Distilled versus tap water

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
FWIW I always use tap water w/good results for the past 35 years.

Use the tap water in some regions for 35 days and you wont have a radiator or heater core that still flows, in a battery it will ruin it in short order.
Mineral content can vary wildly from region to region regardless of country. Distilled is a safe bet.

Originally Posted By: philipp10
I cannot imagine that one coolant change with tap water would have THAT much calcium in it to be able to coat my cooling system to any worrisome degree.


some parts of Germany will do it in no time at all, It will ruin kettles, washing machines, dishwasher, coffee makes and cooling systems quickly. Product to remove it from appliances are normal store items but don’t work well in cooling systems as most are harmful to aluminum.

Just some of the products commonly sold removing this junk.

https://www.google.com/search?q=entkalke...680&bih=884

 

[Benito]

Here's something interesting for windshield washer fluid:

"Do not add distilled or de-ionized water to the washer fluid container. Otherwise, the level sensor may be damaged."

http://www.mersuv.com/mbread-884.html

 

[SHOZ]

There's enough residue or gunk in the system to negate the corrosive effects of distilled. De-ionized depends on what the initial pH is.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Originally Posted By: philipp10
well if your like me, I maybe do one coolant change in the life of a car, around 125k miles (if at all) so this is not much of an issue. Of course I would use distilled but I cannot imagine that one coolant change with tap water would have THAT much calcium in it to be able to coat my cooling system to any worrisome degree.



If you rarely change the fluid, the importancè on the correct AND quality is of even greater importance.......IMO of course!