New fluid...with water...would you change?

[coopns]

Put a new rad in the 02 Caravan. We were at my buddy's garage and we filled it with the correct fluid but didn't have any distilled water, so just used tap. Should I drain and fill with distilled or just leave it? And how many drains and fills would it take to clear it out?

Thanks.

 

[scurvy]

If your water is excessively hard then you probably should change it out - otherwise if it's 'normal' or relatively soft I'd leave it alone.

No idea how many D&F it would take, not familiar with the ought-two Caravan's coolant system capacity nor how much comes out when you drain it.

 

[cmf]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
If your water is excessively hard then you probably should change it out - otherwise if it's 'normal' or relatively soft I'd leave it alone.

No idea how many D&F it would take, not familiar with the ought-two Caravan's coolant system capacity nor how much comes out when you drain it.


Entirely accurate on both counts. However, I would add that I would still drain/fill my anti-freeze in about half the time you normally do with distilled water (if you added soft water this time). For example, I do it every 2 years, I would do it in a year if I added soft water. I personally would do another year and then go back to every 2 years. The tap water isn't going to hurt the system, it'll just speed up the depletion of anti-corrosive additives and consequentially the corrosion of the system. However, hard water is just bad news for cooling systems.

 

[ahoier]

As to how many drain and fills...lol. That depends on the size of the rad, and how much water actually stays in the block.....I've heard some say garden hose water is just as good as distilled water when it comes to filling the radiator...but me personally, I've always been a distilled kind of guy, I feel with the proper 50/50 and the distilled water, the coolant should at least be able to hold up longer, since it won't have the possible scale/lime/calcium deposits of tap water....I wouldn't worry too much, just keep up on the maintenance, instead of going 5 years on a fluid change, take it to 1-2 years since you didn't use the completely demineralized water...

 

[HTSS_TR]

My 17 years old 260+k miles LS400 had been using tap water since 1997-1998, water pump had been changed once when it had timing belt replaced about 100-120k miles ago, radiator is OEM with no sign of problem, the other items had been changed were heater hoses and upper radiator hose.

Tap water is not as bad as most people think, as long as you change/flush coolant every 2-3 years.

 

[Boomer]

Depends on how hard your tap water is. In parts of PA, it is so hard that water heaters can be clogged solid in several years! That is NOT water I would put in my cooling system.

 

[Trav]

Quote:
Tap water is not as bad as most people think, as long as you change/flush coolant every 2-3 years.


It all depends on where you live. I don't know about the U.S. but i'm sure all water is not as soft and pure as in your area.
Chalk can destroy a cooling system in short order.