05-25-2004, 11:03 PM
A guy posted to an E30 list I'm on recommending Water Wetter, says it works for him. His digital temp gauge he mounted in the thermostat housing showed ~5deg cooler readings. Ok, great! Hey, I use it too. So do a lot of people. It's supposed to help prevent cavitation and lubricate the pump if you run without antifreeze. Good things. But I've been thinking.... so I responded to his message. What do you guys think?
Not at all an attack on your results, I use Watter Wetter too. But I was just thinking:
I've often wondered how products like Water Wetter claim to reduce cooling system temps. Because from what I know, that's up to the thermostat. I imagine that no matter what I run through my cooling system, (water, antifreeze, Mr. Pibb) the thermostat is going to open and close at a given temp and try to maintain that small temp range. The only reason the temp sender would see anything slightly different is that, of course, it's not located in quite the same place. It's usually just before the thermostat in the flow. But it should be pretty close right? Maybe seeing temps a couple degrees hotter than what the thermostat "sees"? In your case, it should be exactly the same!
But then, how would any product have an effect on what the temp sender reads? Is it changing the thermostat's response too? I have no good explanation for that. And if anything, I would think that if the temp sender is reading slightly lower... is the coolant not doing its job as well? Isn't the engine putting out just as much heat as it was before? Where did it go now? In reading reviews of waterless coolants like Evans NPG+, they claim that the coolant does a better job of reducing hotspots and has better thermal transfer properties, and that you might actually see slightly HIGHER readings on your temp gauge because of this. It's taken MORE heat away from the engine. So we've got one product bragging that the temp gauge is reading lower, and one bragging that it's reading higher. Which is better? Sure, the temp sender doesn't tell the whole story, temps could be all over the place inside the engine, it only knows what the temp is as the water leaves. But what should we really be happy about, higher or lower readings on our temp gauges? Or are we looking in the wrong place?
Not at all an attack on your results, I use Watter Wetter too. But I was just thinking:
I've often wondered how products like Water Wetter claim to reduce cooling system temps. Because from what I know, that's up to the thermostat. I imagine that no matter what I run through my cooling system, (water, antifreeze, Mr. Pibb) the thermostat is going to open and close at a given temp and try to maintain that small temp range. The only reason the temp sender would see anything slightly different is that, of course, it's not located in quite the same place. It's usually just before the thermostat in the flow. But it should be pretty close right? Maybe seeing temps a couple degrees hotter than what the thermostat "sees"? In your case, it should be exactly the same!
But then, how would any product have an effect on what the temp sender reads? Is it changing the thermostat's response too? I have no good explanation for that. And if anything, I would think that if the temp sender is reading slightly lower... is the coolant not doing its job as well? Isn't the engine putting out just as much heat as it was before? Where did it go now? In reading reviews of waterless coolants like Evans NPG+, they claim that the coolant does a better job of reducing hotspots and has better thermal transfer properties, and that you might actually see slightly HIGHER readings on your temp gauge because of this. It's taken MORE heat away from the engine. So we've got one product bragging that the temp gauge is reading lower, and one bragging that it's reading higher. Which is better? Sure, the temp sender doesn't tell the whole story, temps could be all over the place inside the engine, it only knows what the temp is as the water leaves. But what should we really be happy about, higher or lower readings on our temp gauges? Or are we looking in the wrong place?
