MUST READ POST

[pete wylie]

Fellow Bongoliers,
I apologise if this has been written before.

I have had a very interesting chat to an ex Mazda technician. There was an internal bulletin in the late 90's he recalls, advising that, under no circumstances should tap water be used to top up the coolant on any Mazda engine. It appears Mazda saved a few bob by using small bore water ways in the cylinder head and small inside bore coolant pipes which fur up when tap water is used in the system. This is a gradual furring but is impossible to remove. There is only one outcome - overheating!

Use distilled or de-ionised water only. If desperate, cool water from a boiled kettle.

So friends, all our cooling problems could be down to this info not being made general knowledge.

[Aethelric]

Fellow Bongoliers,
I apologise if this has been written before.

I have had a very interesting chat to an ex Mazda technician. There was an internal bulletin in the late 90's he recalls, advising that, under no circumstances should tap water be used to top up the coolant on any Mazda engine. It appears Mazda saved a few bob by using small bore water ways in the cylinder head and small inside bore coolant pipes which fur up when tap water is used in the system. This is a gradual furring but is impossible to remove. There is only one outcome - overheating!

Use distilled or de-ionised water only. If desperate, cool water from a boiled kettle.

So friends, all our cooling problems could be down to this info not being made general knowledge.

Interesting, I wonder if there is a correlation between overheating and the hardness of the water. Here in Fife we have soft water and kettles etc don't fur up.

[scanner]

That has always been the advice for most cars and certainly for water cooled m/bikes.

My Honda's manual is quite explicit on the point AND that a 50/50 mix of de-ionised water and antifreeze MUST be used.

The "fur" also insulates the places it gets deposited and hinders heat transfer, thus exacerbating the problem even further.

[David Edwards]

Yea same thing it is dependant on the area you live and the water supplied, we do not have any probs with limescale in Wales but I still tend either to use spring water or top up with ready mix stuff.

[lizard]

Well, bit late now, I suspect most garages use good old tap water when servicing/coolant change.

[francophile1947]

Well, bit late now, I suspect most garages use good old tap water when servicing/coolant change.

The main dealer I worked for certainly did

[mikeonb4c]

This is a very interesting, if scary, post. In the Mancheser area the water is quite soft I believe so I hope I've not done any harm. You would think evidence to support this might be got from those removing heads to replace blown gaskets, cracked heads etc. as at that point you should be able to see the cooling channels. Has anyone noticed anything like this recently when working on head (gasket) replacement.

I'm not going to panic but will remember this next time coolant change comes up. Interesting too that it is considered to be irreversible as (at a guess) I'd have said that a descaling solution might be found that would allow the deposit to be reabsorbed into solution and thence removed.

I can feel a debate coming on about this one.

[lizard]

The kettle after a few boils looks like it has been snowing inside it.


In good old Somerset the water is so hard people are scared of it.

[Manny]

Interesting post. I was about to post the question as I am planning to do a coolant change for the first time and the tap water here in Brighton is very hard as can be seen in the kettle. The service schedule suggests the coolant should be changed every two years but I am a bit hesitant as I haven't done many miles and the coolant looks clean. I checked in Halfords for de-ionised water and it is £3.49 for 5 litres container. Since the cooling system I believe requires about 15 litres of 50/50, it means buying two. Still it's probably cheaper than a new head!
I also thought that prehaps boiling water in the kettle so the scale drops and then filtering the water might be safe. Any comments? I don't know if they still put flouride in the water and what effect that may have on aluminium.

Manny

[Veg_Ian]

Do you use filtered water at home ie. Britas? That uses a de-ionising cartridge and has to be better than tap water.

[Linusface]

I work in a sugar processing plant in East London. We regularly test our supply water for 'hardness' (calcium) & have large softeners to stop the plant furring up.
I have just tested our tap water and it's VERY hard (Think Mike Tyson )
I have also tested water from a boiled kettle - still very hard (although more Frank Bruno than Mike Tyson ).
I would advise using more of a Frank Spencer type of water - either distilled, or from a water softener if you have one.
Basically, boiling a kettle does not boil the hardness out of water

[bongomaan]

very interesting post, I have two thoughts one could flushing with white vinegar solution help ? and two i recently got a new tumble dryer, in the manuel it says that the water that comes out of the tank at the bottom is condensed and can safely be used in a steam iron so distiled water not for free but a handy byproduct ....

[scanner]

very interesting post, I have two thoughts one could flushing with white vinegar solution help ? and two i recently got a new tumble dryer, in the manuel it says that the water that comes out of the tank at the bottom is condensed and can safely be used in a steam iron so distiled water not for free but a handy byproduct ....

We have a condescending Tumble Dryer as well and have used the water in a steam iron for years without any probs - water here is so hard you can almost see the chalk suspended in solution sometimes.

[Simon Jones]

We have a condescending Tumble Dryer...

Does it display a patronizingly superior attitude to your clothes ?

[Aethelric]

We have a condescending Tumble Dryer...

Does it display a patronizingly superior attitude to your clothes ?

Made my night

Dave