Skip

Not sure how other folks do it, but I specifically request that the temperature in my area never get low enough to find out.

Honestly, my car sits in the garage (<cough> permanently! <cough>) that is somewhat heated. Enough to always keep it above 40 at least.

Peckster

Wipe those tears from your eyes, Skip.

As soon as I see a logical explanation of how water wetter works, I will keep believing it's snake oil. Or worse. If your car is in good running order, you shouldn't need anything like this anyway, unless maybe you're endurance racing in Califiornia. In the summer.

It collapses bubbles? What happens to the air in them? You'd think the water wetter people would try to explain it.....if they could.

Skip

It's like revealing the trick behind the magic. Once you know the truth, you tend to be less impressed.

Not sure if you are trolling? If so, ya got me.

I'll certainly agree that you should not "need" water wetter. It's an additive, not a fix. It can help hide or abate a problematic cooling system - a little. The key for me is that it keeps the engine cooler than water or antifreeze mix alone can. Heat robs horsepower. Heat in the extremes (racing) can cause undue wear and tear on the engine as a whole. And, as Joe pointed out, we aren't allowed to use antifreeze in the race cars.

As far as technical documentation for Water Wetter, here's a link to the PDF download that should explain everything. http://www.redlineoil.com/whitePaper/17.pdf If you're not in the mood to read the whole thing, Adobe PDF Reader versions after 6.0 will read the pamphlet out loud to you.

Peckster

They only mention how it works at the end of that piece, apparently by reducing surface tension (doesn't soap do that) which reduces the size of bubbles at engine hot spots. Even if it did that, how do people see reduced engine temperatures? I thought the temp guage measured the coolant temp. If you buy their case, bubbles wouldn't be formed in the radiator, so how is that extra heat dispersed? You'd think the coolant would read hotter not cooler. No?

Geo

That is exactly how it works. But suit yerself.

PCMAX

I ran a 50/50 mix of water & coolant in my family car which had an aluminium radiator & it ate the internals out after a couple of years. Is there any chance this could happen to the 944 if I use 50/50 water/coolant & water wetter??

Skip

Not sure what to make of that. Was the antifreeze you were using safe for aluminum? Phosphate and Silicate free? This is what your Porsche calls for. More and more now it's not hard too find the right stuff as many manufacturers are using aluminum blocks and heads.

Skip

It appears that you watched the flash video but may not have read the full downloadable brochure. In the brochure, they go into great detail by first explaining how and why an engine is cooled. Then, at the topic of heat transfer, they explain why reducing surface tension is so important to the cooling effect in a combustion engine. Here is some text that may aid our understanding of why Water Wetter works as it does:

The temperature gauge does read coolant temperatures - in particular, the 944 reads them at the radiator. The net effect of better heat transfer through the use of Water Wetter is measureable throughout the entire cooling system. Cooler head and combustion chamber temperatures gained through the effect of better heat transfer aids in the production of power.

PCMAX

Skip,
The guy that sold me the new radiator said that I should use COOLANT ONLY in AL radiators and not top up with distiled water. I followed this advice with the new rad which lasted another 5 years until I sold it. Thought the 44's might be suceptible to the same damage. The car I had trouble with was a Australian Holden Commodore (GM sister co.), I think you guys have an imported 2 door pontiac which is very similar.

Skip

What I suggested works for the 944. Not sure what the requirements are specific to your setup. I woud trust the auto manufacturer and antifreeze maker recommendations.

KuHL 951

This is bad info. This would last about 25 minutes on a hot Summer day where I live. The car would run near the red zone. AF/Coolant is a misnomer. By using more anti-freeze/coolant to lower the freezing point the same thing happens at the other end, the boiling point is raised, it will not run cooler.'Coolant' does not carry off more heat than plain distilled water...this advice for straight coolant is just plain wrong advice.

PCMAX

Thanks for the feedback, Just went to buy some Redline Water Wetter, it was a little hard to find but ended up costing $26AUD = $20USD for a 325ml bottle.
There must be some hefty import duties on the stuff 'cause Paragon stocks the same product for $8.79USD = $11.41AUD.
Skip,
Just out of curiosity how much would it cost to ship a bottle of the stuff to Sydney, Australia?

Mark944na86

I'm pleased to report some success!

I drained out half my antifreeze, replaced with 4litres of distilled water, bringing my glycol/water ratio down to about 25/75. Added 8oz (half a bottle) of Redline Water Wetter (note that's the recommended dose on the bottle for a 7.8L cooling system, which makes paying AUD$23.65 for such a _little_ bottle slightly less painful).

Now running noticeably cooler -- about 10C, on average (according to Karl's graphic in the "uncool s2" related thread).

A/C now running noticeably cooler as well.

So I'm much happier :-)

Thanks all for your advice.

-Mark

But the "conservation of things being broken" principle has kicked in, of course, to now have me trying to figure out what's (intermittently) drawing 7A of power of my battery when the car's sitting parked! But there's no fighting thermodynamics...

Holson

I use it in my E420 after a coolant flush. I did it last summer and it did work!

Probably the only 'snake oil' that I've ever bought that really worked.

The E420 has a viscous clutch controlled fan and two obnoxiously loud high speed fans. Before throwing in Water Wetter, the high speed fans would come on because water temperature always hit 105* or so in traffic with AC on.

After Water Wetter, it stayed below 100* no matter what. Needless to say.. I'm a believer

The 951 will get some too!

L8 APEKS

It works. I've used it for years and you can see the difference on the gauge as soon as you use it.