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Waterless Coolant

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Rob Glasgow

Rob Glasgow

Jedi Knight
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I watched an episode of Wheeler Dealer tonight about a TR6. They did a unleaded conversion to the head and when they assembled the engine, Ed used waterless coolant instead of water/antifreeze. He explained the procedure and benefits.
I looked up waterless coolant and found an episode of Jay Leno's garage on Evan's waterless coolant. It looked very interesting. I had never heard of the stuff although Jay said he had used it for 16 years.
Does anyone here have any experience with it. Good or bad?
 
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I used a type of waterless coolant once- it completely ruined an engine. I think it was called laziness.
 
If its good enough for Ed China............!
its good enough for me!

not used it myself but I have heard good reports. It's not cheap though.
 
Used it in race cars and it worked fine. Never put it in a classic that sits around most of the year. Sounds like the big buck guys are using it in theirs.
 
From all I have read, it's kinda' like nitrogen in the tires = BIG cost... Little ACTUAL benefit.

Tim
 
Cottontop said:
From all I have read, it's kinda' like nitrogen in the tires = BIG cost... Little ACTUAL benefit.

Tim
Click to expand...

Yeh, what's this nitrogen in the tyres lark? took the Audi to get re shod with new tyres and they stuffed nitogen in, does it make the car lighter ? -- :crazyeyes:


:cheers:

Bob
 
In theory the pure nitrogen will not leak as fast and stay more pressure stable as the tires heat and cool. Plus it's dry, no moisture, so less potential corrosion of the wheel. If this makes a noticable difference in street use tires over just air, which is almost 80% nitrogen itself anyway, opinions seem to be mixed. Shouldn't hurt anything but you'll have to decide if its worth it.
 
The thing that caught my attention about the waterless coolant is that the boiling point is somewhere around 375 deg. According to the video, this means you don't have to worry about boil over and you don't need a catch tank. Also, since it's waterless, there is no build up of steam so you don't have much pressure in the system when operating. You can remove the radiator cap at any time without worrying about pressure buildup. Sounds almost to good to be true.
 
"Their MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) states that it is 70% Ethylene Glycol and 30% Propylene Glycol ... I did look up the MSDS for PG and sure enough it will self ignite at about 699 degrees F. Thats a lot less than the temperature of the engine headers."

That's me out. Two gallons or so of flammable liquid up front where once was water doesn't sound so appealing, no matter the benefits.

At least it'd smell nice. While driving in Sweden during winter months the windshield washer contained aqueous propylene glycol which smells like hospitals when cleaning the salt film off the screen.
 
Propylene glycol is the ingredient in some 'environmentally friendly' antifreezes (e.g. 'Sierra' brand). Ethylene glycol is the ingredient in 'regular' antifreeze.

No magic formula here--looks to me like the Evans stuff is more clever marketing than anything.
 
One of the first things that caught my attention when hearing about the high boiling point of waterless coolent about 375 degrees....what if you had a over heating issue and your temperture gauge was not working or you just where not looking at it! At least a 50/50 mix of regular coolent would boil over giving you some warning before toasting your motor! If i remember the boiling point of regular coolent at a 50/50 mix is 265 degrees/129 degrees celsius.... depending on your radiator cap rating. Am i missing something here? Michael,IL.
 
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