Hello Everyone. I have a hopefully simple question...Has anyone had a track day where you must have water in your cooling system? If so, does it damage or harm engine or other components? Could we ride around with water instead of coolant at all times? If anyone has any input on this that would be great!!

Thanks

 

I think you`ll find that coolant is water with a few additives to enable it to run better at higher temperatures and to inhibit corrosion, i`ve done several trackdays and never had any requests to just use plain water? ? ? But this is in the UK, if the request is made of you you should`nt have any problems but make sure you use Distilled water or you risk the chance of your radiator rusting up inside. Seems a strange request to be made of you though as you would need to flush the system to get rid of all the coolant additives to do it.

 

Heres, hopefully, a simple comparison of water vs. coolant. They both have pros and cons and very critical differences.
Water doesn't do good things to metal, it causes rust and corrosion at a rate many, many, times faster than straight coolant. Okay, why do most NASCAR cars use pure water? Because it cools roughly 2X better than coolant.

The traditional 50-50 water/coolant mixture for cars is a one-size-fits-all approach that cuts ~1/4 of your systems total cooling capacity. What you gain is cold weather protection and corrosion resistance. Water freezes at 32 deg. F, and since water expands when it freezes you have the potential for extreme badness. Its a balancing act, on the one side you have cooling capacity (increasing fan life and preventing overheating), on the other you have corrosion (constantly killing your engine's internals).

Running pure water will give better cooling, but at the sacrifice of your engine. If you dont have an overheating problem dont do it. Just my 2 pennies. I know this talks about cars, but check out caranddriver.com and search for coolant for more info.

 

Hey great info Twowheel. I appreciate it. So, what that tells me is that I could put distilled water specifically for the track day, and then put my coolant mixture back in. The "offical" folks at the track say that the water is only for if a rider goes down. The coolant is aparently very slippery if spilled or leaked on the track. Makes sense to me....I guess.

 

You can also use a water additive like Redline Water Wetter.

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_coolant.asp

 

I use water and Water Wetter. Its far more efficient as a coolant than antifreeze. Plus, I live in an area where I can use it all year long.

 

Hey abadfish, thanks for your input! Where do you live out of curousity? I'm in northern ca, and I assume that I would be able to run that mixture all year round as well.

 

I'm in Pacifica, CA. You closeby??

 

Not to mention Water Boils, I.E steam bye bye radiator