Evans Waterless Cooolant, have you used it?

[Martec]

Hi,

I have been contacted by a friend who works in antifreeze business about 'Evans Waterless Coolant' : http://www.evanscoolants.co.uk/ Asking if I have used it or know of experiences with it.

I have never used this stuff as it is expensive and although it is claimed to last a lifetime (who's?) I'm for ever having to take bits off my cars to fix things, or replace tired hoses so would loose some of it.

I am a little wary of the advertising hype, none of my cars have ever had antifreeze of that colour or age, and in 26 years of working on medium and high speed diesels I have never had to replace a liner due to corrosion, but we used different dosing chemicals.

I and my friend would appreciate your experiences of this stuff.

Best wishes

Brian

[PaulE]

Yes interesting stuff, but as you say expensive (very). Seems to be favoured by long distance truck drivers in the US, and also by Jay Leno who uses it in all his collection of Bugatti etc etc. There is a piece about it on his site www.jaylenosgarage.com along with loads of other interesting features.

Ready for the season? Shall we see you at Rockingham Castle on Apr 27th?

[Martec]

Yes Paul, it will be in the S type as I'm stripping the MkII to repaint it properly now the warm weather is here for a bit!

Brian

[exxel]

I have had Evans waterless fluid in my 1960 3.8 mk2 auto for 3 years . I had a few issues with the engine such as losing fluid from the overflow when turning off the engine , very bad gurgling afterboil and running hot in traffic . I had previously flushed the engine many times to try and eliminate corrosion or blockage with radiator in and out . I also had the radiator recored . There was an immediate improvement when the Evans fluid was used . The engine no longer has any after boil and the fluid level remains constant with no loss of fluid . Once the fluid level has evened out there is no pressure within the system .
I hope this helps to answer some of your questions .

[Martec]

Thank you for your reply, you are the first I've heard of who uses it, I'll pass your remarks onto my friend.

Brian

[ecosselynx]

Hi Brian

I have been asked before about it, while it seems good although expensive. I have shy'd away from it based on how I use my car, which is usually on long runs and while I carry a spare set of hoses, touch wood (hand on head) I have not need to replace on the road yet.

Should you have a hose go, your going to loose this fluid as you would water, and unless you carry a full replacement volume your stuck until you can get fresh supplies to you, as you can't add water once you have changed. I feel carrying spare volume of fluid a step to far for me.

Should I have the miss fortune of loosing water I can fill it up with water until I reach a place to purchase some anti-freeze (more common). Personally my car runs fine with anti-freeze and doesn't boil in hot weather.

My tuppence worth

[Martec]

I had a similar experience to 'exxel' (lost a lot of water after a run), so fitted an expansion tank, it is surprising how much the water level expands and contracts (12.5 ltrs in the system I think).

Ken Jenkins comment was that if a hose burst then there wouldn't be any steam as a warning so that could be the end of the engine as it overheats with no coolant!

I would be interested in the long term experiences with this stuff.

Brian

[oldtimer]

Hey Up Martec,
Water expands by 12% between 0 degrees C and boiling (100 c)

If you lose a core plug at 80 mph the engine will be seized by the time you stop.

Those replacing early type core plugs be warned.

[J44EAG]

Remember that this type of coolant does not expand and pressurize a system so there is far less radial expansion of cooling hoses. That being the case, the life expectancy of a hose would increase by a goodly measure and be far less likely to burst in service when compared to that of a car filled with conventional water/glycol mixtures.

One of our guys down here has a Beecham Mk2 V8R equipped car. He has now fitted Evans coolant to lower pressure within the coolant system and reduce internal damage due to corrosion. Only recently done as a job, early signs are very encouraging. I`ll post again when the car has covered a few more miles.

-40 to 180 temperature range with max 3% water content. Takes a bit of head bending to get used to the idea that antifreeze is not required.

Mike K

[Martec]

Yes please to the updates on the Beecham car Mike.

Life time of hoses? After three years of a set of Kevlar reinforced hoses they cracked and have been replaced by old fashioned cotton reinforced rubber. Incidentally my Marina with a Mondeo head and Alfa romeo radiator is fitted with scrapyard hoses as Standard ones don't fit so they are on their second life and 6 years fitted on the Marina!!!

I like the idea of this coolant and it has many advantages, but having tried so many new ideas and found them wanting, I'll let others do the testing.

Oldtimer Thanks for that, as I don't do 80mph I should be safe from core plugs blowing out, when I rebuilt the engine I used new plugs, cleaned all the recesses and then used araldite on the edges before flattening them (Fingers crossed). Also I have the early long pressure cap and so low pressure (3 psi is it??) so that may help.

During work on the MkII paint (taking it off) I've been moving the fleet about, they all sound and drive nicely, but with a window missing the noise of the XK engine in a confined garage.......its just music! Grey primer went on today, it makes me think that two tone indigo blue and grey would look nice.

Brian

[piman]

Hello Martec,

my experience also of kevlar hoses, I'm going to try some silicone hoses I think particularly as they are now available in black instead of the rather modern colours.

There seems to be one or two horror tales in this thread but in my experience I've always known when a hose has started to leak, I have never ever had one 'burst'. Likewise with core plugs, for one to completely fail or pop out means a poor installation, the ones I've had fail is due to corrosion and just start by leaking slightly. The first tell tale assuming no steam being apparent is the temperature gauge dropping to zero.

Alec

[ecosselynx]

Hi Alec

Your right there about the tales, some threads seem to attract the voodoo dolls and chicken bones scattered on the floor.

[Martec]

Unfortunately I have 3 experiences of Jacket water failures/ problems.

On a rally we came up behind a volvo on the side of the road (as in the 'Saint's' car) with a hose split by about an inch, we taped it up to seal it and left the rad cap loose so pressure couldn't build up again, it got him home.

Whilst driving along my stepson was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of steam, as it cleared he carried on driving until the engine started to miss fire!!!!! I came home from sea and had to tow this THING to our house to fix it, insufficient pressure at cranking to blow my fingers off the plug holes. Another radiator (previous one had burst) and nipped rings released and another set of rings and it was running again (cheapest repair I could do to sell it).

I had fitted an expansion tank to the MkII with the pressure cap to the radiator, I fitted the pressure cap to the expansion tank and the temperature immediately climbed from 70 to 90. After letting it cool I reversed the caps and it has run happily at 70 ever since.

So I have experienced problems with cooling systems and now endeavour to repair/replace early rather than wait for the inconvenience of the inevitable failure.

Brian

[J44EAG]

Here is a hose which let go on an X300R I was driving three years ago.

phpqTFk6YPM.jpg (54.18KiB)Viewed 5851 times

This is the bXXXXXd hose linking the water pump to the engine block. Totally unseen, forgotten about and neglected for 18 years and taking some seven hours to remove and another nine hours to fit a replacement.

This hose is deeply berried and replacement requires removal of super charger, alternator, throttle body, airflow meter numerous pipes and around twenty six jubilee clips to access! Good excuse to change belt idler pulleys and other uncared for items.

Mike

[moraledagd14]

Hi one and all, does anyone have an update to this thread? I am thinking of including the waterless coolant in my rebuild.