Originally Posted by ohnoesaz
Here in Arizona, you don't need anti-freeze because your pipes won't freeze, but you need anti-corrosion protectant, so you need a little anti-freeze.
I'm not familiar with the Crossfire's coolant type yet, haven't researched it... But for my mustang, I ran 55% water, 2 bottles of Hyperlube additive, and the rest anti-freeze. I went from 210 degree operating to 188, which is only 8 degrees above the thermo rating. Of course having more water helped, but the additives are the most important.
I did a lot of research about additives and metal types, and the hyperlube was the best when it came to aluminum protection. Water wetter was one of the worst, but its not like it would damage anything, I just wouldnt rely on it too heavily vs the anti-freeze also put in with it.
A downside is my first attempt ended me up with some gross brown tint to my coolant because I was working with the stock coolant and mixing with that. It was clear I had to do a few changes to start over again.
What am I getting at? Yes additives work, you just need to pick the right one, and a good water/anti-freeze % for your geographic area. You need about 35% anti-freeze to protect against corrosion, and even less if you use a good additive that helps with cooling AND with protection. This allows more water to be used.
I'll be looking into this soonish.... Coolant is a big deal to me, that stuff touches every important part of the engine bay.
Reducing temps this far is not a good thing. 188 is too cold for efficency in a modern engine. Corrosive by-products don't get completly burned off and various engine components don't get to the temps needed to provide design clearance specs. While cold dense intake air is benificial in regards to combustion, running an engine designed to run at 210 degrees or more at 188 is not a good thing. ( A 50% mix of water and antifreeze will maintain temps better than a reducing the amount of antifreeze in the mix.) Running too cold will build sludge and carbon deposits. I don't mean to make light of some suggestions here but having spent 38 years in the automobile manufacturing business I can assure you there are engineering reasons behind what's done in the construction of an automobile. There's nothing wrong with the suggestion of opening the grill area which was orginally suggested here but I sense the feeling of a need to take it farther to the point it's actualy detrimental.
Bruce