Tap water to mix with coolant...

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What problem will occur if I mix tap water instead of using distilled water...
I bring my friend's car to flush the cooling system... The guy told me don't use Bosch +4 spark plugs and G-05 for 97 Nissan Sentra...
Then I go out to buy NGK spark plugs and Nissan coolant... when I come back they did the flush already... then he just pull the Nissan coolant...
I ask him do he need the distilled water then he answered me no... because when he flush the coolant... there are already some tap water inside...
shocked.gif

then we end up just use the tap water to mix with the coolant...

Next time... do you guys recommend bring 10 gallons of distilled water to there to let him do the flush?

Thanks~
 
Distilled or demineralized water is better, but there's no great harm in using tap water.

The best flush is where you pour distilled water afterward into the system to displace the tap water as much as possible before recharging.
 
Likely Kestas has been drinking the same water out of the Detroit River as the owners' manual writers. Maybe the Huron River. Once filtered and chlorinated, it is fairly good for both man and machine. It is naturally low in minerals. Any one fill doesn't carry in that much minerals.

Where you get in trouble is with an older car where you continually adding more water if it is a high mineral content. I don't think lime is a problem in drinking water, but in pipes, washing machines, radiators, etc. it is. I don't think I want softened water where the lime has been replaced with salt in the radiator either. Not the best for people with heart problems either. A low mineral tap water used to fill a radiator isn't a big problem. Continually adding, or even filling with a high lime content can lead to a limed up radiator.

Let me add, that hard water out of a well tastes better than chlorinated river bottom crud.
 
Calcium is a huge problem. And when heated, it precipitates, solidifies and forms small rocks. Enough coolant reduces the issue but as the mixture ages, the tendency will be to allow the calcification to occur.

If you have water from wells, you are more likely to have high calcium than if you use lake/river water.
 
For the record, we get our water from Lake St. Clair. I've checked pH and mineral content from my tap and labman is right, the water is pretty good... better than a lot of places I've been to. I would definitely consider buying water for the radiator if I was in coastal Florida.
 
My friend don't know anything wrong with that because he don't know about car...
Just I concern about that...
Anyway I will recommand him to flush his coolant again after 30000 miles instead of 50000 or 70000.
How many gallons do you guys think will be enough to flush the cooling system?
Because I am a picky peason so I want to use distilled water to do the flush instead of tap water...
 
I would still flush with a garden hose because I run the water a long time (many gallons) to ensure everything is flushed out. Only then would I use distilled water to displace as much tap water as possible.
 
I think it usually takes about 4 continual flushes to get everything out (tap water). The first and second flush get drained into an oil pan and then into a 5 gallon jug for recycling. And the third and fourth go to the sewer. On the fourth I use distilled water, run and flush. Then add coolant with distilled water (50 cents a gallon at wal-mart). It's also a good idea to let the car sit a good half hour or more between flushes to cool the engine down before adding cold tap water. Or else?
 
quote:

Originally posted by Kitto:
How many gallons do you guys think will be enough to flush the cooling system?
Because I am a picky peason so I want to use distilled water to do the flush instead of tap water...


This is neither rocket science nor as difficult as laboriously calculating it out would be. For an average size car, buy about 4 or 5 gallons of "WalMart's best" distilled water (You'll likely have at least a gallon lift over.) - about 60 cents/gallon. (Distilled water is distilled water - period.) Then just flush until the drained effluent is water-white clear - at that point you can virtually count on any remaining old antifreeze or mineral content is absurdly close to nil. My Sonata V6 took about three gallons of distilled water to reach that point last year. As it happened, the remaining distilled water in the cooling system worked out to be slightly over 50% of the overall volume. What antifreeze didn't make it into the radiator on final refill, fit comfortably in the empty, cleaned, plastic overflow bottle. After a week of normal operation, I ended up with just an insignificant smidgeon under 50% antifreeze concentration according to my Prestone coolant hydrometer - close enough for government work or welfare patients. Just be sure to fully warm the engine with the heater control valve in full "hot" position between drains and refills to assure that the entire cooling system is thoroughly mixed before each successive radiator drain. (I refuse to take a bath by removing block drain plugs - if my car's motor even has 'em.) To achieve the same result by flushing with distilled water after a thorough hose tap water flush will take just as much distilled water, end up taking twice as long, and you won't have the advantage of color change to guide you when you've displaced the remaining mineral-laden tap water with distilled water. Why go through an unnecessary step with tap water of unknown calcium content? (Note, vending machine "purified" water is filtered and perhaps subject to charged membrane ion-exchange, but is NOT distilled or truly de-ionized unless it specifically states so.) Three measly additional bucks for the genuine article is insignificant in the course of a coolant changeout.
 
What would be wrong with just draining out the old dex-cool without flushing and refill with 50/50 pre-mix dex-cool, only if the system looks clean.
 
quote:

Originally posted by tmus2122:
What would be wrong with just draining out the old dex-cool without flushing and refill with 50/50 pre-mix dex-cool, only if the system looks clean.

careful, there's no anality factor there.

The fact that that exact procedure has been used successfully for eons on billions of cars has nothing to with it......

if the system has been maintained properly, that's all you'll ever need to do. (am i repeating myself again?)
 
it took me 2 days and about 12 gallons of distilled to do my 4 cylinder Malibu right. the thing had to idle a good 30 minutes to get warm enought for the thermostat to stay open when i drined the water each time. but i also made sure it was sparkling clean when before i ever introduced antifreeze back in the equation. also cause i switched to a green instead of dex cool.

a coworker just had a "heater" problem and took her blazer to get "flushed" after they flushed it it still wouldnt blow hot air so they shot compressed air in the line and it blew out a glob of gunk that was clogging the heater core. after they flushed again and filled it up the heat works. dont think i'll ever use dex-cool ever again.
 
I'm with Arctic388. I flushed my 91' 7.3L diesel Navistar 9 times before I got all of the green color out. It took me ALL day long and untold gallons of distilled water since it holds 31qt's. I was amazed how much old coolant was still stuck in the back of the engine.
 
so when you flush with tap water, how do you get all the tap water out when you are ready to add the coolant and distilled?

(you can't)
 
No, but with tap water you can flush like heck without using expensive distilled water. With tap water you are pretty much ensured that all antifreeze and crud that you can move out of the system are gone.

Then all you have to do is dilute the tap water with distilled water, which should be rather easy with using too many gallons.
 
pmwalter's case was exceptional because of that behemouth 7.3L engine. There aren't that many passenger cars that will end up taking anywhere near $40.00+ worth of distilled water. Calcium, in any quantity, is not good in a cooling system's passages because of its tendency to form hard precipitates on the cooling system walls. Softened water substitutes sodium - even worse because of its corrosive effects on metals. (Even stainless steel will undergo corrosion when exposed to sodium content water.)
 
If you live in Chippwa Falls Wis. (where buck teeth people live),then use tap water ,or if not use distilled water as RAY says,as he has good info on this subject,,,,,,BL
 
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