Water Wetter

[mojoe]

Good info here ..... even the manufacturer of such a product states it's primary purpose and it's limitations:

https://blog.amsoil.com/do-coolant-additives-work/

 

[kschachn]

Good info here ..... even the manufacturer of such a product states it's primary purpose and it's limitations:

https://blog.amsoil.com/do-coolant-additives-work/

Notice how in all of that it doesn’t make a concise distinction as to what the comparison is, whether against plain water or a proper coolant mixture. Coolants already have surfactants and corrosion inhibitors. The repeated reference to racing makes me think it’s all a comparison to water.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Notice how in all of that it doesn’t make a concise distinction as to what the comparison is, whether against plain water or a proper coolant mixture. Coolants already have surfactants and corrosion inhibitors. The repeated reference to racing makes me think it’s all a comparison to water.

Plus it may be like many other additives... most likely developed for the racing industry and not really intended for the every day, on the road, normal service vehicles with proper working cooling systems?

 

[mojoe]

Notice how in all of that it doesn’t make a concise distinction as to what the comparison is, whether against plain water or a proper coolant mixture. Coolants already have surfactants and corrosion inhibitors. The repeated reference to racing makes me think it’s all a comparison to water.

The article clearly highlights how water is the best coolant one can use, then gives the reasons why additives are helpful, thus why good antifreeze/coolant "hits the mark". Certain additives, in addition to anitfreeze/coolant are helpful "Because racers, competitors and enthusiasts want every advantage they can get to enhance engine performance. And a good coolant additive can provide that edge. This helps racers and competitors achieve maximum efficiency and horsepower. "

Amsoil, who manufactures and sells one of those additives, states it's primary purpose (for racing) and notes that water (which is typically used for racing) itself is the best coolant. Only then do they explain how it may be useful to certain customers who are not racers.

 

[NYEngineer]

My take on what water wetter does is based on what I learned from wrenching on diesel generator sets and from Caterpillar's research.
Years ago I got called to a machine in a hospital for water in the oil. It turned out to be the liner seals had failed and water from the cooling system leaked past them into the crank case. Upon disassembly I found terrible erosion on the thrust side of the liners on the cooling system side. In my opinion, they were a short time away from becoming porous. This engine had straight water in it without additives. I tried to get them to pay for new liners but they refused so when I reassembled the engine, I turned all of the liners 90 degrees so to put a "new" surface on the thrust side. I also put a water/antifreeze mixture in the cooling system.
This is where Cat comes into this... My dad was from Cat. Factory trained, etc... He was able to somehow show me a VHS of X Ray films made by Caterpillar of a cylinder wall of a running engine. One with only water and one with Cat's water additive. The plain water was being pushed away from the liner as the piston pushed down. It was similar to watching waves at the beach. The second part had water additive. It adhered to the inner surfaces of the engine much better than plain water. Also has rust inhibitors.
Ever since then (probably 35 years ago) I have never run straight water in any engine except for doing a flush. In NY we have to run antifreeze for winter but I have always used either the Cat additive or Redline in the rare case we were not using antifreeze.
They need to stop saying it lowers temperatures. It's probably the easiest to understand sentence they came up with. It definitely makes the system more efficient.
These are MY findings. Feel free to tell me right or wrong.

 

[repairman54]

Water Wetter works in some applications. Its not a cure all for mechanical problems though.
I ran it in one of my old snowmobiles to help the undersized cooling system stay out of the red longer in some conditions. 600cc engine with a 400cc sized cooling system in that case. It helped delay the inevitable in certain snow conditions.
Its helped with a current machine, 1200cc engine, that has a tendency to run hot in certain conditions also that has a smaller cooling system also. Only get the hot warning now vs the shut down warning.
Only time I've used Water Wetter has only been in sleds.

 

[gamefoo21]

I swear, Water Wetter used to say it wasn't compatible with Dex-Cool or long life coolants and recommended the 'Diesel' variant for those systems. Now it says it's compatible with Dex and LL coolants. The Diesel variant specifically warns against using it in light duty diesels and vehicles using coolant mixtures.

I wonder when that changed... Hmmm...

I've run WW in my water cooling loops for computers and have had good results in pure distilled water.