Distilled water source?

[Gene in NC]

Distilled water source? I buy the recommendation but where to get it? Does anyone believe that the grocery store distilled water at the same price as the "spring" water is really distilled?

[e34.535i.sport]

Put the kettle on! :D

[yaofeng]

Distilled water for what use? Is tap water not good enough?

[bubba966]

I just buy it either at work (Costco) or at the grocery store. Wonder if they've got a "higher grade" of it at a drug store for medical uses?

I really don't see why it wouldn't be distilled at the grocery store. I'm sure the "spring" water is just marked up higher than the distilled is.

[repenttokyo]

Distilled water for what use? Is tap water not good enough?

distilled water doesn't have any minerals in it to gum up your cooling system.


there's nothing wrong with grocery store distilled water.

[yaofeng]

I have never used anything but tap water for my cars. I don't eve drink spring water myself, let alone distilled. They are not getting it. Are cars more important than me? The mineral content in tap water is miniscule. The potential of gumming up the car cooling system is almost nil.

[e34.535i.sport]

I usually fill mine with apple Tango and it runs fine...

[whiskychaser]

I have never used anything but tap water for my cars. I don't eve drink spring water myself, let alone distilled. They are not getting it. Are cars more important than me? The mineral content in tap water is miniscule. The potential of gumming up the car cooling system is almost nil.

'Hard' water is actually quite good for you as it contains calcium and magnesium salts. But it leaves horrible chalky deposits in your kettle and more importantly makes crap tea. I wouldnt use hard water in my battery or radiator as I dont want the inside to look like this:
http://www.calgon.co.uk/water.shtml
I live in a soft water area so use tap water. Or apple Tango at a pinch

[e34.535i.sport]

'Hard' water is actually quite good for you as it contains calcium and magnesium salts. But it leaves horrible chalky deposits in your kettle and more importantly makes crap tea. I wouldnt use hard water in my battery or radiator as I dont want the inside to look like this:
http://www.calgon.co.uk/water.shtml
I live in a soft water area so use tap water. Or apple Tango at a pinch

LOL - Apple Tango's cheaper these days isn't it...

[repenttokyo]

I have never used anything but tap water for my cars. I don't eve drink spring water myself, let alone distilled. They are not getting it. Are cars more important than me? The mineral content in tap water is miniscule. The potential of gumming up the car cooling system is almost nil.

there's no reason why you would drink distilled water. but you aren't a car. And you can't say that mineral content in tap water is miniscule, because it varies from place to place. For example, my parents have their own well, and the water has so many minerals that for years, shower heads would only last half a year or so before completely clogging. They had to install a water softener.

Just because you don't do it, doesn't mean it's not beneficial for your car. You fill a car with tap water for ten years, and then compare it to one with that was filled with distilled water, and then you take a look at the rads, water pumps and jackets.

[russiankid]

I have never used anything but tap water for my cars. I don't eve drink spring water myself, let alone distilled. They are not getting it. Are cars more important than me? The mineral content in tap water is miniscule. The potential of gumming up the car cooling system is almost nil.

I've drained coolant from cars that had tap water in there. There were tons of particles floating around that were caused by the water. I use distilled water in all my cars and everytime I drain the coolant it comes out the same color as the day I mixed it.

[caf2461]

Agreed. Distilled water is $1 per gallon at my grocery store. Why pay $22 per gallon for BMW antifreeze and then use tap water?

[russiankid]

Agreed. Distilled water is $1 per gallon at my grocery store. Why pay $22 per gallon for BMW antifreeze and then use tap water?

And the fact that BMW's don't like heat. If tap water clogs a waterway, hello overheating.

[h2oyo]

Distilled water source? I buy the recommendation but where to get it? Does anyone believe that the grocery store distilled water at the same price as the "spring" water is really distilled?

I work for a bottled water company. If the label says it is steam distilled it is distilled water. Spring water will be about the same cost as the cost of spring water is the trucking etc to get it to the bottling plant. Distilled water is by far more expensive to produce over purified water because of the power used to make it. Purified water is very close to the purity of steam distilled water with purified being in the 1-2 mhos and steamed distilled being .5 to 1.5 mhos. But by law they cant sell or package the water as distilled if it is purified.

[h2oyo]

I have never used anything but tap water for my cars. I don't eve drink spring water myself, let alone distilled. They are not getting it. Are cars more important than me? The mineral content in tap water is miniscule. The potential of gumming up the car cooling system is almost nil.

The mineral content of tap water and spring water is by far much higher than you think. The mineral content depends on the area of the country your in, the same goes for spring water. I wouldnt drink either of them. I would only drink drinking water. But that is my job I do know what is in my water and I do know what i take out of it before minerals are added for taste.

[yaofeng]

Agreed. Distilled water is $1 per gallon at my grocery store. Why pay $22 per gallon for BMW antifreeze and then use tap water?


Why pay $22 for BMW coolant? The green coolant works just fine.

[yaofeng]

And the fact that BMW's don't like heat. If tap water clogs a waterway, hello overheating.

Why would tap water clog the waterway?

[repenttokyo]

Why would tap water clog the waterway?

if you had read any of the above comments, you would know that it is because of mineral buildup, deposits and increased corrosion.

[repenttokyo]

Why pay $22 for BMW coolant? The green coolant works just fine.

whatever you say.

[yaofeng]

if you had read any of the above comments, you would know that it is because of mineral buildup, deposits and increased corrosion.

Look, I have used tap water to mix with the green coolant on all of my cars over the years. I never let coolant in any of my cars stay more than four years, usually less. I have never, ever had a cooling system failure because of mineral build-up causing clogged waterway on any of may cars. Failed water pump, failed thermostat, failed hoses, failed plastic cooling component, yes. But never anything related to clogged anything due to the use of tap water and $5 a gallon antifreeze (now close to $10 a gallon).

I just do not see the benefit of using expensive coolant with distilled water.

There may be minerals in the tap water. If the amount of the minerals in the tap water added to the mix will clog the cooling system passage it will do much more harm to your body. In addition, you are not running the tap adding water and minerals to the cooling system continuously. You are adding an equal amount to the antifreeze in the mix. To say it will clog the coolant system passage is laughable.

[repenttokyo]

Look, I have used tap water to mix with the green coolant on all of my cars over the years. I never let coolant in any of my cars stay more than four years, usually less. I have never, ever had a cooling system failure because of mineral build-up causing clogged waterway on any of may cars. Failed water pump, failed thermostat, failed hoses, failed plastic cooling component, yes. But never anything related to clogged anything due to the use of tap water and $5 a gallon antifreeze (now close to $10 a gallon).

I just do not see the benefit of using expensive coolant with distilled water.

perhaps you are blessed to live in an area with very soft water? not everyone has this circumstance. I don't, and I have no problem paying a dollar for a gallon of distilled water.

The cars get distilled water at the factory.

[russiankid]

Look, I have used tap water to mix with the green coolant on all of my cars over the years. I never let coolant in any of my cars stay more than four years, usually less. I have never, ever had a cooling system failure because of mineral build-up causing clogged waterway on any of may cars. Failed water pump, failed thermostat, failed hoses, failed plastic cooling component, yes. But never anything related to clogged anything due to the use of tap water and $5 a gallon antifreeze (now close to $10 a gallon).

I just do not see the benefit of using expensive coolant with distilled water.

There may be minerals in the tap water. If the amount of the minerals in the tap water added to the mix will clog the cooling system passage it will do much more harm to your body. In addition, you are not running the tap adding water and minerals to the cooling system continuously. You are adding an equal amount to the antifreeze in the mix. To say it will clog the coolant system passage is laughable.

It wouldn't do more harm to your body because your body needs these minerals, just in a limited amount where as the engine needs clean water that won't react with metal.

[repenttokyo]

There may be minerals in the tap water. If the amount of the minerals in the tap water added to the mix will clog the cooling system passage it will do much more harm to your body. In addition, you are not running the tap adding water and minerals to the cooling system continuously. You are adding an equal amount to the antifreeze in the mix. To say it will clog the coolant system passage is laughable.

is your body made of metal? Is your body a sealed system?

Your understanding of the human body combined with your understanding of how mineral deposits occur in a sealed pressurized system made of metal and plastic is the only laughable thing here.

[ryan roopnarine]

I can't believe that this conversation is even going on. Water going up a big @ss tower, not that expensive if one does it in volume.
Deionized water not good for people, good for chemistry experiments.
Regular water good for people, not so good for chemistry experiments.
Drink some deionized water (<500ml) for (rapid) proof of this.
RE: distilled, see comments about deionized.

Just because one thing works in one direction, does not mean it works in the other. Distilled water costs less than $1/gal in the US, just buy it.

[yaofeng]

You can cite every reason in the world to buy $22 a gallon BMW, Mercedes or SAAB anti-freeze with distilled water. But you cannot argue with successful operating experience using $5 a gallon Prestone with tap water.

[Gene in NC]

Here's why I started this thread. One m20s experience with "silicate gel precipitation" from Prestone over concentration combined with hard water and the phosphates commonly used in antifreeze. Reference to BMW tech bulletin 17 01 88(1743) circa 1991 as reported in "101 Performance Projects for Your BMW 3 Series" pp143.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How tell if radiator blocked??

May be on third time now on '89 525 172 k running green antifreeze..

First time, sudden oheat after climbing to about 3,500+ ft on way west to Boone NC, and then maybe 10 miles to Boone, on Xmas eve several years ago. Reputable BMW shop did all the routine things before testing cooling system which failed again because of blocked radiator, now easy to diagnose.

Second time two/three years or so later on local run. Didn't need BMW shop to diagnose. I had radiator rodded out and all was fine.

Now, several years later, pinhole blown in gasket on the cover on side of "throttle body". So, is/was it blocked radiator, head gasket, simple coolant system leak at the gasket? Which came first, like the chicken and the egg?

Oh yes, current tells include difficulty bleeding, good compression, but coolant scum on dip tick and oil fill cap.

[repenttokyo]

You can cite every reason in the world to buy $22 a gallon BMW, Mercedes or SAAB anti-freeze with distilled water. But you cannot argue with successful operating experience using $5 a gallon Prestone with tap water.

Obviously, we cannot argue anything against your vast experience and mechanical knowledge that dwarfs that of the collective experience and knowledge of the board.

[paanta]

I can't believe that this conversation is even going on. Water going up a big @ss tower, not that expensive if one does it in volume.
Deionized water not good for people, good for chemistry experiments.
Drink some deionized water (<500ml) for (rapid) proof of this.


Just because one thing works in one direction, does not mean it works in the other. Distilled water costs less than $1/gal in the US, just buy it.

DI water is actually totally safe. It'll pull minerals out of your body, but in such small quantities that it wouldn't be a huge problem unless you drank A LOT.

Distilled in the car except in emergencies. It's a buck a gallon and I keep a few in the garage. It costs me $.50 a year to run on distilled. That seems like a reasonable investment. :)

[yaofeng]

Obviously, we cannot argue anything against your vast experience and mechanical knowledge that dwarfs that of the collective experience and knowledge of the board.

You speak for yourself as I do mine. Who appointed you spokesman of the board?

[repenttokyo]

You speak for yourself as I do mine. Who appointed you spokesman of the board?

The same person who appointed you God of Antifreeze and Cooling Systems.

Read the posts in this thread. They are overwhelmingly against your position, and they backed it up with facts and references. You yourself wrote 'no matter what you write, no one will convince me'. So who is acting irrationally here?

[Ross]

I think the issue would be the quality of your tap water.
I have a private well with water so full of minerals it requires $5000 worth of equipment to make it suitable for bathing(without it a single shower would turn me to a stalagmite) and reverse osmosis for drinking.
When I had access to the fine water of lake Michigan it went in my rads for 30+ years with no ill effect.
I wouldn't think of putting what comes from my well in a cooling system, either distilled from the grocery store or the drinking water from the RO tap.

[dennyg]

With a user name of h2oyo I gotta believe you know a little about it. What are we talking about? Mixing 50/50 water and coolant and you use about a gallon and a half of distilled water? Lotta discourse over a buck and a half.

Just remember. Don't eat the fish but you can drink the water.

[ryan roopnarine]

DI water is actually totally safe. It'll pull minerals out of your body, but in such small quantities that it wouldn't be a huge problem unless you drank A LOT.

Distilled in the car except in emergencies. It's a buck a gallon and I keep a few in the garage. It costs me $.50 a year to run on distilled. That seems like a reasonable investment. :)

the last time that i drank a bottle water sized bottle of DI water, I woke up 3 or 4 hours later believing that my appendix had burst. it was from a semiconductor manufacturing facility, (won't say what company, they really aren't in business anymore :D) so i'm sure that it wasn't impure or dirty. i remember, however, the DI water in a chemistry lab at the university of florida clocking in at a ph of about 6.7 or so, no matter which tap i pulled it from.

the cooling systems on these cars were bleeding edge for the late 80s. I don't see many cars, even today, with 15lb operating pressures. I don't see why it is that inconceivable to see why, when north america has different drinking water chemistries than northern europe, that putting tap water in there might have unexpected consequences.

[mikell]

I use water from my reverse osmosis drinking water system at home. It's not pure distilled, but it's damn close - close enough for a cooling system or lead acid battery. Unfiltered tap water has too much calcium and iron in these parts.

[whiskychaser]

I don't see why it is that inconceivable to see why, when north america has different drinking water chemistries than northern europe, that putting tap water in there might have unexpected consequences.
A handy map of UK hard water areas:
http://www.dwi.gov.uk/pubs/hardness/index.htm
I live in the area between Manchester and Leeds and can get away with tap water. When I lived in Kent, I'd have had to be brain dead to use it - a lot of the drinking water comes out of bore holes. And you dont get any brownie points for guessing what the white cliffs of Dover are made of:D

[caf2461]

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-46740.html

http://www.bmwe34.net/Wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Coolant+replacement

http://www.bimmerdiy.com/diy/e36coolingsystem/

http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/diy/coolant_flush/