B_WALLACH

I've done quite a bit of lookseeing for people who used different water additives. The redline got good reviews and there was another made by valvoline that is supposed to work good as well, the only complaint I saw with the water wetter is it stinks something awfull but people that used it per instructions had good results. I guess it works by removing the surface tension of water so it adhears to the engine and radiator.
To my earlier post suggesting a thermostat that opens earlier, disreguard that one, I put that in before thinking that any car that overheats a colder thermostat will still open but not help keep anything cooler, sorry about that folks.
Yeah, that shrouding if very VERY important for cooling as it makes sure the air that does flow through is channeled through the radiator and not disapated elsewhere. I litterly hate the way with my car how it only allows approx. 1 foot area for air to enter the radiator from the grill. But with the engine shoved so far forward there is no other option. They should have mounted the headlights elsewhere but I didn't design the darn car so have to deal with what we have. The only really solution is to find a radiator with more area either larger or thicker, more rows. I think they can be found, I was looking as radiator dealers on the internet and one had a 3 level thickness and one was 2 if this is the best description, I can't remember the correct terminology right now so I hope you know what I am getting at. I need a new radiator and I'm going to call them and ask about this. My cousin used that damm stop leak in mine when he owned the car and I keep wondering if part of my heating problem (If I have one, I still don't know this cars normal running temp yet to say) but I hate that stop leak crap, I think it may have blocked some of the radiator's rows but not sure..
All I can add is good luck. I was even considering buying a small heater core and putting it in line with the hoses that run back to the inside heater core and mounting a electric fan tied to the switch on the radiator for extra cooling if it got hot enough it would have more surface area to help. Crazy huh? I'm known to try wild ideas from time to time. I've also heard of high flow thermostats though I have doubts they are available for audi's. There may be a flow rate better than stock but less than no thermostat that might make the best use of the radiator's capibility but that is a trial and error type of thing and would take some doing in hot weather to see how well it would do. Good luck with what ever you try though. Hope you solve it.

B_WALLACH

Oh yeah, they say using water wetter works best with the least about of added antifreeze like using a 20-30% mixture. Good for summer driving but not for winter depending where you live. It has anti oxidizers and water pump lubes in the water wetter but nothing for protecting the alum. so they say to use a little antifreeze to protect that part. Running a 50/50 mix takes a lot of water wetters effectivness as it only works with the water and not with the antifreeze so the more antifreeze you use the less the water wetter works. I guess it's more for summer and hot climat use and even better for racing where you run mostly water.

B_WALLACH

I have the darn bottle in front of me, it does protect alum. cast iron but it doesn't raise the boiling point and that is why they say to use antifreeze... sorry.. I don't have a memory so I have to really have this stuff in front of me or I get it all mixed up.. darn women drivers and motorcycles have a end result of body damage and loss of memory so I constantly screw up these things so sorry about that prev. post... And they do say to use it with less than 50% antifreeze mixture... and I opened it and phew, it does smell something awfull.. Something to put in a perfume bottle and give to someone you really hate.. hehe..

B_WALLACH

Thanks for putting up some info about this water wetter product. I was also recomending it but I haven't used it yet. What ratio of antifreeze are you using with the water wetter added? I know from other forums I've been doing some research about this and the instructions it says to use around a 30% antifreeze and no more than 50%. They say it works best with no antifreeze at all but that isn't good for steet cars from what I've picked up around the internet. Most said they got good results with that 30% mixture of anitfreeze. That is what I'm going to go at. It doesn't really get that cold where I live in the winter though it can at times get as low as 20deg.
Glad to see some feedback with it's use in Audi's though so thanks lots....

B_WALLACH

In my searching about learning about closed water cooling systems I came accross this same subject and your right about it not taking enough time. Though one person said the hotter a radiator is in relation to ambient temp it tends to loose heat faster. Now I don't know if that person knew what he was talking about and if anyone who was a expert in thermal dyanamics or what ever the term is was avaliable it would be nice to hear about this. I have a hard time beliving it myself but it would be interesting to see it tested with a temp probe in the input and output of a radiator with different flow rates with constant air temp and movement to see. I am going to do some more looking around to see if this is true.
I do remember my cousin when he was going to collage he said they did a test of putting hot water in ice trays into a freezer and another one with colder water and they both froze at the same time meaning that the hot one lost heat faster than the cold one. Try it at home and see if anyone is interested, I may do it also just to see. Now with the limited area of a radiator it must have a set limit on water flow to heat loss effiency but what it is maybe a radiator engineer or designer can answer it. Might go ask one of the radiator mfg. websites and maybe they can tell you for certain if you give them the diamentions and rates of flow.

Nervikterklieb

basically, it goes, hot water will take less time to reach a mean than cold water will. it's explained by the friction of molecular movement in hot water as compared to cold.
however. if the radiator is hot, it is hot, and if it is cold, it is cold. heat dissipation is relative. say water at 250 degrees dissipates heat at 10 degrees per second, with a decleration of 5% per second. these are not the actual numbers by any means, so by the time the water reaches 6 seconds, you've got 197 degrees.
the cooling of water decelerates as it becomes cooler. think of how strong winds come in gusts, and breezes are lengthy.
so really, when all is said and done, a hotter radiator would cool faster, but for it to do so, you'd have to have a hotter radiator, and you probably don't want that.

Nervikterklieb

by the way. "dangerous" temperatures are reached quite abit after the max mark on the gauge.

Cdn Blue Coupe

The thermostat performs an important function. It regulates the temperatrue of the engine. This means if its too cold, it makes it hotter and if hotter it opens to help the engine cool more.

Ok for you guys in a hot climate , maybe you can get way with removing it and living with a slow warm up.

Well in a normal climate, or even you hot climate guys in the evening, without the termostat your engine will run cold. You say what is wrong with that.. well;
1. you will polute like heck (insert stronger expliteive if you like)
2. your gas milage will suck big time (a 5cyl 2.2 liter is very thursty when cold)
3.and for you non-green people, you will get cold combustion in you engine this means gummed up chamber, hot points pinging, blocked valves and depostits that will rob performance, further hindering gas milage and increasing polution.

Unles you have a dedicated racer,, use the thermostat. the engineers knew whst they were doing. The audi engineers knew their stuff, trust them.

If your engine is running hot and I mean truely hot, not just becaue the guage says so but hot as measured by a calibrated instrument, get rid of the the scale that is hindering the heat transfer, ie do a proper flush with a descaller.

squidix9

DI water + Water wetter, no "antifreeze/coolant" at all. When I store the car in the winter I go with a standard 50/50 mix, then drain and flush in the spring.

squidix9

has no smell at all.

Don't know where that came from. I've used it for a long time.