Quick question about coolant

Pluribus · Mar 12, 2014

Hello!

I had a leak somewhere in the coolant system in my Freebie which had sat unmoved for 3 years. As I couldnt afford to waste antifreeze looking for it, I filled the system with plain tap water instead and looked for the drips - which I eventually found after a few days (this was back in the winter and it was too fekkin cold to stay out for long...).

I didnt turn on the engine for more than a few seconds at a time whilst doing this.

I have since replaced the leaky part, flushed the water out of the system and replaced it with proper antifreeze.

Is there any danger in doing it the way I have?

The Freebie is in the garage at the moment having all my work checked over just to make sure its all ok but I was just curious about the possible dangers in only using water the way I did...

fanatic · Mar 12, 2014

Water without corrosion inhibitors is bad news for anything other than day looking for leaks.
Water without antifreeze in freezing conditions = damage

Pluribus · Mar 12, 2014

bugger. I hope its not done any damage...my garage bill is going to be high enough as it is I think...

ZDomZ · Mar 12, 2014

If it ain't leaking then you havnt done any damage.

Plain water freezes sooner and as it becomes ice it expands and can split pipes, engines and push out core plugs. (That's what core plugs are designed for)!

The k series doesn't have much steel in it so corrosion isn't much of an issue!

teddywood1 · Mar 12, 2014

you would have been better leaving the water out of the engine

Nodge68 · Mar 12, 2014

ZDomZ said:
If it ain't leaking then you havnt done any damage.

Plain water freezes sooner and as it becomes ice it expands and can split pipes, engines and push out core plugs. (That's what core plugs are designed for)!

The k series doesn't have much steel in it so corrosion isn't much of an issue!

This. ^^^^
Core plugs are also known as freeze plugs

A much more accurate description!!

Optimus Prime · Mar 12, 2014

teddywood1 said:
you would have been better leaving the water out of the engine

how would he find a leak if it had no water in it ?

Pluribus · Mar 12, 2014

Optimus Prime said:
how would he find a leak if it had no water in it ?

Thats exactly why I used the water. I didnt know if it was a gushing problem, or a slow drip as I hadnt checked it for over a year since I had parked it up for the last time.

Antifreeze is expensive to use for fault finding when I didnt know if it was just going to gush out all over the floor, so I used water instead. Once I found the leak, I replaced the faulty part, flushed the system and refilled with proper antifreeze, bled it, topped it up again and that was that.

I'll find out at the end of the week if it did any damage but I'm really hoping it its ok...

Nodge68 · Mar 12, 2014

If it ain't leaking out now, I guess you have got away with it.

Quick question about coolant

Pluribus

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fanatic

RESPECT IS EARNED, BEATINGS ARE FREE ;-)

Pluribus

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ZDomZ

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teddywood1

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Nodge68

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Optimus Prime

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Pluribus

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Nodge68

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