Could Evans waterless coolant cause my engine to run consistently too hot? Has anyone gone back from Evans to 50/50 and found lower running temperature?
I rebuilt my slant last year and decided to splurge on this non-water coolant while the water was all out of the block. Ever since then it's been running hotter than before. Pointing an infrared thermometer at the thermostat housing, where it used to read 190 it now reads 210. The radiator reads 200-210 at the top and 160-170 at the bottom. This is at idle after driving. 210 is consistent with what I see on the temp gauge while driving. Before the rebuild the needle would be consistently below the midpoint of the gauge, and now it's consistently near the high end. Once the engine warms up, the needle is quite steady in that spot regardless of driving conditions.
- I tried replacing the thermostat and it didn't make a difference.
- The radiator was overhauled by a good shop while the engine was out, but it is the smaller (non-AC) stock slant radiator.
- The water pump is a stock replacement pump.
Why do I care if it runs hot? 2 reasons:
1) Compression is about 8.9:1 static, 7.7:1 dynamic, and it pings under load even with 93 octane. Retarding timing didn't solve that problem. (I also had ping before rebuilding.)
2) Higher under-hood temperature causes more fuel to boil off after parking.
I am almost ready to dump $200 worth of coolant and go back to 50/50, but I wanted to see if anyone else has a similar experience.
