.
This is the first time I've heard of this reasoning, but it sounds reasonable from a chemical standpoint. Any thoughts on the subject from our resident Chemists?
Besides, there isn't much aluminum in tap water anyway. And in a lot of water, no iron. So tap water is going to leach out just as much of these two metals as distilled water would, depending on how much is in the water to start with.
This is such a total non-issue as to be ridiculous. IF you have continuously replaced distilled water continuously washing over a metal surface for a prolonged period of time, yes you can get corrosion. But unless you are running straight distilled water and are changing it out every other day, then its just not going to happen.
The city water in Milwaukee has almost no mineral content as does a lot of municipal water originating from surface supplies. Are these people suggesting I use Perrier water instead?
Originally Posted By: Analyzer
Looks like we have a good debate going on here! I remember an article in Sport Rider magazine that I read not too long ago about radiator leak issues.
In essence the main debate between the two is that tap water has mineral content, and with that the minerals have ions and an electrical charge. This of course can lead to corrosion or a buildup of minerals within the coolant lines/passages. So the use of distilled water that has lost its mineral content would henceforth solve the problem, but the issue with distilled water is that since it is stripped of all minerals, the water has a chemical need to replace the lost minerals, thus acting on the aluminium or other metals it comes in contact. In a nut shell, here is a quote from the article that was forwarded to Royal Purple for a technical response:
"The company responded that under normal use, chemically, distilled/demineralized/deionoized can be corrosive to aluminum components. This is due to the fact that the water is stripped of all minerals (being left with just about only hydrogen and oxygen, H20 ) and the water has a chemical need to replace the minerals, it is hungry so to speak and it will happily take the aluminum. This is a chemical attack. Further, they state that the cooling tubes and fins are aluminum and don't need much corrosion to leak.
The response goes on to say that distilled water is a holdover from when cooling systems consisted of brass/copper radiators and steel in the engine and water pump. The Royal Purple company recommends filtered drinking water or tap water, preferably the inexpensive grocery store bottled water.
This is the first time I've heard of this reasoning, but it sounds reasonable from a chemical standpoint. Any thoughts on the subject from our resident Chemists?
