Corrosion of Track Bike Engines running only water?

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MrMeeseeks

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Question for those of you who have lots of track experience: has anyone had problems running just water w/ water wetter or de-ionized water by itself?

If yes: do you add any other additives in to prevent this?
If no: well then yippie kai yay!
 
I ran Water Wetter and distilled water for an entire summer (street and track days) and I had some signs of corrosion when I drained it at the end of the year. I don't believe that there's enough corrosion protection in WW alone, despite what they claim. I can't say if it was too much corrosion or whether I should have been worried..but it did make me a little worried. Track only I'm sure it's fine, as caboose has seen. But if you're intending to ride street and track and leaving it in longer-term, I'd suggest switching to regular 50/50 and just saving it in a good container for switching out when doing track days. YMMV..
 
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Funny this thread came up. Presently doing preseason track prep. Got the rad off and looked in hose outlets....fair amount of calcium build up on inside of tank walls. Presently trying to clean some of it out. Ran sterile water and water wetter in this bike.

Caboose....where you getting deionized water? Or you meaning distilled water?

Im not too sure what the difff is?
 
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Canadian tire for deionized water.
 
Pitbich said:
Funny this thread came up. Presently doing preseason track prep. Got the rad off and looked in hose outlets....fair amount of calcium build up on inside of tank walls. Presently trying to clean some of it out. Ran sterile water and water wetter in this bike.

Caboose....where you getting deionized water? Or you meaning distilled water?

Im not too sure what the difff is?
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strangely enough, i had the same issue today. i took off the rad hoses to get to the spark plugs, and noticed a fair amount of grey goop in the hoses, i run water wetter. i drained it out over winter, i did not replace it with anything.
Is this the calcium your referring too. is it an issue.
whats a good way to get it out. ill probs stick a hose down it.
 
At the moment, Im experimenting with plain ol vinegar. Got the rad off the bike and laying flat, filled with vinegar. May try some rad flush once I get the rad mounted on the bike.
 
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No problems with my 02 GSXR 600 that has 30+K kms and has been a dedicated track/race bike for about 8 years. However, in off-season have changed water with coolant that has anti-corrosion additives. Could be overkill, but cheap insurance nonetheless.
 
I run distilled water. Haven't had an issue in more then a few years.
 
Maybe just a matter of changing the fluid more frequently, but after 3 seasons on the track with my R6 running just deionized water and WW and rad was super clean and no corrosion (although I flushed and re-filled each season as basic maintenance with all other fluids changed).
 
caboose483 said:
Canadian Tire. In the auto section near the antifreeze.
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You can find distilled water in the grocery store in the water section.

Re: Distilled & Deionized
Distilled= The water u're getting is basically the vapour that was condensed. Therefore its a purer water, depends on how much times its been distilled.

Deionized= Only the ions has been removed ie. positive ions/negative ions & salts. There are some remaining Organic substances still in the water like poop & spit.

If you're a nerd, there are other distinctions, but we don't need to know that.
For the sake of the radiator, they both would not make much of a difference...
 
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I don't get why demonized would make a difference in a rad versus regular water. Deionized would still have minerals and other particulates. Whereas distiller water is pure H2O with no minerals and such. This is my understanding.
 
imnothng said:
I don't get why demonized would make a difference in a rad versus regular water. Deionized would still have minerals and other particulates. Whereas distiller water is pure H2O with no minerals and such. This is my understanding.
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Dionized is not supposed to contain any minerals. The salts like carbonates and hydrogen carbonates are removed. That's what forms the scale at the bottom of your pot or rad. The scale is formed when the water is heat up and the salts precipitate out of the water, thus blocking your water pump & hoses
 
imnothng said:
I don't get why demonized would make a difference in a rad versus regular water. Deionized would still have minerals and other particulates. Whereas distiller water is pure H2O with no minerals and such. This is my understanding.
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Will this demonized water make me faster or more evil? and where can I get it?
 
Use to work in a micro electronics lab, deionized water does not mean there are no impurities ("made" our own and used it all the time). The water goes through a filtration process and ions (and other impurities) are removed, it does not mean ALL the ions were removed (there should be a PPM or such rating). In general it should be very pure but.... in the end it all depends on the process and the PPM.

Distilled on the other hand is, as others have noted, water vapour that is re-condensed. Again there can be impurities but unless they turn to gas at a lower or same temperature than the water (alcohols for example) they should be left behind. They can be reintroduced of course during the bottling process.

If I was planning on running only water in my bike or car I would run distilled before I would run deionized. More importantly I also run distilled in my humidor NOT deionized for the same reasons :).

My guess for those that have sludge or other crap in the cooling system, it is a function of the deionized water not being 100% pure or it was from impurities left behind by the flushing process (using tap water to flush), or the previous coolant (tap water).
 
If you are running actual distilled water there should be "no" corrosion since there are no minerals or sediment left in the water. Make sure that the distilled water you are buying is actual distilled water and not R/O distilled, which is reverse osmosis water ran through a resin filter. Most water stores where you refill 5gl water jugs should have distilled water that is steam distilled leaving zero or almost zero PPM. That is the most important thing to look for, just ask them to test the PPM of the water for you and if it's zero, one, or two parts per million then it will be fine to run in your rad with water wetter. Don't use tap water or spring water since they are jam packed with sediments and **** that will just corrode your rad.
 
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