I read here that RL Water Wetter will protect all engine metals against corrosion except for magnesium. does anyone know if there is any magnesium anywhere in the engine bay i should know about? i've been contemplating switching to water wetter/distilled water, but hadn't b/c i had heard there were issues w/ ww's ability to protect against corrosion.

check it out...

Red Line Cooling System Water Wetter improves the ability of coolant to wet heat transfer surfaces by 50%. This provides significantly better coolant contact in the cylinder head and can reduce coolant and head temperature by as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Can be used with 100% water in racing but does not protect magnesium from corrosion or alter the freezing point significantly.

Red Line Water Wetter passes the ASTM D2570 Simulated Service Corrosion Test (the most severe test developed for automotive coolants) with a significant margin to spare. This test circulates coolant for 1094 hours at 190°F through a simulated engine block with test samples of metals commonly found in automotive cooling systems. The weight lost due to corrosion is then calculated for each sample. An independent test lab showed that a 3.1% volume concentration of Water Wetter in tap water (not distilled water) protected copper, brass, steel, cast iron, cast aluminum, and 30a solder -- better than the test requirements, and better than the competition!

 

If you mix the water-wetter with 25% regular coolant & water that should help protect the mag-ga-nice-c-um & seals.

 

well, the thing is... i've heard a lot about the 'gunk' left behind in the system from mixing the water watter w/ regular coolant. so, i wanted to avoid that by just using the distilled water/water wetter combo. but, if you guys advise against that & recommend using some coolant in there, i'll just go w/ straight coolant. so, i'm assuming by your comment that we do have magnesium parts???

 

I did notice some brownish gunk floating around in my coolant tank on my M3 when I used water wetter, I thought it was oil at first and it really scared me. I'd just avoid it all-together or use the version for diesel engines which won't gunk up.

 

You guys flushing your cooling systems out first? I've been using WW on every vehicle/bike I owned, no brown s@!t here.

 

if & when i do this... i would def flush out all the coolant.