Coolant or distilled water?

[Paddler Ed]

Distilled water is a better option unless you know what coolant went in last - as my Toyota is looked after by me, I have a spare litre of Toyota Red coolant in the back with the other spare fluids.

The other day I had to go help a friend who'd boiled her Ford Ranger PK diesel towing a horse float up a hill. Only took 3 or 400mm of water and it was right again, so quite often you don't need a lot - I used distilled water as I didn't know what coolant went in last and rather than having an interesting mixture, decided this was the better bet.

 

[comptiger5000]

I carry already-mixed 50/50 coolant/water. Normally, it's just a gallon at most, but if I'm venturing far enough into the middle of nowhere, I might carry enough for a complete system fill (about 3 gallons).

 

[codesertrat]

Tap / potable water. So I can drink it too, in an emergency. Pretty damned silly that wasn't the first response on 'expedition portal'.

x2. Seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[ducktapeguy]

x2. Seems like a no brainer to me.

x3. If we're talking about on a trail, and not at home during regular maintanence, then regular water. It's simple, you can't drink coolant in an emergency, but your car can use tap water. First priority is getting home, after that I can handle any issues that may arise by flushing the cooling system if necessary. If there are any negative effects, and I seriously doubt there would be, it would probably take years before the minerals in tap water becomes a problem. Carrying coolant would be like carrying around a bottle of nitrogen to fill your tires because you don't want to "contaminate" it with regular air.