Redline water wetter turns water black

[Cooked Rice]

Last summer I ran redline water wetter and distilled water on my N/A KA24DE. The water in the rad turned pink (redline is red) so it looked fine.

When winter came I drained it out, and put in a 50/50 mix of the green stuff, antifreeze that is. Boosted the car over winter.

Come spring, I drained it and replaced it with tap water. As I had to replace a radiator hose. The water still had a green tint from the left over antifreeze sitting in the cooling system.

Yesterday I drain the system again, install a new water pump, and run Gunk 10 Min. Radiator flush with tap water. Drained it out, and filled and rinsed the system twice with tap water.

Today I filled the system with de-ionized distilled water from the auto store along with a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. Drove around for about 30KM, came home to check the water level, and the water was all black. Not thick black, when I dabbed a white rag into it, the rag remained white. I thought maybe I blew a HG, so I checked the oil cap and dipstick and they were fine, compression checked and it was fine.

Anyone have a clue what may have happened? I'm guessing some sort of chemical reaction, but I am stumped on why it didn't turn black last year. My cooling system is very clean, new hoses, alum. rad a little over a year old, water jackets in the head are clean.

[Kloubek]

Reaction with the new hose? Dunno - that's weird...

[DonJuan]

could it be left over green 50/50 that was left in the block mixed with the new pink fluid, and turned the water black?

(I see you only did a rad flush, so I'm assuming there was green stuff still in the block)

[alloroc]

De-Ionized water is corrosive to copper piping, do you have copper in your system?

[Cooked Rice]

no copper.

[Cooked Rice]

I looked again, and it's got a greenish tint to it, so i guess it probably mixed with the rad flush solution (was green). I'll flush it again, and see what happens.

[Cooked Rice]

Odd, yesterday morning, I checked it. And the water is transparent again, with a black tint to it. Looks like a cup of water with a drop of black food coloring in it...

[asfjasljj]

maybe red and green mixed to black? LOL

[PremiumRSX]

This is interesting. Maybe its the water wetter reacting with something.

I'd try to contact Redline and see what they say.

[alloroc]

I think it would have more to do with the deionized water.

Never underestimate the power of 'the universal solvent'.

[Toma]

Watter Wetter type agents are just soap....

Cant see them reacting to make black unless they cleaned something up lol.

[PremiumRSX]

Originally posted by Toma
Watter Wetter type agents are just soap....

Cant see them reacting to make black unless they cleaned something up lol.

Maybe it cleans better than doing a rad flush.

Didn't know water wetter type agents are soap..

[H4LFY2nR]

No idea about the colour, but just wondering, why do you use water w/ water wetter for coolant instead of a glycol mix?

Usually water w/ wetter is used in race applications where glycol is banned simply because it's hard to clean up if it spills on track.

[Cooked Rice]

I only drive the car in the summer and it is tracked. Water works better than glycol antifreeze. The water wetter is there to prevent corrosion and to lubricate the water pump.

[alloroc]

You are right the specific heat capacity of plain water is higher than a glycol mix.

Be careful though. Your car is designed to have 'some' glycol in the mix as it does raise the boiling point. On warm days a pressurized cap is just not enough and you could experience flashing.

[H4LFY2nR]

^ yeah that's what i was getting at. Are you certain you need that extra heat rate from the water at the expense of the lower boiling point and lower vapor pressure in the cooling system? Either way, have you found out what's causing it to turn black? We run water w/ wetter in our race car as per regulation, and it comes out rust coloured from the pump blades rusting.

[Cooked Rice]

I suspect that the ionized water cleaned the surfaces of the metals in the engine.

[PremiumRSX]

Originally posted by Cooked Rice
I suspect that the ionized water cleaned the surfaces of the metals in the engine.

makes sense to me..