Why do shops use tap water?!

[RiceCake]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
Tap water usually doesn't have that much calcium and magnesium in it (the elements that make it "hard").


Usually being the key phrase, hence why its safer to say "just use distilled and be happy", because distilled isn't a "usually" option.

Mostly just saying you don't live where I do, the water here leaves chalky deposits on everything, and thats the /drinking water/ I'm talking about.

I have a water softener but even less so do I want the salty bathwater in my engine

Just saying, good clean drinking water is often fine but there's ifs and buts.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: RiceCake
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Tap water usually doesn't have that much calcium and magnesium in it (the elements that make it "hard").


Usually being the key phrase, hence why its safer to say "just use distilled and be happy", because distilled isn't a "usually" option.

Mostly just saying you don't live where I do, the water here leaves chalky deposits on everything, and thats the /drinking water/ I'm talking about.

I have a water softener but even less so do I want the salty bathwater in my engine

Just saying, good clean drinking water is often fine but there's ifs and buts.
Same here. I get Rads in my shop that are completly plugged solid with Calcium deposits. This area is surrounded by Limestone quarries and Cement plants. Don't want to run our well water.

 

[Carnoobie]

The only reason i got my coolant flushed is cause i still had some silicate in there since about 50% was low silicate aftermarket coolant and the other 50% was OEM honda (which is borate free and silicate free). Honda rads need to be silicate free. So i got it flushed completely, even got the shop to drain my block under the car (which holds 20% coolant).

Most shops and dealers wont drain your block cause its a real PITA to get out. All they do is drain and rad, which is pointless cause that only gets out 70% out. A flush is getting it all out, not 50% or 70% or 90%.

I had to get this 100% flush done for peace of mine knowing i have 100% OEM honda coolant in there now.

And wont ever have to pay for it again cause every year i will be doing a coolant drain and fill from the rad on my own. Dont have to use water, just drain and fill and bleed the rad.

 

[AVB]

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
The only reason i got my coolant flushed is cause i still had some silicate in there since about 50% was low silicate aftermarket coolant and the other 50% was OEM honda (which is borate free and silicate free). Honda rads need to be silicate free. So i got it flushed completely, even got the shop to drain my block under the car (which holds 20% coolant).

Most shops and dealers wont drain your block cause its a real PITA to get out. All they do is drain and rad, which is pointless cause that only gets out 70% out. A flush is getting it all out, not 50% or 70% or 90%.

I had to get this 100% flush done for peace of mine knowing i have 100% OEM honda coolant in there now.

And wont ever have to pay for it again cause every year i will be doing a coolant drain and fill from the rad on my own. Dont have to use water, just drain and fill and bleed the rad.


I disagree with most of what you say. A proper flush doesn't matter if you drain the block or not, you keep flushing with clean water untill the water stays clean. Oh and they use tap water just to freak you out.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
just those little drops of tap water can be enough to cause problems

Just a few drops will? That tap water sounds like some nasty stuff.

Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Tap water creates a nasty film in your rad and over time will block coolant flow and your combustion chamber.

It creeps all the way over into the combustion chamber? Holy cats.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: Samilcar
Originally Posted By: Carnoobie
Tap water creates a nasty film in your rad and over time will block coolant flow and your combustion chamber.

It creeps all the way over into the combustion chamber? Holy cats.

People complain about blocked combustion chambers all the time.....

They probably put blinker fluid in the "rad".

 

[Phishin]

These guys on here making apocolyptic claims regarding tap water sound like 20 year old import-tuner guys who love to repeat random bad information from one of their idols.

 

[Carnoobie]

Originally Posted By: AVB
I disagree with most of what you say. A proper flush doesn't matter if you drain the block or not, you keep flushing with clean water untill the water stays clean. Oh and they use tap water just to freak you out.

They did the water until it came out clean, they only had to drain and fill the rad twice with water cause i guess it wasnt all that dirty but good to get deposits out.

I still think draining the block is good cause whats the point doing a flush if you dont get 100% out? That 20% will just mix in with the rest of your new coolant anyways.

 

[AVB]

Really? Carnoobie really?

 

[ComfyShorts]

Rookies...all of you. Everyone knows that running tap water is very dangerous as Carnoobie stated earlier, it gets into your combustion chambers and corrodes the valves. It eats your radiator from the inside, and sometimes throw vehicles out of alignment from the uneven weight distribution from disintegrating radiators. The ONLY way you can use tap water in your radiator is along with this stuff:

By mixing this and tap water inside the radiator, a jello film forms to protect the walls of the radiator from being damaged. I always carry like a box of 10 of these anytime its time for coolant work.

 

[Mau]

I use de-ionized water sold in 4L jugs at my local auto parts store. Says for radiator and battery.

Thats what I use it for. But I feel a bit cheated paying $2.39 for it and who knows if it is de-ionized water or just tap water bottled.

My mind is at ease, that's all that matters.

 

[The Critic]

I have a better quesetion for you guys: who even changes coolant anymore?

Honda Type II is good for 10 years on initial fill, 5 years/60k on subsequent fills. Toyota's life is similar.

I seriously cannot remember the last time I changed coolant on a car.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I change(actually flush with Preston T-flush) coolant in my LS400 every 3-4 years with tap water. The E430 is changed every 4-5 years with G-05. The S2000 has original coolant.

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
I have a better quesetion for you guys: who even changes coolant anymore?

Honda Type II is good for 10 years on initial fill, 5 years/60k on subsequent fills. Toyota's life is similar.

I seriously cannot remember the last time I changed coolant on a car.


Too busy changing tires? -- Oh, snap.

Used cars - bought a 2005 Vue last year. Did a radiator drain/fill 2x a few months apart. Figure its good for 5/60 now.
2000 Civic - no idea what was in it. Needed thermostat replaced, did a DI drain/fill x3 to get it out as best as possible, then switched to Motorcraft/Mazda FL22 b/c I could source it concentrated. Now its good till next T-belt change.

 

[DBMaster]

I like to flush out my blood with alcohol frequently. Wouldn't want any sludgy blood in there.

I have an R/O system. I figure if it's good enough for me it's good enough for the radiator, engine, and battery. Surprisingly, it also seems to be excellent for houseplants. Ever since I started watering them with the R/O water they never need plant food. Two of these plants are in excess of twenty years old.

 

[AdRock]

I try to flush out the cooling system on mine and my wifes car about every 2 years. The same time I do the brake fluid flushes.

I just refill with coolant and the filtered water that comes out of the refrigerator. No problems with calcium buildup in either car and we have pretty hard water here.

 

[RiceCake]

Originally Posted By: Mau
I use de-ionized water sold in 4L jugs at my local auto parts store. Says for radiator and battery.

Thats what I use it for. But I feel a bit cheated paying $2.39 for it and who knows if it is de-ionized water or just tap water bottled.


Fun story. First time I ever changed coolant that is what I bought because I wasn't aware that deionized water was readily available for a third the price at my local grocery store. I changed my fluid and was a happy camper with about a litre left over in a jug.

Now, I went to school for engineering so I know well enough that you shouldn't drink distilled water. It has NO minerals or anything in it, the stuff is the closest you can get to pure H2 and O. Drinking it will actually cause a mineral imbalance in your body, and the water itself will happily pull calcium and other ions from your body to compensate. Yes, drinking tons of distilled water is a very stupid idea. That is why hospitals use "saline" water, it mimics the properties of fluid in the human body. I can't stress enough not to regularly drink the stuff...

...but I'm a smart [censored] so I had to taste it, what does pure water taste like?

I can tell you the difference between deionized water and the "radiator and battery" stuff they sell for three times the cost. The radiator and battery stuff has bitterants in it, like the stuff they put in canned air so people can't inhale it, or the stuff they put in rubbing alcohol.

I couldn't taste food properly for almost two days. Don't do that, unless you want your friends to have one [censored] of a laugh at your stupidity.

 

[artificialist]

When working at auto repair shops, I am almost always stuck doing things that I shouldn't.

There are cars that never had problems with tap water. Back in the day my dad flushed the coolant out of our family cars every year and used tap water. That worked fine until 1998.