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Warning about using water as coolant

22K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  nycbmw325is 
#1 ·
I have read a lot of posts in the last week or so regarding coolant leaks. For those of you that dont remember I was the guy that replaced ALL of the hoses (there 8 of them IIRC) The first thing to check when you are faced with a coolant problem and you dont see any visible leaks is the OIL CAP. If there is a whitish/ milky looking goo on the inside of the cap, this is a very strong indicator that you have blown a head gasket. Having said that, more often than not it is something much less disasterous than this. But I must warn you guys, do not use tap water when filling your Cooling system. In a matter of weeks you could wreck your engine block. Here is what happens: if you use tap water it has lots of minerals and imputities in it. These inpurites conduct electricity. You have a very powerful battery in your car, which is powerful enough in fact to actually perform the same function as electroplating only it will transfer the aluminum from your block and heads to other metal parts. Run down toyour grocery store and use distilled water. it is cheap as hell and will not cause problems.
In fact I have read a lot regarding the problems people had by not using BMW coolant, and my research indicates if you change your coolant every tweo years, and use distilled water you dont have to worry about the silicatre precipitation leading to the evil green goo in your cooling system.
 
#2 ·
In the classic Swayze movie "Red Dawn" (where the Russians invade and the high school students fight them off) the boys pee in the radiator when it overheats. I suppose that's pretty bad for the engine too.
 
#5 ·
damn are you stupid? go back and read the post i put up a half hour ago... how can you say thanks for the valuable info and then either not read it or ignore and ask a question that has just been answered.. tell ya what. pee in your radiator it works better than coolant and it is already pre mixed...
 
#7 ·
dont get the drinking water from the store. get the stuff that says for photography, irons, cleaning, etc...

prior to replaceing my whole cooling system radiator, belts, water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing. (just 2 hoses). i was using tap water with no problem.

tap isn't good to be using all the time for long periods it more like to cause other problems. I've never heard of the electro plating issue but under the right circumstances your gonna have a problem.

and the purified water is like 59c a gallon or something.
 
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