Replacing Antifreeze

[spthomas]

I need to remove my antifreeze for an upcoming track day. My (CBR600F4i) manual says "Using coolant with silicate inhibitors may cause premature war of water pump seals or blockage of radiator passages. Using tap water may cause engine damage". What is best to use- distilled water? Should I use Water Wetter?

[dmj120]

I need to remove my antifreeze for an upcoming track day. My (CBR600F4i) manual says "Using coolant with silicate inhibitors may cause premature war of water pump seals or blockage of radiator passages. Using tap water may cause engine damage". What is best to use- distilled water? Should I use Water Wetter?

 

I'm in SoCal and replaced mine with Distilled water and Water Wetter - temps range from low 30's to above 100. Runs like a champ. I know several people who run this in their bikes as well; never found a problem. Not sure what damage tap water could happen; for that, you'd have to wait for the chief.

[faffi]

Tap water can make for deposits that cling to the coolant channels, over time they could even become blocked. This depends heavily upon the quality of the water in your area. Our water is very soft, (I do not need to add salt the the dish washer, for instance), which means there is little risk of using it in engines - or even batteries. But the ideal solution is to use distilled water. That way you are absolutely sure.

[khp]

+1 on the distilled water. In Denmark, we use ground water for tap water (Norway uses surface water - not much water in the granite) and it contains a lot of calcium so distilled is the only way to go.

[spthomas]

OK, I drained my antifreeze and replaced it with distilled water and Water Wetter...

 

Getting to the radiator cap on my bike involves removing the whole front end if you read the manual, but you can wiggle it out from under the air intake duct running just above it, so that's what I did, and used a funnel with a flexible spout. I flushed it twice with water and drained it from the bottom radiator hose rather than the drain plug which supposed requires a new plug which I didn't have time to procure. The only thing I don't like about this setup is you can't tell the level of the water in the reserve tank since it's clear. But I suppose that isn't super-critical. My only remaining challenge is to get the bucket of antifreeze goo to the hazardous disposal site our county has.

 

I also had to safety wire the oil drain plug, filler cap and filter. That was all surprisingly easy.

[Jasonzilla]

Distilled water has almost all of the lytes (including salt) and impurities removed. Here's how I remember it, Steve. I'm sure it snows in Indiana and they put salt on the roads to melt the ice. That ice sticks to the bottom of cars. Take a peek at the older cars and you'll see the rust caused by the salty, nasty ice sticking to them, breaking down the metal as it melts. Do you want that to happen to the inside of your engine? Then use distilled water.

[spthomas]

Distilled water has almost all of the lytes (including salt) and impurities removed. Here's how I remember it, Steve. I'm sure it snows in Indiana and they put salt on the roads to melt the ice. That ice sticks to the bottom of cars. Take a peek at the older cars and you'll see the rust caused by the salty, nasty ice sticking to them, breaking down the metal as it melts. Do you want that to happen to the inside of your engine? Then use distilled water.

I grew up in Erie PA; western PA uses more salt than the rest of the country, so I know what you mean!

 

That's what I did. Track day is tomorrow; I loaded the bike on the trailer and realized I had some of the aluminum parts on the trailer get a bit corroded- I had taken the bike on the trailer in January over to Indy Ducati to have my front re-done and didn't think to wash it down after I got home.