A warning about Evans Waterless Coolants

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Phreakish said:
There's also the electrolysis issue. Bad groundings, lack of grounding, attaching ground straps where convenient rather than where intended. All can cause even 'good' coolant to show issues. Water isn't the fault here, though a more dielectric coolant might stave off the issue, the real problem is a poor electrical system. This is a problem on many hot rods and home-built cars because it's simply not understood. Electric potential in the cooling system will corrode parts no matter how many inhibitors are present. Minerals and contamination in the added water will accelerate it.
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One thing to know is that even with good grounds, some current will still flow through the coolant and rad to ground and back to the engine components once there are any ions in the coolant, whether due to hard water ions or exhaustion of inhibitors and the subsequent acidification of the coolant. As long as the rad is hard mounted, this electrical flow will happen, and will add to electrolysis and the associated corrosion.

Back in the days of brass radiators, when the iron block and head corroded (were sacrificial), this did not matter much as the iron castings are thick. But with AL rads, this become a big deal. If you look at modern cars and trucks with AL rads, you will notice that they use plastic tanks and plastic and rubber mounts. This acts to electrically insulate the AL rad core from the body and thus break the biggest electrical flow path through the AL rad core, and helping rad core life.

So all of us gearheads running AL rads maybe should mount them on plastic inserts in the core support? Mmmmm, probably not.... changing coolant ever few years is easier!
 
nm9stheham said:
One thing to know is that even with good grounds, some current will still flow through the coolant and rad to ground and back to the engine components once there are any ions in the coolant, whether due to hard water ions or exhaustion of inhibitors and the subsequent acidification of the coolant. As long as the rad is hard mounted, this electrical flow will happen, and will add to electrolysis and the associated corrosion.

Back in the days of brass radiators, when the iron block and head corroded (were sacrificial), this did not matter much as the iron castings are thick. But with AL rads, this become a big deal. If you look at modern cars and trucks with AL rads, you will notice that they use plastic tanks and plastic and rubber mounts. This acts to electrically insulate the AL rad core from the body and thus break the biggest electrical flow path through the AL rad core, and helping rad core life.

So all of us gearheads running AL rads maybe should mount them on plastic inserts in the core support? Mmmmm, probably not.... changing coolant ever few years is easier!
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I pointed that out as well ;) Isolation definitely helps since the paths the currents need to travel are maximized, which requires more ions in the coolant to cause any issues.. It's definitely worth isolating an Al radiator for longevity reasons.

I had a metal wire tie once make contact with the tank of a radiator that gave a short path to ground near the alternator. A small pinhole developed quite rapidly.
 
All good points, let's put it together. I've run cooling systems for pay and know a bit about glycol. Most of the negative is correct, purer glycol than a mix or solution does NOT conduct heat or transfer heat as well as pure water. In fact some system performance is deducted the stronger the solution, you balance the pros and cons of it with the freeze protection you need. The other is the thicker viscosity. You only need a few points of viscosity change to dramatically affect the water pump's ability to pump. Again I stay away from pure glycol, ethylene or propylene, for that too as well as trying to push molasses through the radiator or heater core. Life expectancy, how long will this last and the propensity for bio-fouling prevented? Bugs love propylene glycol. Ethylene glycol does need maintenance that without care or routine changing turns acidic, compounded with bad grounds and other neglect of the car you've turned your cooling system into a battery ripe with galvanic corrosion. On thermostats, you MUST always have a thermostat; beside temperature control, it also offers a necessary restriction so that flow is to ALL parts of the engine, especially the heads where with no restriction, water will seek the least path of resistance and can actually starve areas. The cooling system is based on flow, not pressure drop so the t'stat can act like a balancing device. If you're dead set against a thermostat, at least use a restrictor plate. RO water, never! in a cooling system. There's pure, and there's too pure and the water will pull metal ions out from everywhere.(think shim head gaskets or the copper jacketted) Hell it will even pull stuff out of tygon tube and schedule 80 PVC. They've recently come up with special plastic for it a few years back to use in laboratories and RO stations. Distilled is always safe and no worries about minerals and pH given the water quality of sources across the country. Lastly, excellent point on electrolysis. Check for any voltage potential between the coolant and battery ground. That's right, a probe in the coolant and one on the neg. batt post. You'll need a DMM or fine reading Simpson 260 but anything over a .25V it's time to check system grounds. This is especially damaging to aluminum components.
 
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I have used it for years and so do other guys I know in old liquid cooled motor cycles. The main reason is that it does not damage the aluminum and magnesium cases and water pumps, Honda CR motocross bikes from the mid 80's often have the entire cooling system destroyed by running water in them.
Evans is also great in a bike that is ridden at slow speeds as it does not boil over......the stuff has been around for at least 20 years as far as I know and I never heard anybody who actually used it say a bad thing about it accept cost.
 
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If you use normal water/glycol mix, be sure to run the engine every 6 months or so. Otherwise, the anti-rust particles settle out and you can have regions that corrode. That is one reason that many classic owners like Jay Leno use Evans. You can leave an engine sitting for years w/ no concerns. Don't some of our projects sit longer than we intended? Also, parts for classic cars can be tough to come by. Anyone running an early slant six aluminum block engine would be smart to use Evans, since finding a head gasket is a challenge. Most such engines were destroyed long ago by corrosion. For me, even avoiding a $100 radiator change in my 2002 vehicle is worth using Evans. I hate corrosion and sleep better knowing my blocks are not getting rust gunky again like when I inherited them.
 
The longest my car has been down was for a week to put the new motor and OD trans in, but I am seeing a lot of good reasons to run Evans.
Thank you.
 
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