coolant vs water

[Nismo]

Rite now my car is overheating and its filled with about 15% coolant and 85% water(from the hose). Should I have it filled 100% with coolant to stop it from over heating?

[changaroo]

why do you have so much water in your coolant mixture? if you didnt buy your coolant pre-mixed, you should be using a 50/50 mix of coolant / water (distilled is better, no sediments to clog your cooling system)

[mocha latte cupcake]

50/50 split with water wetter. :D

thermostat going bad?
air in the hoses? open the radi cap, and squeeze the upper hose.

[Big Baller]

Something else is wrong, a car with straight water will run cooler than one with straight coolant.

[Nismo]

Brand new thermostat, dunno about teh air in the hoses, the 50/50 stuff, is that the stuff I buy at the store and just dump straight in? Cause the coolant thats in there is already the 50/50 stuff with a shit ton of extra water.

[R32Dragon]

Something else is wrong, a car with straight water will run cooler than one with straight coolant.

Ditto on that. Coolant/antifreeze is meant to prevent corrosion and keep the engine from freezing in winter conditions. Water is technically the best "coolant" due to its superior heat exchanging properties.

The absolute best results would be strait distilled water with Royal Purple Purple Ice. Wouldn't recommend it though...

[Nismo]

I wonder if its the belt thats attached to my cooling fan if its maybe too loose? It squeals so I dont know if its too tight or too loose.

[mocha latte cupcake]

just curious what exactly was the reason in only adding water? what kind of car is it? try to squeeze the hose thing, it will help out a good bit if you have air in the system. i would say if its a newer car it shouldn't be the water pump. are your fans working?

[Nismo]

Its a 1985 corolla with teh 4ac motor. I added water because i ran out of coolant. Ill try the hose thing when it cools off a bit and I can take of the radiator car and ill tighetn up that belt alot again. The fan works fine thats attached to the front of the engine.

[changaroo]

did you fully flush the system wen you did the thermostat changes?
the only thing i can think of is that there is a bubble of air somewhere in the lines.

have you tried taking the radiator cap when the car is cool, turning the car on, and let it sit with the cap off to let the bubbles boil out from there?

[Nismo]

Yea, it just spits fluid out everywhere after the thermostat opens up. And i squeezed out the air from the top radiator line.

[SLo_MKIII]

coolant temp. sensor? belt that runs water pump?

[Nismo]

The belt is squared away, it over heats when I start romping on it, but rite before it shoots steam it fills its overflow tank all the way up.

[SLo_MKIII]

if the fans are working, doesnt leak, has no air bubbles, belts are fine and has a new thermostat... i would think it has something to do with a sensor or something:dunno:

[mocha latte cupcake]

water pump...or a sensor, fan switch?

[Kevykev]

water pump...or a sensor, fan switch?


could be any of those and thermostat.

Get the water out of there!- water plus metal plus recirculation plus settling plus more recirculation = Corrosion and Death.

Winter plus water = Add Expansion to the equation mention above.

Water is the "universal solvent" -it will fuck anything up over time.

[pure insanity]

its a 1985. go get the radiator rodded out. tightening that belt aint gonna do anything but burn the bearing in the water pump. its got a mechanical fan so make sure its got a shroud around the fan so its pulling its air thru the rad. what thermostat you got in it? make sure its a 180*.

[FDslider]

Also try bleeding the cooling system. Look at the top of your water neck on the motor. There should be a bolt/screw that goes into it. This should be the highest point of the cooling system, therefore if air is in the system, it will come here. With the car on level ground, let it run at idle and crack that bleed screw open. Fill up the radiator with water until it comes out of the bleed hole. Also try it with your heater all the way on full blast. Try that and let me know if you still have the problem.

[Pavlo]

Water is also bad because anti-freeze is used to lubricate the water pump, straight water cannot do that.
Also, makes sure that the fan clutch is good (if it has one).

[FDslider]

Water is also bad because anti-freeze is used to lubricate the water pump, straight water cannot do that.
Also, makes sure that the fan clutch is good (if it has one).
Correct, straight water will make the inside of your engine rust. At least use Water Wetter if anything.

[BuBBa DRiFT]

does water wetter actually work?

[FDslider]

does water wetter actually work?
Well, we have a Pro Star Mazda, a few Elan DP-02's, and a couple of Porsche GT3 Cup cars at the shop and we run a Distilled water/Water Wetter Mix. It is supposed to reduce the water temps, but in the winter time, we do switch it back to an antifreeze mix just so it does not freeze up and crack the head or the pipes, etc. But, to answer your question, our cars run too cool as it is, so we have to run specifically-sized blocking panels on the radiators to bring the running water temps up to where we like it. The motors get REALLY happy around 180-190 degrees.

[BuBBa DRiFT]

nice, so i guess that little vial at autozone would help keep my car a tad bit cooler, nice to know something they sell actually works lol

[Nismo]

Its got a 180 degree thermostat thats brand new. Ill try putting the shroud on it today and see waht happens. I pulled off the condenser and that made a huge difference for what ever reason.

[pure insanity]

getting the condensor out of there just lets you get more air thru the rad. with less resistance. thats a good thing. put that shroud on there and youll see alot more difference. wtf was you running without a shroud anyways? those old cooling systems didnt have much trouble with air in them and i dont think its got an air "burp" screw. if your still hot with the condensor gone and a shroud in place , then no doubt go get the rad. rodded. its like 50-60$ spend the money its worth it.

and for the record, water wetter sucks ass worse than anything that ever sucked before. it didnt do a damn thing for me.

[Nismo]

Putting that shroud in seemed to clear up the problem, funny how a little dinky piece of plastic kept the car from running correctly.

[RISKYB]

good deal

[noridetoolow]

The shroud concentrates the flow\suction of the air, you loose so much of what the fan is doing without it. Glad to hear that fixed it.

[AnthonyF]

50/50 split with water wetter. :D

thermostat going bad?
air in the hoses? open the radi cap, and squeeze the upper hose.


i was looking at that water Wetter...does it actually work??