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Antifreeze Types
I think that it is the long life stuff. Auto Supply places that I have checked have had it. Look on the label to make sure that the new brand is compatible with your brand of automobile and the coolant that it comes with. It is somewhat more expensive, but not outrageous for something that lasts 100K if you don't lose it.
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Antifreeze Types
The additives in the newer antifreeze are different. It is still basically ethylene glycol, but I don't mix it with the older stuff with the different additive concentrations. It is not that much more expensive and it is not worth saving a couple of bucks on this.
As to using distilled water...I would not recommend it. It is important to use clean water and water that does not contain extremely high concentrations of calcium and magnesium (hard water minerals) because those minerals tend to separate out and form a mineral layer when the water is heated.
Distilled, RO, and deionized water all are more pure forms of water. As you remove the solids that are disolved in the water, it effectively becomes more corrosive. The best way that I can describe it is that the water attempts to achieve a balance with its environment. If the environment is in limestone caverns, then the water will disolve limestone and become "hard." If you put a pure form of water in an engine block (especially with dissimilar metals) then you will set up a corrosive cell that will disolve some of the metal until an equilibrium situation is reached. (Someone will probably say that pure water is a non-conductor and is non-corrosive, but that is a temporary condition that will reverse itself when pure water is in contact with non-passivated metals.)
I mentioned on another thread that I used to make solutions for contact lenses and eye care. The heart of that process is the making of extremely pure water, so I speak from experience when I talk about the corrosive properties. Use good clean soft water in your engines and you will be happy and they will last for a long time. If your manufacturer says to use distilled water, then you should do that because they have made provisions to accept it.
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Propylene glycol works fine. It has the added advantage of being less toxic than ethylene glycol for dogs and other animals.
I think that we agree on getting much of the calcium and magnesium out of the cooling system and soft water accomplishes that. Water from surface sources should be good enough. With processed soft water the TDS are esentially the same, but the Ca and Mg are replaced by sodium or potassium and remain disolved in the cooling system.
Do you know if there are any pH buffer agents in the additives for the new EthGly antifreeze? It would make sense for the mfrs to use them.
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Antifreeze Types
You are correct, Mark.
I don't know how all the additives in commercial antifreeze will affect that "chemical potential" but it stands to reason that the corrosion inhibitors would keep the metal from being pulled into solution.
I just did not want someone looking at this thread and putting distilled water in their radiator and then complaining about leaks six months later.
I found the following information about the various types of antifreeze and there is specific reference to not mixing old and new formula antifreeze because the corrosion inhibitors are chemically incompatible.
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Here is another link. They are not so negative about the chemical incompatibility, but rather state that adding green conventional anti-freeze will negate the corrosion inhibiting properties of the long life anti-freeze.
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