[Generic automotive content only but possibly useful to someone with a
Vanagon]

Mrs Squirrel and I asked my son if he'd like to join us last night for
some shopping and dinner. He agreed (free food to unmarried 21 year-old
boy sufficient motivation to get him to go out with parents for the evening).

Over dinner, he related that he was worried about the cooling system in
his Jeep. During summer he had been running distilled water with some kind
of anti-rust/wetting agent in it and hadn't changed it out when winter
descended. Last week he found the coolant had turned into slush and the
engine was quickly overheating so he had friends drive him around until he
had a chance to drain some of the coolant and add antifreeze. Car seems to
be fine now, although there is a bit of steam rising from a location he
can't see without some dis-assembly.

Anyway, that's the not point.

The point is when I asked him why he hadn't been running a 50/50 blend of
water and antifreeze all year 'round, he said that distilled water cooled
better and that's important to him when he off-roads in summer. he had
apparently picked up on this bit of information on some off-roading and
Jeep forums.

I've never heard that distilled water cools better than water+antifreeze,
but I don't know much; so I said I'd run this by some smart guys I know
who might be able to get to the bottom of this. While I'm waiting for them
to get back to me, I thought I'd ask the folk on this list.

Does distilled water (plus wetting agent and other undefined additives)
help an engine stay cooler on hot days than water+antifreeze?

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR