The biggest advantage of Distilled water is that most city water contains
chlorine at about 1 part per million, which we all know how chlorine is a
corrosive.  I don't think that there would be enough minerals in a gallon or
two of tap water to make that big of a difference.  However, there is enough
chlorine to possibly contribute to problems.

I've always used distilled or filtered water, which I have let sit for a
week or so to allow the chlorine to dissipate.

Jack

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Dennis Haynes
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:32 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Distilled Water

Yes, arouand that time as many new coolant formulations were being
introduced,many cooling system issues were found to be related to minerals,
ions and other stuff in tap water that reduced the effectiveness of coolant
and cuase precipatation, (deposits that clogged) and abrasion of cooling
system parts. Most large diesel engines reqiure distilled water fill and
many antifreeze suppiers now sell pre mixed with distilled or deionized
water. If you have hard water, you want to use distilled. If you think there
is a lot of confusion with automotive antfreezes, try the truck and
industrial engine world.

Dennis

>From: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
>Reply-To: Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Distilled Water
>Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:26:04 +0000
>
>OK, I knew  I wasn't dreaming, a search of the archives brought up many
>hits about how distilled water should be used with coolant. I only went
>back as far as 2003, and don't have time to sort through them all, but has
>opinion on this changed?     Jeff