Gollipin' gollywonkers batman

[SupraTuned]

Hey everybody, I really keep hearing that you should only run water after doing a head gasket job, but the thing is that by the time I get mine together, it will be most likeley below freezing......I live in wisconsin so i guess im screwed in that department. I don't plan on driving it in the winter, but if I can put some miles on it and do a re tourque before i store it, i would be much happier...Is it really that big of a deal to run water instead of coolant?

[bgrieger]

The only thing water has on coolant mix is that technically, water can absorb more heat on it's own in a given period of time than coolant mix can. However, coolant offers a series of different protections that are more important. Protection from freezing is the first you hit on. As a second, it increases the boiling point of water, which helps to keep your car cooler. There are some areas in the engine that can exceed the boiling point of water expecially when driven hard and you can get steam pockets form. Since steam can't absorb heat while liquid water or water and coolant mix can, you want the coolant to help keep water touching metal so you continue to cool the engine everywhere. The rad cap building pressure serves to assist this as well.

Coolant also has anti corrosive properties that help minimize the decay of your various engine parts. Acids naturally form in the cooling system, and coolant helps to minimize the formation. Acids are particularly fond of breaking down aluminium in the head, radiator and other areas.

All in all, coolant has a serious role to play, and there is almost no gain to be had in leaving it out.

[SupraTuned]

Oh, well I didint mean permanantly, I just was told that you should only run water for the first 1000 miles or so to let your gasket seat properly

[Jeeves]

I don't believe I've -ever- heard that.

[willtotheumm]

say wha---? i'm with jeeves on that one