labour Weekend

[Black Panther 1,581]

Good one for us. Arrived late Thursday, Sw for the sail to Whangaroa, tried fishing Sat but gave up and went looking for an ice cream shop instead, nice sail home in a NW on Sunday, spent the night at Te Puna then a gentle ride back up the river Mon morning.

 

We did have one interesting incident where the engine decided to spit off a hose from the cooling system and fart steam everywhere, And of course it happened right at the narrowest part of the entrance in 25kn and a big ebb.

 

Years ago there was an incident at the entrance to Marina Del Rey where a little sailboat was motoring up the narrow entrance when the engine cut out, they had dropped the sails and had a nice harbour stow and the covers on, meant they couldn't get the sails back up in time and lost their boat on rocks in the fairway.

 

So even if it looks messy I now leave the sails ready to go up until the anchor is down. That was 30 years ago and this weekend it paid off.

 

 

Next question - the boat is sitting in Opua with filtered tap water in the cooling system. Should it be replaced with distilled or something else? or should I leave it and stick in some additive type sh*t? and how urgent is it as I wasn't thinking to go back up for a while?

[Guest]

Next question - the boat is sitting in Opua with filtered tap water in the cooling system. Should it be replaced with distilled or something else? or should I leave it and stick in some additive type sh*t? and how urgent is it as I wasn't thinking to go back up for a while?

You should be OK as long as you don't run the engine too much. Next time up take some pre diluted coolant with you, drain the cooling systme and refill. What sort of engine is it? Could make a difference to the type of coolant.

[Black Panther 1,581]

Nissan Pathfinder (thanks for that).

 

I've never drained the cooling system before (if it happens it is always against my wishes), where is the best point to drain it from?

[Guest]

Pathfinder is good, just use off the shelf prediluted stuff.

[Black Panther 1,581]

Thanks Pete, it shouldn't be run again till I get back up in a few weeks so all good.

[John B 106]

We ran up to kawau on friday afternoon / evening and had another nice sail back on Sunday. Sat was pristine. The beer and the steak at the KIBC was very welcome too.

 

There were quite a lot of old classics up there , and also some old boats

 

 

..

[DrWatson 374]

We ran up to kawau on friday afternoon

 

..

 

This photo just hurried up my plans to move home

[Chewing Gum 17]

Would'nt be a bad idea to tip some distilled water as a flush and drain before you add the premixed coolant. We normally use distilled water from the supermarket 50:50 (cheap in 5 litre containers) mixed with concentrated coolant from eg Supercheap.

 

The water out of the tap is often quite hard ie full of corrosive minerals.

 

We normally change the coolant about every 3 years

[Guest]

Would'nt be a bad idea to tip some distilled water as a flush and drain before you add the premixed coolant. We normally use distilled water from the supermarket 50:50 (cheap in 5 litre containers) mixed with concentrated coolant from eg Supercheap.

 

The water out of the tap is often quite hard ie full of corrosive minerals.

 

We normally change the coolant about every 3 years

Distilled water by itself is extremely corrosive but when mixed with coolant it becomes basically inert. The reason that distilled water is so corrosive is that it is de mineralised and in a solution so seeks to balance its mineral deficiency by absorbing mineral from it's surrounds (osmosis). Think copper and steel pipework, cast iron engine blocks, aluminium etc. Tap water really just suffers from excessive minerals such as calcium. There may be some town water chemicals that cause issues but I've never been aware of them.

[wheels 543]

For non distilled water, or stuff straight out of the tap, you can get Soft and Hard water( pH level is either more acidic or more Alkaline).

Pure distilled, or De ionized water is totally inert and has a neutral pH balance and that is the standard that sets a pH of 7 as being the neutral point on the scale. Water is unique to any other Chemical we know of. It does not "want" to absorb or attract anything, yet certain substances will dissolve into it. Pure water is non conductive. In fact it is a Perfect Insulator. However, add anything that can conduct and water takes on a unique property where it allows Electrons to flow via the ions of the conductive element added.

You will never be able to get the internal water galleries pure and clean, so adding pure water will not mean the water is pure once added. What will have happened is that free metal Ions are now mixed in the water and this will have made in more conductive. For Engines with two dissimilar metals, ie Cast Iron and Aluminium, you will get electrolysis taking place. For total Cast Iron engines, you get a totally different problem called Cavitation corrosion.

Coolant additives, whether being an antifreeze/antiboil or just a pure Coolant additive, have several chemicals to stop all those things happening. The Glycol itself acts to raise and lower the Boil and Freeze point of the cooling water. It does little else.

So you can get cheap and expensive coolant additives and it is really hard to know what you are buying off the shelf. But read the back of the container.

A committee called D15 set a set of standards so that manufacturers had a common equal playing field to base their product on. The standard is BS6580. There are 7 tests that have to be met to be able to gain that Standard. But that was back in the very early 90's and Engines have changed since then, so a new set of standards have been created, called D7437.

The test standards are:

D1120, Test Method for Boiling Point of Engine Coolants;

D1177, Test Method for Freezing Point of Aqueous Engine Coolants;

D1384, Test Method for Corrosion Test for Engine Coolants in Glassware;

D1881, Test Method for Foaming Tendencies of Engine Coolants in Glassware;

D3306, Specification for Glycol Base Engine Coolant for Automobile and Light-Duty Service;

D4340, Test Method for Corrosion of Cast Aluminum Alloys in Engine Coolants Under Heat-Rejecting Conditions; and

D7304, Test Method for Determination of Denatonium Ion in Engine Coolant by HPLC.

[Chewing Gum 17]

I wasn't suggesting using distilled water on its own , just as a flush and also as a diluent for antifreeze solution. I don't agree re hard water - it is definitely corrosive to aluminium parts in engines. As Wheels says the anticorrosive additive in antifreeze solution is what does the protection and over time loses its efficacy hence the need to change the coolant ocassionally - cheap insurance any engine car or boat.

[wheels 543]

When I was a young Lad, I was helping out in the Mechanical workshop at the place I worked at. We were stripping down some Engine that had the fault of having dumped all it's cooling water into the Sump. Solid cast beast of an engine. I will never forget the size of the Hole that had formed. A jagged looking Hole that looked like Acid had eaten it's way through the Head. I was introduced to Mr Cavitation Corrosion for the first time. The Hole was situated directly under the Thermostat and directly behind the pump. A largish round cavity area and apparently the water swirls round and around in this Hole. If you do not have Anti-corrosion inhibitors added, the swirling water just eats a hole in the Cast Iron head and in this case, it went all the way through. The Mechanics used a product made by a Company called Alfloc as an extra additive to the Anti-freeze they used. This would have been way back in the 80's, so I really don't know if it was a case of Anti-freeze being mostly just that, without all the additives, or if it was a problem for this particular engine or ??? But I have never forgotten the additive or the Fault after that.

[Black Panther 1,581]

You're scaring me now. I am imagining my engine sitting up in Opua slowly rotting away from the inside.

[Island Time 1,234]

It's simple BP, no need to over complicate it.

 

If you feel that the coolant was discolored/dirty/brown previously, it may be a good idea to flush with a chemical cleaner - available from Repco, supercheap etc. Follow the instructions on the bottle.

 

Tap water is a get you home solution only, not good for long term, but ok for flushing. If you are going to flush it first (good idea) take out the thermostat, open the hot water heat exchanger valve (if fitted) and flush the lot with a hose until it runs clear.

 

So when you get back up there, drain it (there is likely a drain in the block somewhere), flush it, and refill with the ready to use coolant from supercheap or somewhere. No worries then about water quality etc.

 

Note; Once finished, the coolant should stay the same color - probably green - and not darken. Darkening is indicative of rust still in the system. It should stay that same, normally bright green color, all the time.

[Terry B 71]

The club late Saturday arvo......

[Terry B 71]

and again

[Terry B 71]

the famous "Ferro" in attendance

[Chewing Gum 17]

You're scaring me now. I am imagining my engine sitting up in Opua slowly rotting away from the inside.

No need to worry BP it will take quite some time for any corrosion to occur.

[Terry B 71]

taken from path just to east of club

[Terry B 71]

Well worn table at the club.......... (getting arty now!)