Jim,
I use distilled water and Water Wetter. The amount of metal ions that
distilled water will strip off the walls of a cooling system is trivial.
Since water leaves the cooling system through leaks AND evaporation when a
little steam is shoved past the pressure cap after a hot run, mineralized
water will leave behind the minerals when the water is lost as steam. I
figure the first ions to volunteer for dissolving in distilled water will be
the 45 years of rust that coat the walls of the cooling system. I've yet to
see any bare shiny metal anywhere in my cooling system after years of
distilled use. While more mineral will dissolve in distilled water than in
normal tap water, this is much exaggerated when aplied to a car's cooling
system.
Your rear-end knock is almost certainly the U-joint. A fairly easy fix if
you follow the book instructions carefully. Watch out for the alignment of
the grease zerk and the part of the shaft/flange that are dished to
accomodate it. Using the right sized socket as a drift, hammering the old
cap down into another socket big enough to recieve it, works well.
Glen Byrns
> Now I have a couple new questions.
> 1) I still have anti-freeze in it which will come out today in favor
> of plain old water. Do I use tap water (full of calcium around here)
> or distilled (which I am leaning toward). Also, I recall people on
> this list talking about putting some sort of wetting agent in the
> water to increase it's heat transfer effeciency. What do you use and
> where do you get it?
>
> 2) Clunking noises. I don't like clunking noises. They usually come
> attached to $$$$.
> When I engage the clutch I get a distinct, heavy "Clack" or "Clunk"
> from somewhere in the butt end. There seems to be some "lash" in the
> drive train, too. Or maybe it is just my imagination due to the clunk
> sound. The car has wires on it - should I pull the rear wheels and
> examin the splines? There is also an occasional vibration when
> reaching about 30 nph and above. If I back off on the gas a few times
> it smooths out and goes away for a while. U-joints?
|