Is it that important to use Distilled water as opposed to tap water in a car radiator?
I have always heard that you are supposed to use distilled water in car radiators, but is it really that important?. What effect does tap water have on your radiator?
A little more clarification…
I have a1994 Toyota Camry. I have a small leak in the cooling system which I have been adding about a half a gallon of water to every week or so. I try to use distilled water whenever I can, but I realize that tap water is better than no water. Im just worried that the minerals in the tap water might do harm – but I just wanted to know if these fears were valid or not.
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You can use tap water, but it leads to rust. Use Anti-Freeze year round. It helps your car engine to stay cool as well as not freeze up in the Winter months.
Just buy 50/50 pre mix coolant.
Some people say tap water is fine, but trust me, used distilled, $1 for a gallon isnt a big investment. You want to use distilled because it is pure water, tap water has minerals in it that build up in a cars cooling system.
Tap water tends to have more deposits and mineral matter than distilled water, but I wouldn’t worry about using it in your radiator WITH the proper mix of 50/50 coolant. Using tap water in the battery is a different story. You don’t see a whole lot of batteries nowdays that still take water though,.
Tap water have a lot of salts in it,even if you don’t taste it. Over time this will clog the little pipes in your radiator and also cause erosion inside your engine. Distilled water is pure and have no salts or impurities.
Hello,
Distilled water is preferable to tap water for use in automotive cooling systems. The minerals and ions typically found in tap water can be corrosive to internal engine components, and can cause a more rapid depletion of the anti-corrosion additives found in most antifreeze formulations.
tap water (which is not 100% clean) is different from distilled water (which is much more clean).
Rust particlar may be form after a period of usage time. personally i do use tap water + coolen for my radiator. after a long period of time i will find rust residu (spell) in the water compound. I will flash the radiator till clean water coming out of the other end and re-install it with water + coolen. i usually flash my radiator twice a year. unless you are a long distance car which travel non-stop and do not check your radiator water level, you will not feel the different.