Anyone any good / bad experiences with Redline Water Wetter, which claims to lower engine temps and reduce hot-spots? Never tried it myself, just curious.

I tried it in my Jaguar XJS that was running slightly hotter than normal. It made no difference that I could see.

I have used Water Wetter in two vehicles. A 81 BMW 5 series and a 98 Truimph Daytona (Sport Bike). In the BMW it made difference in stop and go traffic but not a large difference. I did not change the mix from 50/50. In the Truimph however it made a huge differnce. Anytime in the summer (90 +) in city traffic the temp gauge would run near the red. When the system was filled with 70 % distilled water, 30 % anti-freeze and a 4 oz of Water Wetter the temp gauge never went above the half way mark. According to infomation sampled from the ECU (Truimph has the most advanced engine mgt system for motorcycles) the coolant temp was 35 f lower with Water Wetter. This product bonds with the water molecule to help transfer heat, this is probably why the bike responded to it so well and the BMW only so-so

> This product bonds

> with the water molecule to help transfer heat,

Whoa there! Could you be more specific on that? Happen to know the formula?

I use it in my 95 855 5 speed! I know alot of motorcycle racers who use only distilled water and water wetter in their bikes. But then again there is no comparison between motorcycles engine temps and cars. Since I've been using it, I have noticed a slightly lower temp reading. Furthermore, water is the best heat transfer media knowen to man, and engine. Glycols, (Ethylene or Propylene) are used to prevent any number of things, i.e: freezeing, foaming, corrosion are the main ones. Most Motorcycle shops carry water wetter for about $8 a bottle, one bottle will treat up to 12 Qts. Further info on the product can be found on Redlines web site. I believe Neosynthetics also have a product similar to water wetter, they call it HTP, Heat Transfer Product??

Michael

1995 855 NA 5 speed, ipd sway bars, 2.5 cat back exhaust, Bilstien shocks, upper strut tower brace, SS brake lines, euro side markers.

The engine is optimized for certain temperature range, which normally corresponds to the middle scale reading of the temperature gauge. These are not the best temperatures from the point of view of thermodynamics, but they can be sustained for a long time under different engine loads, modes of operation and outside temp. conditions.

There's no need to shift this temp. point, unless your engine is abnormally hot - but then it needs proper mechanic's attention, not some magic-fix slap-on thingy.

As far as the claim to reduce hot spots in a water cooled aluminum engine, this is simply ridiculous. The whole thing sounds like bogus.

Cheers,

Vadim.

I've read about it and seen it BUT I doubt it'll do anything that's measureable in any way. I doubt it could do any harm but I think it's very questionable that it'll help with anything either and it'd be hard to prove either way.

One thing's certain, I have yet to see an engine ever fail from "hot spots".

I think it helps. I used to live in New Orleans and the guys that worked in a shop owned by a BMW car club member recommended it. They generally don't believe in Snake oils, since they are a dime a dozen in the French Quarter.

It would be most usefull in really hot places (Florida, Texas, Arizona) or on the race track. Not as usefull in Montana this time or year.

As an engineer, I have read up on how it works and cann't disagree with it. There is a website where a PHD in Heat transfer did a write-up about how it works, he uses it in his track-toy. If a remember correctly, This stuff allows the water in the coolant to work more efficiently by making the surfaces of the cooling jacket more wetable (the angle if refraction is less than 90 degrees) thus the coolant can absorb more heat as it passes through the engine.

The site is www.e30m3performance.com. I don't remember where exactly it is in his site.

I've read all that too BUT when you think about it, why wouldn't the coolant work just as well?

The people who make claims like that then lead one to believe that the manufacturers antifreeze isn't working as well as it should be but it's something that also can't be proven by ordinary means (only in a lab).

I'd have to think that any "normal" modern day coolant (including plain ol' water) does exactly what's needed in an engines cooling system, absorbs the heat from the cylinders, etc and transfers it out to the radiator. To say that it's not doing that well on a molecular level sounds like BS to me.

I can't speak to the theoretical reasonings mentioned above, but I do know that on the Nissan performance list I'm on, a lot of the guys use this product, and have done back to back track runs and had a measurable decrease in temp with the water wetter.

My opinion is that it's probably something that would help at the track when you're running your car really hard for an extended period of time.

Redline is a pretty straightforward company, and makes very good lubrication products. I don't see them having one product among so many good ones that's snake oil.

My 2 cents

Wes Nance

Rochester, NY

Wes:

I fail to see how an engine whose water temp is regulated by a thermostat

(proper functioning is assumed) can operate at a lower temperature.

Perhaps the heat is removed from the cylinder and head area better, but how do you measure that?

I remain unconvinced.

Rich, whose balky M47II trans does not work any better with MTL than synthetic ATF.