Radiator maintenance

jgbedford

New member
New to 2-stroke. I purchased a used Intrepid chassis with Vortex ROK GP motor. The guy I bought it from was helpful and took me for a very quick once over the kart.

His guidance was to empty the radiator after each session and leave the system dry until my next session. He showed me the drain bolt/plug on the bottom of the motor.

He told me to only run distilled water in the cooling system to avoid track damage if a spill or leak were to occur.

It’s still the start of he season in Canada and pretty cold and rainy, but when things really start to warm up, my hope is to get out on it at least weekly.

Question - does the radiator/cooling system need to be drained after every day before storing the cart?

Does anyone run anything other than distilled water in their cooling system?

Is there any other maintenance I should be aware of to keep my coolong system operating efficiently?

Many thanks in advance!
 

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My guess is he said drain it every race so it doesn't sit and corrode the radiator. Same principle as running straight water in a car except this is a performance application.
 
Well it is meant to help battle rust and corrosion so I'd say yes. I'd still check it regularly and maybe every couple to a few weeks change it out.
 
The minerals in water are what plugs your radiator. Distilled water has no minerals.
I changed my coolant only when I have repairs , the reason I won't use antifreeze is if you damage your cooling system in a race antifreeze has to be a lot hotter to evaporate,
I just hope it would evaporate before it gets to me
 
Good advice from the others. Just get the Redline Water Wetter and use the distilled water. There is no need to change the water out every session. I would go months on mine with Water Wetter.
 
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