I forgot where I learned this from, but I remember being told that a
single drop of dishwashing liquid (ie- Palmolive, Dawn, et al) in the
radiator breaks the surface tension of the water.
To illustrate, fill a bowl with water. Then, sprinkle pepper across the
top. Notice how the pepper just lies there, with no movement. Place a
drop of the aforementioned soap in the center of bowl, and watch as the
pepper moves to the perimeter of the bowl. I have no complicated
explanation of why this happens other than the surface tension is broken.
Back to the cooling system. When the surface tension is broken, the
water can make better "contact" (I'm an accountant, not a scientist!)
with the metal parts of the engine and radiator, thereby cooling better.
I wouldn't use more than one drop of soap or you are apt to have a
"sudsing problem". Then again, I wouldn't use any soap at all in my
cooling system.
Thomas James Pokrefke, III
1970 MGB
thomas_pokrefke@juno.com
http://ocean.st.usm.edu/~pokrefke
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