Out of every 1,000 vehicles on the road in Nigeria today, at least 995 are running plain water in their radiators and cooling systems.
The remaining 5 are usually brand new vehicles with factory-filled coolant still in them; newly imported foreign used copies or vehicles of die-hard auto maintenance freaks like myself.
The argument of the vehicle owners here and their Kazeems is that, since Nigeria is in the tropics, it doesn’t make sense to bother with a coolant/antifreeze solution since plain water ‘does the job’.
Or appears to.
But, in reality, does it?
Higher Boiling Point
At around 100 ºC (212 ºF) water boils. Now, depending on your driving style, vehicle, and ambient temperature, your engine can get truly hot, coming close to this point — or even hitting it, in rare cases.
If this temperature threshold is hit by your engine for any reason, you’ll instantly have an overheating episode on your hands.
With coolant, however, things are radically different.
For instance, the Toyota Super Long Life Coolant has an impressive boiling point of 108ºC (258.4 ºF) which means, despite your spirited driving, harsh weather conditions, and every other thing that makes an engine hot, you’re likely to NEVER experience an overheating bout if you stick to the use of the recommended coolant as against plain water.
For most coolant types, the magic addition that ensures that this happens is Ethylene glycol — a compound that helps lower the freezing point while increasing the boiling point of any liquid it is added to.
Lower Freezing Point
Of course, everyone who lives in a temperate region where it gets really cold knows this: you can’t try using plain water alone in your radiator, especially in the winter.
However, generally, winter or not, coolant stays in such vehicles that operate in such harsh environments, all year round.
Like the boiling point above, the magic here is also handled by the power of Ethylene glycol — lowering the freezing point to an impressive -37 ºC (-34.6 ºF).
Coolant Is ‘Purer’ Than Water
The first two points detailed above are the very obvious ones — the ones even the blind see and even grandma is aware of.
What about the more ‘discreet’ ones? The ones only a select few know of or can discern?
This is where it gets interesting.
For instance, water is hardly just hydrogen and oxygen — depicted by the classical representation, H₂O.
However, in real life, there are a lot of impurities that go into the mix: chlorine/chloramines (especially for tap running water), fluoride, Aluminum Sulfate (Alum), lime (to ‘soften’ ‘hard’ water), iron and manganese, trace elements and organic matter — depending on the actual source.
So, as you can see, H₂O now turns to H₂Z…
These unwanted elements go into the system, clog unto parts they have no business clogging unto, and generally, reduce cooling efficiency!
This isn’t something you will be proud of: both in the short and long run.
Coolant Goes Well Beyond Mere Cooling
Traditional coolant goes well beyond the reality of cooling alone: it serves other functions too, like lubrication of seals in the cooling system, particularly, the water pump.
Lubrication for the water pump in its entirety (remember, it is doused in the coolant, for the most part, in most designs).
Unfortunately, water has no such lubricating properties, making the seals in a cooling system of a vehicle not using coolant more likely to fail prematurely, together with the water pump, as a unit.
This doesn’t look like what anyone would want for their vehicles or themselves.
Keeping Rust at Bay
Rust is the number one enemy of efficient cooling…and, this is how it affects automotive cooling systems.
The radiator cooling fins are tiny pores where coolant exchanges take place to keep the vehicle’s operating temperature within spec.
What happens is that coolant that has gone through the ‘fire’ of the engine block passes through these fins and mixes with ‘fresh’, cool coolant, regulates itself employing the cooling fan and the process continues.
With water use, however, rust logically lodges itself in the system and blocks these tiny fins, making it a challenge for the hot fluid from the block to come back to the radiator to be cooled off utilizing the cooling fan.
When this happens, an overheating episode is just around the corner.
What if Coolant Isn’t Available at All?
Sometimes, good old coolant isn’t an option — at all. It is COMPLETELY unavailable!
If this happens to be your case, then, make use of only distilled water, as a coolant substitute: not rainwater, not tap water, not the borehole but distilled water.
If that is a challenge, collect the condensate from the air conditioner and use it in a supplementary capacity — it’s a viable and safe option.
Still a challenge?
Some bottled water companies offer still water devoid of any additives…this is the next best option.
Still a challenge? Sorry, you shouldn’t be driving a vehicle in the 21st century!
Wrap Up
Using plain water in your radiator or cooling system may look like a cool and inexpensive thing to do.
But, like the fuel pump story shared yesterday, it brings more grief than savings at the end.
If you ever need to cool down your cooling system, use the recommended coolant, only.
If for any reason, you’re forced to use plain water (for lack of availability), flush and revert back to coolant at the earliest chance you get (and this is valid even if you live in the tropics (like Nigeria) or are experiencing hot summers (like Florida does).