radiator hose springs

are they needed? lower or upper hose? what is the best water to use in a car? I thought i heard that distilled water shouldn't be used

Technically they are "Coils" not springs. Yes its a good idea. Only needed in the lower hose. If you can find or make one out of stainless its even better as it will not rust and potentially jam up the pump (it can happen).

Distilled water is also a good idea. You dont want to add more minerals to an already relatively dirty environment.

it's been a while, but i think i went to a local parts store and just bought a cheap hose the same size, ripped the spring out and put it in mine. i have the reproduction hoses though, so wanted to keep those.

"I heard"

The beginning of many a mishap!

What about the water? Distilled water is "hungry" water and will dissolve a lot of things. So if you had some mineral buildup in a radiator and were going to run ONLY water, distilled water may actually clean things up a little.
If you have a brand new system, running ONLY distilled water will liberate some ions from the surfaces but isn't going to eat holes in engine or radiator. It would be okay.
There are other things going on, however, so the preferred way to do things would be to use distilled water and either anti-freeze or some other corrosion inhibitor/water pump lube additive.

It is far from complicated science. It is easy to get OCD about fluids in automobiles, all this will do is get you to the psychiatrist faster. Then hopefully, she'll prescribe some good drugs and you can go back to filling the radiator with the garden hose, checking the antifreee content in the Fall, and getting on with your life!

R. (happily medicated)

Quote:

---

it's been a while, but i think i went to a local parts store and just bought a cheap hose the same size, ripped the spring out and put it in mine. i have the reproduction hoses though, so wanted to keep those.

---

Exactly what I did. My car ran cool in traffic, but I could watch the temp rapidly climb on the highway. Friend suggested that the lower hose was collapsing at speed and to install a spring in the lower hose. Robbed one from a parts store hose, installed it, and the problem went away immediately.