Uh oh...leaking coolant

[Red99GAGT]

I got to work the other day and when I parked, I could smell that imfamous stench of coolant. Then some steam was coming from under my hood. My first thought was sh!t, I just got bit by the 3400 lower intake manifold gasket bug. Fortunately though, it was coming from just the water pump. The leak stopped, so I added some more coolant after work and limped her home while stopping at Autozone to pick up a new pump. Piece of cake install for the most part. I'm just glad its not that LIM gasket. Its bound to happen though, just turned 50K miles.

I'm flushing the cooling system and getting rid of that evil Death-Cool garbage this week.

[TA^Guy]

Glad to hear you'll have it up and running for the meet.

[92CamaroRS]

if you can just run straight water with some Water Wetter or similar product. straight water will cool better than anti-freeze/water. reason for having the water wetter is to keep stuff from corroding. but once winter comes your gonna wanna get the water out of it and put in some coolant

[Pte Socks]

I had the same thing happen to me GAGT. Water pump and a blet blew and i was leaking coolant all over. So tell me one thing though. Why dont you like Dex-cool?

[GA1999]

Originally posted by GAguy
if you can just run straight water with some Water Wetter or similar product. straight water will cool better than anti-freeze/water. reason for having the water wetter is to keep stuff from corroding. but once winter comes your gonna wanna get the water out of it and put in some coolant

NEVER put str8 water into a car with an aluminum head/block unless it is an emergency (IE broken down on the side of the road). It will pit and corrode the inside of the head and will ruin the bearings on the water pump. You may also blow a head gasket if it does overheat. Water wetter is nothing more than alcohol, forcing the coolant to "stick" to the inside of the radiator, hoses, etc. rather than "bead" off the parts, thus providing better cooling. Adding it to your coolant is fine.....but str8 water is a definite no no. Coolant is specially formulated to lubricate the waterpump and has a higher boiling point/lower freeze point temp than str8 water. Geez, I dunno where you guys come up with these nutty ideas.

[92CamaroRS]

um i can tell ya first had that you can buy water pump lubricant and add it to water and running straight water with it will do nothing to them and coolant actually has a lower boiling point than water. i can tell ya this from first hand experiance. want proof it runs cooler come down to Echo Valley Speed way and ask what all the stock class and hobby stock class and pure stock class what theya re running in there car for coolant. then go and ask teh Mods what they run. they have all aluminum heads and blocks and run straight water and dont ruin a thing.

[GA1999]

coolant actually has a lower boiling point than water

Hmmm.....seems to me (unless science has changed) the boiling point of water is 210 degrees. Coolant will not boil until it hits over 240 degrees. Racing is also different than regular driving. Race cars do not see stop and go traffic, below zero weather, idling in traffic at 100 plus degrees, short trips to the store that never warm up the engine fully or leaving coolant in for 2+ years. There needs to be some corrosion inhibiter in the system. Hot water is an universal solvent that will remove metals/minerals from one location and plate on elsewhere. This can lead to clogged heads, radiators, etc over time.


You have a point though about race engines - race engines never last all that long. They are constantly taken apart and rebuilt, so what's the need for coolant in a race car if you're going to do that? On the other hand......a street car that is driven on a daily basis should have what is reccomended by the manufacturer.