49/51 Coolant/Water ratio for a warmer engine?

[hound_13]

It's about time for me to flush my radiator and i'm thinking of putting more water in my 50/50 coolant mix to make the engine run a little bit warmer and efficient. (hence 49/51) Would this be effective in warming the engine because of less coolant? Should I use more water? Or is it just a bad idea?

[Jay2TheRescue]

Water is actually more efficient at moving heat than antifreeze. The main benefit of antifreeze is that it raises the boiling temp and lowers the freezing temp. Look at the back of the bottle of antifreeze and decide how low of an antifreeze concentration you are willing to try. I would make sure that your boiling point stay @ 220 or higher, and how comfortable you are with the freezing point.

-Jay

[COMP]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Water is actually more efficient at moving heat than antifreeze. The main benefit of antifreeze is that it raises the boiling temp and lowers the freezing temp. Look at the back of the bottle of antifreeze and decide how low of an antifreeze concentration you are willing to try. I would make sure that your boiling point stay @ 220 or higher, and how comfortable you are with the freezing point.

-Jay

correct the pressure does it to

[Jay2TheRescue]

I forgot about that... Replacing your radiator cap with one with a higher rated pressure will increase your boiling point as well.

-Jay

[mrmad]

The thermostat controls the temperature, so assuming your cooling system has the cooling capacity, changing the dar cap or the cooling mixture will not change the temp the car runs at. A higher pressure rad cap allows the temp to be higher before the cooling boils, but this by itself will not raise the operating temperature.

[Jay2TheRescue]

No, of course the thermostat ultimately controls the operating temp of the engine, but I was trying to explain that you can cut back the concentration of antifreeze and preventing boilovers. If the coolant boils it will not properly cool the engine. I was merely suggesting that the OP could cut back the concentration of antifreeze and slightly increase the pressure cap to overcome the lower boiling point that would result from using less antifreeze.

-Jay

[DRW]

How about combining a grill block with higher pressure rad cap and 70/30% water/coolant mix?

I confess, that's what I'm using. The grill block helps push temps up beyond what the thermostat can control while the higher ratio of water gives more cooling capacity, and the high pressure cap raises the boilover temp for a greater safety margin. It helps if you can monitor coolant temps with a more accurate gage to make sure the grill block doesn't block off too much airflow.

[COMP]

Originally Posted by DRW

How about combining a grill block with higher pressure rad cap and 70/30% water/coolant mix?

I confess, that's what I'm using. The grill block helps push temps up beyond what the thermostat can control while the higher ratio of water gives more cooling capacity, and the high pressure cap raises the boilover temp for a greater safety margin. It helps if you can monitor coolant temps with a more accurate gage to make sure the grill block doesn't block off too much airflow.

hope you are using distilled water ,,everybody should

[DRW]

Originally Posted by COMP

hope you are using distilled water ,everybody should

Of course. A gallon is just 89 cents at walmart,
cheap enough to drink!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Don't laugh, but I noticed a grocery store here keeps gallons of distilled water in the refrigerated case by the express lane. I don't know if they really mean to have distilled water there, and not spring water as most of their help does not speak English. They are probably oblivious to the difference between distilled and spring water.

-Jay