Engine and Transmission Tech

Friends tell me waterless coolant has a much higher bowling point, creates less pressure if any at all, and is much better for aluminum components like heads, intakes, and water pumps, but at $40 a gallon I thought I'd ask, has anyone tried it, and if so did it make difference?


Paul

It might be wonderful, but I can think of a lot of places I'd rather spend extra money.

Note: Evans NPG was discussed here... [forum.britishv8.org]

I used Forlife for a while, perceived no difference on the gauge.
And there are practical issues if one actually drives the car ... sometimes one needs a top-up, there is no chance of buying any in general parts stores so one has to contaminate it with water or conventional anti-freeze, or carry one's own supply around in already inadequate luggage space.

Decided it was not worth the bother.

Ivor

I have heard that if the cooling system is not absolutely clean before this coolant is installed that severe overheating can occur. There have been some horror stories published. Even if such events are rare, it seems that this is an unnecessary risk.

I have used it. I have seen people use it when they could not get a head gasket to seal on HP cars.
It is good for controlling hot spots on radical engines. Hot spots created when part of the water oils and creates a vapor boundary in the head.

However
It does not cool as well as a traditional coolant mix
If you need to add coolant on the road unless you have the proper alternative you will ruin the coolant you have
Any maintenance work requires the expensive stuff removed and saved; which I have had to do a couple times.
It is flammable as an example, a well known salt racer burned by it.

I returned my car to traditional coolant. If you have a problem with your engine it is typically a better solution to fix the problem.

$40 a gallon !!

Its $104 a gallon in the UK :(


I use Evans Waterless in my engine. But not to help or hide any issues with poor cooling. Its purely to reduce cooling system pressure.

The best coolant of course is just plain water. But that develops pressure.

My engine runs around 60C just before I race. And 9 seconds later the gauge reads 95-100C as I cross the finish line. But the system pressure is 0psi :)

My engine is very clean and by the time I have slowed for the exit gate its back to 80C which is fine.

I have removed the filler cap at 95C and there is no pressure in the system apart from a tiny puff of air pressure that is from the air gap in my expansion tank. Having said the above, the coolant does need some TLC if you remove it from the engine as you need to drain it and store it in an air tight container. Even with 3-4% water in the coolant it still makes less pressure at high temps than conventional water / antifreeze mix does. The last thing I want is a blown hose on the drag strip.

Waterless coolant will however find small leaks on a system that previously did not leak on a 50/50 water- glycol mix.

After discussions with Evans I was happy to use the coolant to meet my personal needs of low system pressure when racing.

If you have an engine with choked water ways this stuff should theroetically aid cooling as it will make surface contact with hot spots that would normally see a conventional water / glycol mix developing excess nucleate boiling and vapour locks in hot spot areas as will not flash off on hot spots like this. I guess this could lead to higher temp gauge readings or radiator temps on a choked system. This just means its sucking more heat out of the engine I guess?

If your cooling system is fouled, this stuff is just a band aid to mask a fault. If your cooling system if clean it works very well to cool and keep system pressure at almost 0 psi.

Some UK engine builders have stated that they will not give any warrenty on engines they build if the client decides to use waterless coolant ? These are specifically engine builders that remanufacture 4 cylinder MGB engines which are prone to cooling system fouling. ??

I like the coolant because it does what I want for my particular application !

I ran it for a year in my 1969 MGB that had a German Ford 2.8 V6 motor. Never had any problems. I've just fitted a partially-rebuilt 93-95 GM 3.4 V6 and have filled the system with Evans Prep in preparation for changing over to their waterless coolant after a few hours running time. I have lots of Aluminum components in my cooling system that I want to protect and I really like the zero pressure condition, completely eliminates leaks and burst hoses. I just carry an additional gallon of Evans in my trunk "just in case".

If you plan to run this you should probably make sure your radiator is a bit oversized. In planning for my intercooler I investigated many potential coolant liquids. The main characteristic I looked at was the "heat of evaporation" (let's call this "HE") and also boiling point. Where the value for water was over 2000 (from memory you understand) the nearest other usable fluid was half that.

The takeaway from this exercise was that water is twice as efficient at absorbing heat as any other available fluid. My final choice was a mix of hydrocarbons with about 50% Pentane but this would be unsuitable for engine cooling due to the low boiling point. However, as the elements get heavier their HE tends to go up so it might be possible to find a light oil that approaches water. Feel free to look for one and here's a link to get you started:
[en.wikipedia.org]

But also be aware that hydrocarbons are flammable and fluids other than water or hydrocarbon based such as hydroflorides (freon) tend to be poisonous or have other bad qualities. Really, there is no perfect coolant.

Jim