I have always used a 50/50 mix antifreeze ,we get winter temp down to about 0 degrees and up to about 100 a few weeks in the summer. Temp in all my vehicals run about 195 degrees ,year around. No problems up or down for about 50 years so far. I do keep the systems in all of my vehicals clean and free of rust .Flush and dump old when it starts to look cruddy .Keeping radiator and engine block clean inside helps a lot. I have run my work trucks with a 75 percent antifreez mix,don't no if it helped,never hurt though.

 

None of this makes any sense to me. Anti-freeze raises the boiling point of the coolant, correct. With NO anti-freeze added, the boiling point of water is 212 F; you should be at 190 to 195 F and I thought the point of this thread was that you couldn't get close to that in the first place. You can't turn liquid into gas until you reach the boiling point, so I don't see how you have steam in your engine.

Your cooling system should get just as hot, anti-freeze or no anti-freeze. We all learned in high school that the pressure in the cooling system increases as the temperature increases, but the amount of pressure doesn't have anything to do with where the boiling point happens to be. Anti-freeze is simply added to spread the range of temperatures that the coolant remains in liquid form. Some people don't run anti-freeze at all because they know that the coolant will never experience freezing temperatures in their climate, and they don't expect to run their engine near the boiling point of water. However, anti-freeze should always be used in general because about 5% of it is composed of rust inhibitors.

I think you're over-reaching here. I'm also not a chemist, so I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

 

What the hell? Listen, stop with the mumbo-jumbo and follow five simple instructions:

1) Drain coolant.
2) Flush cooling system.
3) Refill with original green coolant mixed 50/50 with distilled water.
4) Refill.
5) Crack open beer.

 

Hey what the hell yourself buddy. I'm aware of how to change my coolant OK? And your little punch line didn't do it for me.

If you don't have any input relating to my problem, then just click over to another thread huh?

I'm trying to figure out how to get my engine to run at a nice constant 190*, and it does not yet do that. That's it!

Fmc, ya that might have been a little contrived, my last post. But what I was getting at, was not that the water's boiling, turning completely to a gas, but that it's releasing water vapor. Like a pot on the stove steams long before it boils. My *guess* was that the higher the boiling point (thanks to more coolant), the less vapor the mixture gives off at any given temp. Vapor can get through the little imperfections in the thermo seal easier than liquid, and so to me, the more vapor, the more leakage. That vapor then condenses in the radiator (think moonshine still), and flows back into the engine as cooled liquid. All this is happening before the thermostat opens keep in mind. That's what I'm talking about here. Thermostats leak a decent amount I found out.

Ya, I know that's a little out there, but it's a theory, and a pretty quickly thought up one. A theory can change in a minute, I'm not puting this down as gospel, just keeping this thread updated with my process.

 

nothercrash i got ya man test and then replace your defective radiator cap its one of the most common causes of overheating and often the most over looked a 13psi cap should hold 13psi. also noteworthy is this cap is how your system regulates the pressure and for every 1 psi the boiling point of the water is increased by 3 degrees so with a proper cap your boiling point is 251 degrees which is good because boiling the water will cause cavitation. On the note of using antifreeze for corrosion protection he is right however they sell additives for people in extreme hot environments to protect against corrosion. this should make your range more predictable. On a side note replacing the fan shroud will greatly improve your cooling which is not a problem you wanted addressed.

However under cooling was which is a condition and actually can cause sludge and motor break down the right ratio of coolant to water allows the water to warm faster than pure water without significantly affecting to boiling point, so long story short water only no coolant will cause a slower warm up along with lack of a fan clutch (which contains a thermo-reactive bi metal coil spring to engage clutch) is why you have under heating.

One last insert a thermostat actually uses a wax pellet to expand and open, the metal spring sets the pressure to keep it closed.

let me know how you fair and if you need a tester hit harbor freight with 30 bucks

Ps i belive autozone will do these as a loaner tool

 

Couple of ideas here: Have you considered that coolant flow through your heater core could be causing your problems? The heater core is a little miniature radiator. Try connecting the input/ouput hoses directly together to eliminate it from the equation. Air will still flow through the heater core at highway speeds even without the blower motor fan turned on.

Contrary to what fmc400 says (no offense, I respect your opinion), pressure has just as much to do with boiling point as temperature does. Pressure is controlled by your radiator cap. Caps are cheap, change it out with a new one to eliminate that possible problem. Theoretically if your cap is sticking it could cause almost as much trouble as a sticky thermostat.

To expand: "The boiling point of an element or a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid". The boiling point of water is only 212 degrees at sea level (1 bar, or 14.7 psi). Compare that to the boiling point of water at .5 psi as being 79.6 degrees, or the boiling point at 48 psi to be 279 degrees. Your radiator cap keeps your cooling system at pressure, which in turn raises the boiling point of your coolant.

If you replace the cap and bypass your heater core and your temperature still fluctuates...well then I'm stumped.

 

Ditto, this thread was answered many moons ago.

 

Thanks for the details on doing the mouth test, my factory shop manuals don't have cool stuff like that

 

sounds like a cool idea but can we get a video of pehaps a mid twenties something female to demonstrate

 

Good god montana I've never met such a little rat. I PM'd you my phone number after you stirred up a mess the first time and you never had the stones to call it. Now you come back here and make a little postey! Oh no!

Just go crawl in a hole somewhere and spare us all.

FYI though, to the other posters, the radiator cap is almost brand new, less than a month old, and is a 13PSI. And right, I'm gunna bypass the heater core at some point, but for the moment, the coolant has helped. That's the long and short of it (and one reason I'm so amaaazed that these couple ********* keep coming back). I'm not making this up guys, very weak mixture heated up to far less than a very strong mixture. That's just what it is!

This thread has really surprised me. It's like schoolyard bullying in here. You're either so bored, or so ignorant that you can't see how much of a fool you make of yourself. Again, do you think I'm making this stuff up? Do you really think I am unaware of how to change my coolant?! I'm gunna keep it coming though until I figure out eXACTly how to manipulate my engine's cooling and heating, so you guys are just gunna have to grit and bare it haha. And finally, once again, I'd loooove to see the couple of you that are just here to stir up a mess say any of that to me in person. I'm 6'3", 225, and I've squashed many a bug when they've deserved it, but I guess our keyboards are the same size, so you use the net as a way to get even with someone you'd feel intimidated by in real life. Well, enjoy! Hope you get all the thrills you'd hoped for piling up on a 20 year old trying to learn, but like, how can you have any self respect? You wouldn't even call me on the phone haha, like really? Geez, there's quite the broad range of people in this world I guess.

Thanks for all the VALID input here though everyone else. I knew that pressure affected boiling point (that's how a steam engine's boiler can get liquid water to 400*F), but didn't know how MUCH of an effect the relatively low pressure in a radiator could have. All of the readings on this thread though, have been since the new cap has been installed.

Anyway though, I'll keep this up to date, and a final word for those who have nooothing to contribute here, aren't you the ones spamming the board? See ya later, AleX

 

If all you have to say is rude don't say it at all.

 

Thank you for the correction; I completely forgot about that. You're absolutely right.

 

Not rude, just facts my friend, the OP has undiagnosed mental issues he hasn't dealt with yet, i'm not Dr. Phil

 

No, you are being rude.

If you think there is a problem with his mental health and do not wish to help, then kindly excuse yourself from the forum. You are not convincing anyone but yourself.

Not my fight, but your posts have not exactly advanced the thread.

 

to the OP.

two things happen when you add coolant instead of straight water. The surface tension changes and the rate of heat transfer changes.

It is possible that the coolant is better able to absorb the heat from the engine and transfer it throughout the entire cooling system more efficiently. The net result would be a higher minimum temperature seen by the gauge. The coolant will also be a more even temperature system wide. You will also be able to transfer more heat to the radiator thus improving the high end temps you have been experiencing as well.

cheers.