jerainford,
You need a new post. Your problem is “coolant loss”. It’s leaking badly, you say. If it’s leaking into the engine, also, you could have engine damage. It may be a rotten hose, for the external leak. You can repair / replace a hose, can’t you?
The problem is, with advising you, we don’t know your mechanical abilities.
It CAN be done, under certain conditions.
I’ve done it in one of my cars for the past 10-12 years with no problems. One of the reasons that some people think it is a good idea (including me) is that water is a better heat transfer agent than a water/antifreeze mix, which can help “extreme” engines.
I have a summer-only car, that gets stored (and cooling system drained) in winter. That way, there is no danger of freezing. I also run a fairly cool engine temperature (170-175), so I am well below the “danger” point of getting steam pockets and localized boiling.
Antifreeze/coolant does several other things besides changing the freezing point and boiling point. It also has anticorrosion additives, to keep your aluminum radiator and other metal things from corroding. It has lubricants to keep your water pump bearings in good shape. By the way, these additives lose their functionality over time which is why you should change your coolant (antifreeze) every couple of years.
In my case, I use other additives to my (distilled) water for lubrication and anticorrosion, along with another surfactant. These keep the system clean and functional, without any glycol.
I would not recommend it to you for the following reasons:
- There is a chance of freezing
- Without antifreeze (or another additive), you will have rapid corrosion and lack of lubrication to your water pump seals & bearings
- You have a relatively small, high-winding motor which can probably generate quite a bit of heat under the right circumstances so you want to eliminate the possibility of causing damage due to localized boiling
I have a summer-only car, that gets stored (and cooling system drained) in winter.
I would NEVER do that. That’s a GREAT way to get rust. Keeping it filled with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze will prevent rust from forming.
Straight water (no antifreeze/antiboil) will boil and create steam at lower temperature than the proper mix.
While true, this is a bit misleading. The cooling system on an engine is pressurized. This raises the boiling point, plus the coolant temp on modern engines, while higher than in the old days is still lower than boiling point. 195-200 is typical. So, if you are trying to get by and need to fill your radiator and coolant system, plain water is OK for a short stop-gap measure. The other points about corrosion inhibitors are very valid, though you can purchase the additive package without the ‘anti-freeze’ to add to plain water.
In my opinion it’s not worth the couple dollars worth of savings, but it’s not as ruinous as some see to think.
My error there. I was thinking the net cooling ability, which includes the heat transfer ability as well as specific heat measure. Overall I believe that in use in a car, the mix is better at cooling the engine than either by itself. Which is why you should not use just water or just standard coolants.
You guys have no clue what you’re talking about… Water boils eh? Steam pockets? No water pump protection? Rust forming? Really? Go on down to the F1 pits, and hang out for a while… tell me what they’re running for coolant… Ever run your hotrod down the 1/4 mile strip? Wanna show me what strip will let you run antifreeze? Overheating? Really? Water is a WAY better coolant than antifreeze. A lot of our guys run distilled water and RMI25, with ZERO problems. EVER. No rust, no water pump issues, no ‘steam pockets’, nothing. And it doesn’t gunk up radiators like coolant, and is good for the enviroment as well. Also, before antifreeze came out, what did people run in their engines? Right. I see… If one lives in a hot envrioment, like TX, or AZ, running antifreeze would be crazy. I’d throw in a 160 degree thermostat, and distilled water with RMI25, and be done with it. The car runs way better, and so does the AC. (this is for cars in az or tx only) You guys do realize, that the systems under pressure, right? It’s the pressure that raises the boiling point of whatever coolant’s being used…