Changing coolant question..... Distilled or not?

[KATOOM]

Anyone have any opinions on what to use and how to go about this process? Thanks.

[Mopar1973Man]

Everyone says you must use distilled water to prevent scale build up. Well for the life of my truck its either had well water or water straight from the creek. I've never had a cooling system problem or scale build up.

Here is AH64ID write up.

Flushing The Cooling System

[KATOOM]

I wouldn't be so worried but where I live, there is a lot of minerals in the water. But just to be clear of my concerns..... I have to use hose water to flush the system and I know that getting all what I've put in there with the hose out will be impossible so even when I completely refill with 50/50, there will still be some contaminating hose water in there. Is this reason for concern? And also so I dont have to make more than one trip to the parts store, how much coolant does the system hold?

[98whitelightnin]

I use distilled but also flush wit the hose. I try to get all the hose water out that I can but its impossible to get it all. 3 gallons of Fleet coolant and 3 gallons of distilled water. My water pump went out at the same time and so did my tensioner pulley. I used some prestone flush and on my few mile drive with water and flush onlyy the water pump started leaking like a siv so I ended up changing coolant, water pump, tensioner pulley and thermostat.

[Mopar1973Man]

I wouldn't be so worried but where I live, there is a lot of minerals in the water. But just to be clear of my concerns..... I have to use hose water to flush the system and I know that getting all what I've put in there with the hose out will be impossible so even when I completely refill with 50/50, there will still be some contaminating hose water in there. Is this reason for concern? And also so I dont have to make more than one trip to the parts store, how much coolant does the system hold?

Like this... This is a new kettle we use for humidity in the house it only 1 month old...

So after 9 years of well water / creek water... There is no scale build up...

[KATOOM]

I dont have any pictures of my house faucets but if I did, you'd see a lot of white buildup. I also use a teapot on the stove for humidity but its not as clean as yours. Seriously, the water here is so full of minerals that you cant wash off the cars and drive away fast enough before ending up with water spots. Towel drying is a must. I love all the minerals for taste and for watering plants but its hard on faucets, water heater, and washing cars.

[dripley]

I have been using well water at home for the past 20 years and whatever came out of the tap anywhere else. Mine looks verymuch like Mike's. I never really gave it much thought. I dont have any staining problem with the well water, it is fairly clean. Never had any problems with the vehicles either.

[banzaitoyota]

I thought about it once and said why bother

[bcbigfoot]

Growing up I lived in a town with hard water, very high in calcuim. Boiling one kettle dry it would look worse than Mike's picture and after a year most people would throw out thier electric kettles, and if you used the water in a rad you might get 3 years before the tubes in the rad would plug up or rot out the rad. If you have good tasting drinking water and change your coolant regularly most won't have a issue, however if in doubt at all go with distilled. Since changeing to distilled water 25 years ago in all my equipment and vehicles I simply have never had a issue whith any of the cooling systems and I normally go 6 years between coolant changes.

[Mopar1973Man]

So I guess I'm exception to the rule again...

[KATOOM]

Growing up I lived in a town with hard water, very high in calcuim. Boiling one kettle dry it would look worse than Mike's picture and after a year most people would throw out thier electric kettles, and if you used the water in a rad you might get 3 years before the tubes in the rad would plug up or rot out the rad. If you have good tasting drinking water and change your coolant regularly most won't have a issue, however if in doubt at all go with distilled. Since changeing to distilled water 25 years ago in all my equipment and vehicles I simply have never had a issue whith any of the cooling systems and I normally go 6 years between coolant changes.

Thanks bcbigfoot for the post since thats exactly what I'm talking about. When every faucet in my house has white stalagmites hanging from them.....ya, I'm a little concerned to introduce any to my coolant system.

[bcbigfoot]

So I guess I'm exception to the rule again...

Nah Your the man with words of wisdom Mike:smart:. I would use some nice creek water if it flowed through my back yard as well, that would be nice. Just some towns can have some nasty water with sodiom sulphate and disolved calcuim making for high alkaline/ph levels which is just as bad as having acidic water with low ph levels.

[KATOOM]

Anyone ever hear of the "jiggle pin" in the coolant system that the FSM refers to? Not sure what it is or where it is but it cautions not to fill a running engine because of this one way valve. I didn't have any problems that I know of but I'm just curious.Update..... Now the truck takes considerably longer to warm up than it did before and now every time the engine warms after sitting all night, the engine temp will slowly climb to about 195* and then drop to about 185* and remain steady there throughout the day. Maybe this always happened but I never paid attention. I'm curious how what it will run in the hot summer months.

[dripley]

Anyone ever hear of the "jiggle pin" in the coolant system that the FSM refers to? Not sure what it is or where it is but it cautions not to fill a running engine because of this one way valve. I didn't have any problems that I know of but I'm just curious. Update..... Now the truck takes considerably longer to warm up than it did before and now every time the engine warms after sitting all night, the engine temp will slowly climb to about 195* and then drop to about 185* and remain steady there throughout the day. Maybe this always happened but I never paid attention. I'm curious how what it will run in the hot summer months.

I always thought the jiggle pin was the little pins in the tstat. what i would not give to see a constant temp i mine. It fluctuates year round. anywhere from 170 to almost 190. The gauge is constantly moving unless i am going down the interstae at 70 to 75 then it only moves about 8 degrees. But i guess that means it is still not constant.

[KATOOM]

I always thought the jiggle pin was the little pins in the tstat. what i would not give to see a constant temp i mine. It fluctuates year round. anywhere from 170 to almost 190. The gauge is constantly moving unless i am going down the interstae at 70 to 75 then it only moves about 8 degrees. But i guess that means it is still not constant.

I read somewhere that you could fix that by drilling a couple small holes in the thermostat. Not sure how big or where so.....

[dripley]

The two little pins in the tstat are in holes in the tstat and let a small amount of coolant thru constatnly. Since i am running cooler than I should, more holes seem to be the opposite of what i need.

[KATOOM]

The two little pins in the tstat are in holes in the tstat and let a small amount of coolant thru constatnly. Since i am running cooler than I should, more holes seem to be the opposite of what i need.

True that to many holes would affect warm up time and hamper the thermostats ability to keep the engine temp normal under no load situations. But for whatever reason, some thermostats do cause this wide range of temperature fluctuation. I've heard that guys claim its normal but I dont buy it. I would never consider a 10*-20* swing in engine temp "normal". Matter of fact, I cant imagine it being good for the engine either since there would be a constant expansion and contraction of metals and tolerances. But all I meant was that I've read somewhere that drilling a couple small holes in the side of the thermostat is supposed to stop any temp swing but I couldn't tell you what thermostat they were talking about.

[dripley]

True that to many holes would affect warm up time and hamper the thermostats ability to keep the engine temp normal under no load situations. But for whatever reason, some thermostats do cause this wide range of temperature fluctuation. I've heard that guys claim its normal but I dont buy it. I would never consider a 10*-20* swing in engine temp "normal". Matter of fact, I cant imagine it being good for the engine either since there would be a constant expansion and contraction of metals and tolerances. But all I meant was that I've read somewhere that drilling a couple small holes in the side of the thermostat is supposed to stop any temp swing but I couldn't tell you what thermostat they were talking about.

I agree with you. I would love to have constant temp back and dont have a clue as to why all the tstat's i have bought act the same way. I have seen alot of other people in other forums that just accept it as normal. the only one i have not tried is the Cummins 190 that cost about $90. I have tried the Cumins 180 at $50 with the same swings in temp. the one i have now came from O"Riellys and did the same thing until I cmae over the mountains and the temp hit 215> Since then it holds about 188 down to 180 with occasional drops to 170. This while driving down the interstate at a fairly constant speed in warm or cold weather. The ambient temp does not seem to make any differance. I do appreciate any input you have because you seem to be very knowledgeable. Thanks

[KATOOM]

I agree with you. I would love to have constant temp back and dont have a clue as to why all the tstat's i have bought act the same way. I have seen alot of other people in other forums that just accept it as normal. the only one i have not tried is the Cummins 190 that cost about $90. I have tried the Cumins 180 at $50 with the same swings in temp. the one i have now came from O"Riellys and did the same thing until I cmae over the mountains and the temp hit 215> Since then it holds about 188 down to 180 with occasional drops to 170. This while driving down the interstate at a fairly constant speed in warm or cold weather. The ambient temp does not seem to make any differance. I do appreciate any input you have because you seem to be very knowledgeable. Thanks

I have the NAPA thermostat and it works perfect. No fluctuation, and it seems to run at 190* on the spot unless I'm really loaded in the summer and then I may get up around 195*-205* on hills. Cant tell you what specific brand thermostat it was either because when I bought it a couple years ago it came in a NAPA box and there wasn't a lot of talk about the necessity to have only a Cummins thermostat. I've always kinda thought NAPA carried fairly quality parts so..... On a side note, are you sure your cooling system is full and that you dont have any air bubbles possibly causing air locks since either one of those could cause engine temperature swing? If you read the FSM you'll see where it clearly states that ONLY the diesel engine has what they call a "jiggle pin" one way valve in the cooling system and that attempting to fill the cooling system with the engine running wont work because of that one way valve. Now I've asked what is this jiggle pin but it seems no one knows. So my point is that I've heard that having an air lock isnt to uncommon. Just a thought.

[dripley]

I have thought about the air lock even tried to burb it once. It seemed to be full. The one in it now does a better job of holding the temp in the 180's. drops a little lower around town. I have tried the napa along with 3 or 4 other brands. they all worked pretty much the same, swinging from 160 to 180 mostly to the low side.