Water Wetter effectiveness?

[Naja289]

I'm about ready to go to Water Wetter to help cool down my motor-gets pretty hot while sitting still (I know-don't sit still!)...can I get a collective bunch of input-straight forward and to the point-if water wetter seems to work...In CA...289 HiPo...5 core cross flow with fan...I know this motor runs hot anyway as it's built more for track...just want to know if this stuff works and how much of a degree reduction have you seen...hate to be crapping out - stuck in Laguna Seca traffic! Regards!

[Bobcat]

Naja289 ... Can you define hot ? 200 degrees or is it a bunch hotter .... does it cool down when you get moving ? Are you running straight water or a glycol/water mixture ?
I use the water wetter and it does work , but isn`t a cure-all if there is a problem in the cooling system ( stuck thermostat , fan not shrouded , bad radiator cap , air in system etc ) . I see 190 to 195 in traffic and stopped .... ambient here ( SC ) is in the 95 to 100 degree range now . Cools down to 180 to 185 above 35 mph . Can`t give you a specific reduction as I`ve never run a car without it .

[ksuchris2000]

Sounds like hogwash to me. .Source of Review

A few excerpts:

" Strangely, Redline’s own test results don’t square with their ad copy. Their technical literature only shows an eight degree Fahrenheit drop in a car with a 50/50 mix of water and coolant, and an eighteen degree Fahrenheit drop for a car running 100 percent water.

I used a VagCom system (reads sensor data directly from the ECU) for my tests. The pre-WaterWetter® installation delivered temperatures between 96 and 98 degrees centigrade (or 205 to 208 degrees Fahrenheit for the Americans). The post-installation temperature stayed steady at 96 degrees centigrade. Clearly, not the results advertised.

Other websites have tested WaterWetter® and also concluded that the overall decrease in coolant temperature is marginal. So WaterWetter®’s benefits either lie elsewhere (or nowhere). That assessment requires a certain level of trust with Redline products. In my experience, based on their oil products, they deserve this trust. "


*** EDIT: I read a bit more and this stuff does get some good reviews from users on Amazon. Some of them were bikes and some were Corvettes and a mix of other cars. I guess for the price, its worth a shot.

[Jamo]

Screw the written editorials...it works. My Ag clients here in the extremely hot San Joaquin Valley use it for fleets of trucks and equipment that sit idling or move along at slow speed and then haul great weights.

[1uzer]

It is really that good, most of our saloon race car series (AUS) run it without thermo fans and bonnet vents, using restrictive front bumpers and have no trouble. Some claim 18 degrees C benefit. Though they run straight water

[Naja289]

With water /gly mix it's been up to 210...fan will bring it back down...no shroud on the fan-cap is good and I burped the system... it always runs great and stays pretty cool on the highway...Hey Fresno-gonna take your word on this as it's where I grew up...frickin' hot and still mowing lawns and playing ball in 108!...those were the days and I'm glad that part is gone!...so is Water Wetter just to be mixed with distilled water or is ther any 'coolant' that stays in the system?...

[Jamo]

I only use water and WW. Stop and go on Blackstone Ave. in 108 is no problemo.

BTW...my go-to place for lodging for work in the area is the Seascape. We (Duane et al) used it as a base camp for a CH1 weekend a year or so ago.

[Bobcat]

Doesn`t matter if there is some anti freeze still in the system , it will mix ok . Just add it to your system . From where you live , sounds like you could use pure distilled water and water wetter only if you want to . It does get down to upper 20`s here in the winter , so some anti freeze is desirable .

[Naja289]

Perfect-Yeah Seascape is right around the corner-neat spot...just ask Pedro Sandoval(!)...Blackstone- OMG...now the thing that would be burned would be the top of my head!...thanks again for the info

[Paul F]

It cured my cooling issues.

[mln385]

It helps reduce the temps. another avenue as well is to seal up the front of the cowl where it meets the radiator. I used weather stripping to seal up the radiator support from the front, this forces all the air into the radiator not allowing some air to go through the cracks or seems.

[jhv48]

Shroud the fan to maximize cooling and you will be fine.

[jwd]

If you are running pure water, adding Water Wetter it will help. If you are running a water/anti-freeze mixture, it's a waste of money because anti-freeze already has a surfactant (reduces surface tension) in it.

[YerDugliness]

Originally Posted by jwd

If you are running pure water, adding Water Wetter it will help. If you are running a water/anti-freeze mixture, it's a waste of money because anti-freeze already has a surfactant (reduces surface tension) in it.

I agree.

I wish I had better results to report, but not so.

I was running up to 230* in Houston's stop 'n' go traffic, using my SPAL puller fan, with 50/50 glycol/water mix

I purchased the Water Wetter at an auto supply store and read the instructions. It was recommended that the best results would be achieved with less than 50/50 mix (recommended was 15% glycol/85% water), so I drained the radiator and replaced it with a glycol/water mixture in the 15/85% range (I figured that with the mixture still in the engine I would end up around 20/80, since it was still 50/50).

No improvement...still running at 230* during the afternoon on the hot Houston freeways in stop 'n' go traffic WITH the SPAL fan on, once at highway speeds it runs between 195* and 210* with the puller fan OFF...no better than with 50/50 glycol/water.

My fan is shrouded on the top only, the next job will be to make side shrouds. That will happen when it is put up for the winter.

BTW, my radiator is a HUGE aluminum Griffin unit, reported to be able to cool up to 600 horsepower, and my engine is a box-stock 5.0HO out of a 1989 Mustang GT, just converted to carb (includes Edelbrock Performer manifold...not the Performer RPM, Edelbrock Thunder carb, and standard 4 into 1 headers/sidepipes), NOT a high performance unit with a lot of go-fast goodies.

Cheers!

Dugly

[Shelby Cobra]

I vintage road race a Corvette and thats what we all run in our race cars - distilled water and Water Wetter. No antifreeze/coolant allowed in the cars in case of a spill on the track. It does work.

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by YerDugliness

I agree.

I wish I had better results to report, but not so.

I was running up to 230* in Houston's stop 'n' go traffic, using my SPAL puller fan, with 50/50 glycol/water mix

I purchased the Water Wetter at an auto supply store and read the instructions. It was recommended that the best results would be achieved with less than 50/50 mix (recommended was 15% glycol/85% water), so I drained the radiator and replaced it with a glycol/water mixture in the 15/85% range (I figured that with the mixture still in the engine I would end up around 20/80, since it was still 50/50).

No improvement...still running at 230* during the afternoon on the hot Houston freeways in stop 'n' go traffic WITH the SPAL fan on, once at highway speeds it runs between 195* and 210* with the puller fan OFF...no better than with 50/50 glycol/water.

My fan is shrouded on the top only, the next job will be to make side shrouds. That will happen when it is put up for the winter.

BTW, my radiator is a HUGE aluminum Griffin unit, reported to be able to cool up to 600 horsepower, and my engine is a box-stock 5.0HO out of a 1989 Mustang GT, just converted to carb (includes Edelbrock Performer manifold...not the Performer RPM, Edelbrock Thunder carb, and standard 4 into 1 headers/sidepipes), NOT a high performance unit with a lot of go-fast goodies.

Cheers!

Dugly

Seems to me that all this means is that you have some other issue going on...probably the shrouding as you say. too many other examples of it working, and it does best only with water. As noted...you can sneak by with it on the track, but you can't use anti-freeze/coolant.

Box stock 5.0? What thermostat? I run a 180 and I run the fan when it gets to about 75-80C...easier to keep something cool when it's already cool.

[xlr8or]

I've had good results with it as well. Ran it with just water when I was out in Phoenix a while back in 115 degree heat. Never went over 205 even with the AC on in my coupe.

[CowtownCobra]

Originally Posted by Naja289

I'm about ready to go to Water Wetter to help cool down my motor-gets pretty hot while sitting still (I know-don't sit still!)...can I get a collective bunch of input-straight forward and to the point-if water wetter seems to work...In CA...289 HiPo...5 core cross flow with fan...I know this motor runs hot anyway as it's built more for track...just want to know if this stuff works and how much of a degree reduction have you seen...hate to be crapping out - stuck in Laguna Seca traffic! Regards!

I'm a believer, used WW + water for years. Plenty of good suggestions here, one I haven't seen is what size alternator you are using. When sitting still at idle the fan can slow down with a weak alternator, you need ~95 amps in one of these cars to keep that fan turning full speed. I upgraded and the difference was surprising. Good luck.

[Mdman352]

Any size radiator will work if you pull enough air over the coils. My big motor over heated until i got a fan from a Lincoln Mark VIII. it comes with a shroud and pulls major amps so expect to upgrade your alternator to 100 amp. I tried Water Wetter and every other gimmick including 2 other fan setups until I got the Lincoln fan. I have cruised it in D.C. in 100 degree weather with no problems. When the fan kicks on, it drops the temp like a hammer. One issue though...keep anyone under 60 pounds away from the opening for the radiator!!!!

[tirod]

I've tried water wetter, and it does drop the temp. Just poured it in a 50/50 mix, and within minutes saw the temp gauge drop ten degrees. It stayed ten degrees cooler under most conditions after that.

It did nothing to prevent an overheating issue caused by the e-fan not turning on. Most overheat issues are a lack of airflow thru the core - and overheating is the direct result. Regardless of what I thought was working correctly, it still boiled down to no air, no cooling.

Once I fixed that, the longer term result was less satisfactory. Because of the overheating, the head gasket was weakened, and that led to the coolant - being wetter - creeping thru some warpage more easily and voila, dumping into the crankcase. BUT - you couldn't see antifreeze in the oil. That's because water wetter allows stuff to mix thoroughly. I changed the oil three times to stop a lifter collapse problem when it finally occurred to me that the engine had consumed two gallons of antifreeze mix - but I had never seen any evidence of it I could recognize, until I realized I was pulling 9 quart oil changes.

If you're having overheat issues, water wetter isn't the answer. Fixing the lack of heat transfer is. The typical causes with the radiator are air bypassing the fan and/or not going thru the core, usually caused by no shroud or no fan. With coolant, the core itself is clogged, the t-stat fails shut, the water pump impeller isn't working, or working far too well.

"I knew for a fact" the coolant temp sensor couldn't be the problem - until I learned it was just exactly that, a temp sensor - not a fan switch. Temp sensors won't pull 12VDC and engage a relay, they send about 8-9VDC at 195. Fail. Don't "know" your part is working correctly, test it and be sure, especially when the previous attempts have failed. That's direct evidence an assumption is false and you're wandering in the rose garden.