Which is the best coolant....

[Hammer]

As the subject header reads, which do you think is the best coolant around? In particular for a turbo car (ie. SP).

I've read about Redline's Water Wetter, but there seems to be a lot of cons (ie. gunk etc) that I've decided to avoid it. I've also read about Techaloy 100. That seems like a good product.

Any others you'd recommend?

[Tezzax5]

You already have a car that is using techaloy products.....

[zoomzoom]

You should clarify, are you after the best coolant for corrosion prevention, or best for heat transfer?

So you know putting any normal glycol based coolants in with the cooling water will deminish it's specific heat capacity(cp) and affect its ability somewhat to shed heat from the engine under high load conditions. The cp of ethylene glycol is around half that of water, so if using it in high concentrations such as for anifreeze/antiboil(generally 33%) you will be severly affecting the cp of the cooling fluid.

An easier way to look at the cp is to think of it as a reservoir for heat, the higher the cp the larger the heat reservoir, so your system can handle more of a heat load before having to shed some through the radiator.

There are also many other things to consider. Danny AKA orx626 is pretty knowledgable on the heat transfer subject, maybe he will chime in...

Tim

[Steampunk]

In English please Tim

[wun911]

In english

Additives to water retard its effectiveness as a coolant.

[AJ]

In english

Additives to water retard its effectiveness as a coolant.

hehehe.........I was just about to add, the best coolant I know is water ...much lighter too, without all that other gunk in it ...................Techalloy is the ducks nuts Hammer, been around for donkeys years........just a good 3 in 1 inhibitor will be fine

[Steampunk]

Just for the record, not that I'm pedantic or anything, it is spelt Tectaloy

And yes, I use it too.

[Fatty]

demineralised water, no need to add any of that other crap (unless you live in a really cold area where it gets below freezing overnight.)

[zoomzoom]

demineralised water, no need to add any of that other crap (unless you live in a really cold area where it gets below freezing overnight.)

Apart from the fact that the different metals it comes into contact with will corrode each other?

I am just using the old castrol corrosion inhibitor, the stuff that used to come in a can, now in a little bottle. Hopefully it will limit the corrosion in the system.

[HIC-45S]

In my Riceline I used Nulon "Long Life 100% Concentrated" Coolant. I think the concentration was around 2.5L of coolant to 2L of water. Give it a hard time at Wakefield in Summer and the needle doesn't move from its normal position

That being said, I have heard bad things about Nulon, time will tell if it comes true for me

[Fatty]

demineralised water, no need to add any of that other crap (unless you live in a really cold area where it gets below freezing overnight.)

Apart from the fact that the different metals it comes into contact with will corrode each other?

I am just using the old castrol corrosion inhibitor, the stuff that used to come in a can, now in a little bottle. Hopefully it will limit the corrosion in the system.

"coolants" and "corrosion inhibitors" are very different things. i was talking about the "coolants" coz afaik most of them actually lower the boiling point, as mentioned earlier. you were quite right to correct me as i worded it badly.

[zoomzoom]

Coolant (AFAB) will raise the boiling point and lower the freezing point but as discussed lower the cp of the fluid and just for wun, its heavier too

Most of us unless we are expecting to see below freezing conditions will only require a corrosion inhibitor to be added to the cooling water to reduce corrosion but affect the cp as little as possible. As far as I am concerned your car should not be operating at over 100C so the anti boil properties are probably not necessary, some may think otherwise...

[16bit]

not to mention the boiling point of water in a pressurised system will increase. i use water wetter to great effect. I may not need it as I have since installed a larger rad. I think I will be going to water and some sort of corrosion inhibitor when I drain it. If the cooling system is not enough (which it will be) then I will do the cooling system relocation and cooler thermostat jobby.

[SuperMazdaKart]

Redline's Water Wetter is also a corrosion inhibitor anyway.

I've noticed Autobarn's also sell Motul's coolant as well..

[orx626]

Here's a table showing that as you increase the concentration of glycol the heat capacity of the mixture reduces.



As you can see at a 50/50 mix the fluids ability to absorb heat has reduced by just over 20%. What this means is that if you add X amount of heat to the fluid it will be hotter than compared with pure water that has absorbed the same amount of heat. This reduces your temperature differential between what you are wanting to cool and the cooling medium, therefore reducing the cooling system efficiency. The upshot is (as people have stated) that the fluid won't boil or freeze at the same temperatures as pure water and is a corrosion inhibitor.

Cheers,
Danny