Re: water/antifreeze

Posted by su8overdrive On 2013/1/1 23:57:08

Mr. Greene, in the parlor, with a candlestick holder-- Another adviso against using distilled water in automotive cooling systems was issued circa 1989-90 by Mercedes-Benz, to all their service departments, for the same reason. Am only trying to pass along the best info we have to a newbie as we're discussing cooling systems in general, with a possible eye toward preserving our wheeled survivors. Am not interested in debating quantified chemistry.
For more discussion, visit www.no-rosion.com, the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club's tech forum.
Caution: Su8overdrive takes evolution over intelligent design, too.

I bow as always to Drs. Cole and O'Dyneto whelming knowledge of our cars stem to stern, but Click and Clack and dozens of others have issued the same warning about antifreeze, pets, kids.

Long as we're wonking, a lifelong pilot/machinist/aero and auto mechanic friend says a Chevron tech recently told him to only use GL-1 gear lube in pre- '60s or so transmissions with yellow metal, as the sulfur in all else eats brass, bronze. I'd thought we'd exhausted this subject, but it would be nice if anyone could conclusively drive a stake through this vampire's heart once and for all for the sake of peace of mind, and not disintegrating our R-9/R-11 transmissions.

Was looking at one of my spare overdrives for the above transmissions t'other day, remarking that it's nearly as big and heavy as the entire manual transmission i helped a friend stuff back in his '41 Cad drophead after he fixed a leak. So i'm sure most of us would rather not have to rebuild our gearboxes, esp. with the hassle of removing that cross member, etc. Hell's bells, a Hudson transmission of the era weighs but 35 lbs.

Everyone in my wide circle of all manner of barouches from both sides of the Atlantic 1930s throgh '60s; Cords, Cads, Ferraris, numerous Packards, has been rolling along happily with GL-5/6 these past decades with nary a report of sulfur/acid damage.

Happy New Year; joy, peace, health, serenity to us all, our wheeled alter egos, their cooling systems, and yellow metal.