So I was at Autozone the other day buying some brake fluid. And I was at the counter and saw they were selling Redline's Water Wetter coolant additive for only $4.50. I had read about this additive on Red Line's website when I was researching the best Tranny and Diff fluid to change to.

Seeing how it was on sale and it claims it is safe for all radiators and all antifreezes, I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a try.


WaterWetter® is a unique wetting agent for cooling systems which reduces coolant temperatures by as much as 30ºF. This liquid product can be used to provide rust and corrosion protection in plain water for racing engines, which provides much better heat transfer properties than glycol-based antifreeze. Or it can be added to new or used antifreeze to improve the heat transfer of ethylene and propylene glycol systems. Designed for modern aluminum, cast iron, copper, brass and bronze systems. Compatible with all antifreezes, including the latest long-life variations.

I just used some aquarium tubing and siphoned about 14-15 oz of coolant out of the radiator and just added the whole bottle of Water Wetter.

Driving around I noticed that the engine temp gauge was actually 3 tick marks to the left of where it normally was in the center once warmed up. Excellent!

Redline Water Wetter (http://www.redlineoil.com/products_coolant.asp)

I've been using it too for about 1 year, but did not notice any changes with my temperature guage or anything else.

Cool! I've been wanting to do this to my 8 since Spring came. I was concerned, from the advise I received on this board, that I might have to flush and refill plain coolant when Winter comes around again. Living in California, I don't think that would be the case for me. It's been getting hotter and hotter here everyday, and everytime I get home my 8 turns on its fans for a long time :( That really shows how hot it has been running.

I heard from a good source that this stuff increases cavatation of the water pump. Most are expexted to have to replace the pump at 60000 miles already but tis was just something i heard.
olddragger

^ Yeah, that was one of the cons I received from the experts here also. I already had my water pump replaced at 15K miles due to leaking, but that's a different subject.

have hear nothing but good things about this product in a couple of the motorcyle forums that i belong to. the racers seem to swear by it.

i would think cavitation would be more of an issue with bikes with the very wide range of rpms.

beers

classic internet thread; it will not lower your temp guage on a properly operating coolant system

the coolant system temperature is determined by the thermostat rating during normal driving conditions :rolleyes:

"Water Wetter" it is basically a surfectant (or wetting agent). This reduces the surface tension of the water. Surface tension is the reason you can slightly overfill a glass of water and create a crown over the top of the glass. Stick a toothpick dipped in some dish soap (a surfectant) on the crown and watch it spill on the counter.

Reducing the surface tension should provide better heat transfer in problem areas in the cooling system. One area is where turbulence doesn't allow the fluid to make good contact with a cooling surface, such as in the radiator core. These areas, where the fluid is moving quickly and changing direction, can cause coolant to shear from the surface, and miss the opportunity to rid itself of some heat. There are also areas in almost all cooling systems where the heat is concentrated and the coolant can "mini-boil". The boiling action creates pockets of air which won't allow the coolant into the area to remove the heat. Wetting agents can help reduce (or eliminate) the air pockets, allowing the coolant in to do it's job.

If anything, Water Wetter should help to reduce cavitation in the system, because the trapped air (caused in part by normal surface tension) would be reduced.

classic internet thread; it will not lower your temp guage on a properly operating coolant system

the coolant system temperature is determined by the thermostat rating during normal driving conditions :rolleyes:

not the point, if your are running a bit warm i could lower the temp gauge to where it should be. yours was a classic internet respose.

beers

Water wetter is designed to work in a coolant mixture of "mostly water". Its primarily used in individuals who race, as their coolant mixtures are usually either pure water, or a very high concentration of water (like 90% water, 10% coolant). In these situations, the water wetter type products (redline, purple ice, etc) work well.

When they don't work so well is when you add them to a 50/50 coolant/water mix. They aren't designed to work in those type of conditions, and can cause side effects. Thus why its called "water wetter" and not "coolant wetter".

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com

^thanks greg, I was going to mention that, but didn't quite remember where I got that info from :p

I've been using it too for about 1 year, but did not notice any changes with my temperature guage or anything else.I second that.

classic internet thread; it will not lower your temp guage on a properly operating coolant system

the coolant system temperature is determined by the thermostat rating during normal driving conditions :rolleyes:

Oh yeah :) ........

From the Water Wetter data sheet (http://www.redlineoil.com/whitePaper/17.pdf):

"DYNO TEST RESULTS
Dynomometer tests performed by Malcolm Garrett
Racing Engines showed significant improvements in
coolant temperatures using WaterWetter®. These
tests were performed with a Chevrolet 350 V-8 with a
cast iron block and aluminum cylinder heads. The
thermostat temperature was 160°F. The engine operated
at 7200 rpm for three hours and the stabilized
cooling system temperature was recorded and tabulated
below:
Cooling System Fluid Stabilized Temperature
50% Glycol/ 50% Water 228°F
50/50 with WaterWetter® 220°F
Water 220°F
Water with WaterWetter® 202°F
These numbers are similar to the temperatures
recorded in track use and heavy-duty street use."

"USE DIRECTIONS
One 12 ounce bottle treats 12-16 quarts of water or a
50% ethylene or propylene glycol solution. In smaller
cooling systems, use 4-5 caps per quart."

Our coolant capacity is 9.2 quarts, so only about 3/4 of the 12 ounce bottle should be used per the above directions.

rx8cited

8cited,

You do realize your posting that data from redlineoil.com....the place that manufacturers and sells redline water wetter...

Might as well start using the graphs and data from amsoil's 10,000 retailer sites to base arguments on =/. Always a "slight" bias when using the data from the company/site that actually makes the product and has a financial interest it in selling well. Instead check out...

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com
They have an entire forum dedicated to coolant and additives. Including a few hundred threads on the water wetters. And this data is from users of the product, not the manufacturer/marketing department.

We do not have a real water temperature gauge. I am not sure how you can see a difference in an on/off designed to simulate a real gauge.

actually it is a 'real' temp gauge, not an on/off switch like the oil pressure gauge

granted it basically just sits smack in the middle until either the engine has cooled off or it's about to blow, but it moves and does gauge the full range of temperatures of the engine :o

8cited,

You do realize your posting that data from redlineoil.com....the place that manufacturers and sells redline water wetter....

Uh huh, that's why I said "from the Water Wetter data sheet".

I see a number of people on http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ also report a slight reduction in temperature using 50/50.

I'm guessing the RX-8 temperature guage is not accurate enough to see 8-10 degree drops.

Do any of your remember seeing the Heat Races from Best Motoring? They ran an RX-8 that did really well initially, but fell way back in the later laps. The oil temp and coolant temps were really high....I would not be suprised if water wetter and increased radiator capacity would help those in LV with engine failures...not to mention that I think I found the source of my oil leak....heat melting lines from MOP? There are are several translucent plastic lines and one of them is very greasy....I wiped if of last night, and it's greasy again today.

Generally you won't see any drop using a 50/50 mix. Some people say they see a drop, but most don't. I would consider using water wetter if you were running a 70/30 mix though, as then its got some measure of functionality.

Basically its least efficent in a 50/50 mix, and most efficent the greater the water to coolant ratio. It maxes out effectiveness at 100% water.

There have also been quite a few instances of it causes coolant corrosion in 50/50 mixes (see the bob threads with photos), which is why I don't recommend using it in 50/50 coolant/water mixes.

If you want to increase cooling capacity, upgrade the radiator to a multicore. I don't know what the rx8's is by default, but the 6 only has a single core radiator. The Mazdaspeed unit by comparison has a triple core, with full alumnium tanks (no plastic shit to break). Using additives, or forcing the fans to come on sooner are just patchwork solutions compared to replacing the radiator.

Big difference between something like this...

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~greghess/radiator2.jpg

And this...

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~greghess/radiator3.jpg

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~greghess/radiator.jpg

As for the coolant gauge, its quite normal to have a 60F deadzone in a stock temp gauge now. Aka from about 30 degrees before operating temp, to about 30 temps hot, the gauge doesn't move from the center.

Oh yeah :) ........rx8cited


yeah, it was said there was a temp decrease while driving around on the street, not running wide open throttle continuously like at a race or dyno, in the street mode the thermostat controls the coolant temp up to the point it is wide open, after that it's all dependent on the physical aspects of the cooling system

if WW makes the engine run cooler the thermostat will jusy close to a smaller opening and maintain the temperature at it's approx. design rating (assuming it's operating properly). So under those conditions (typical street driving) you won't see the engine run any cooler