Hyundai accent diesel coolant vs water

**urbanmetal** · May 6th, 2018 04:50 PM

Hi guys

I've read about coolants and stuff and basically what I understand is we don't need it as we have tropical climate here, and the antifreeze is practically useless.

Just to confirm, what water should be used in place of the coolant? The coolant level in my car is close to L already.

Thanks!

**StockEngine** · May 6th, 2018 04:53 PM

you need coolant.. if its water alone, it will boil fast.

FOCUS

**yebo** · May 6th, 2018 05:41 PM

coolant is better than water.

water has a lower specific heat than coolant, meaning it has less heat carrying capacity, therefore less cooling.

water alone boils at 100C, a 50/50 water/coolant mix boils at 106C.

and the best argument for using coolant, coolant has corrossion inhibitors. water alone will not prevent rust from forming inside the engine and radiator.

**Archerfish** · May 6th, 2018 05:45 PM

You are correct, we don't need antifreeze. However, if you will use distilled water alone you can damage the internal parts through scale formation.

Although the radiator cap makes it possible for the water not to boil at atmospheric pressure, using coolant can guarantee that boiling point is more than 100 degrees Celsius even with a faulty radiator cap.

You can use water, of course, even tap water. If you plan to sell your car 3-5 years from now, I think you have nothing to worry about. In my case, I have the tendency to keep things up to 20 years just like our CR-V 98.

EDIT: To answer your question, use distilled water.

**brushless** · May 6th, 2018 05:49 PM

Bro, you need coolant specific to your car's engine. Coolant prevents rust and water is corrosive. Using water will destroy your water pump overtime. A destroyed water pump causes overheating which in turn destroy your engine if not corrected immediately.

You can use water, but, only for a short time until you get your coolant.

**Yatta** · May 6th, 2018 05:57 PM

Antifreeze is the generic term (at least in the west or cooler climates) for radiator additive. Usually made of ethylene glcyol, its primary function is to lower the freezing point of water (hence "antifreeze) and increase the boiling point of water (see Ideal Gas Law or PV=nRT), water is still the primary coolant however. While the former is useless for us, the latter is. Other use is as corrosion inhibitor (you are after all running water inside a metal container (engine and radiator) and as lubricant for the water pump.

**Vodka** · May 6th, 2018 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by yebo

coolant is better than water.

water has a lower specific heat than coolant, meaning it has less heat carrying capacity, therefore less cooling.

water alone boils at 100C, a 50/50 water/coolant mix boils at 106C.

and the best argument for using coolant, coolant has corrossion inhibitors. water alone will not prevent rust from forming inside the engine and radiator.

actually pure water has higher specific heat than glycol+water+additives (aka "coolant"). however you can't use pure water for reasons mentioned

**yebo** · May 6th, 2018 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by Vodka

actually pure water has higher specific heat than glycol+water+additives (aka "coolant"). however you can't use pure water for reasons mentioned

i was not talking about ethylene glycol.

nalcool 2000, a common industrial tropical additive, has a specific heat of 3.9J/g.K. you may say that water has a higher specific heat at 4.186J/g.K. but water has a specific gravity of 1.00 while nalcool 2000 has a specific gravity of 1.125, giving it a higher heat capacity per unit volume of 4.3875J/cc.K. so for the same volume of "coolant" in the engine coolant does carry more heat than water alone.

**brushless** · May 7th, 2018 12:18 AM

Nice to read scientific explanation here.

**Vodka** · May 7th, 2018 12:44 AM

Originally Posted by yebo

i was not talking about ethylene glycol.

nalcool 2000, a common industrial tropical additive, has a specific heat of 3.9J/g.K. you may say that water has a higher specific heat at 4.186J/g.K. but water has a specific gravity of 1.00 while nalcool 2000 has a specific gravity of 1.125, giving it a higher heat capacity per unit volume of 4.3875J/cc. so for the same volume of "coolant" in the engine coolant does carry more heat than water alone.

you mix 1 part nalcool to 32 parts water (i think you quoted the specific gravity of the nalcool CONCENTRATE not nalcool+water solution). that's mostly just water so it'll perform mostly like water

which is better than water+glycol but you don't raise the boiling point. i'm not sure if that's OK w/ hyundai's diesel engine...

more importantly it seems like an old school formula that uses nitrites, borates, silicates. cars these days use organic acid corrosion inhibitors on a water/glycol base. e.g. honda uses 10-year coolant. ford coolant good for 150,000km. toyota pink coolant 5yrs i think. not sure about hyundai.

you shouldn't switch to old-school coolant if your car uses organic acid tech