Evans Coolant Report

OK, I'll bite....why would you use a 7# cap and why on earth would you even think about a 0# cap?

 

Where can you get a 0# cap?
I use Evans too and would like to use the same cap.

mk e,
Evans coolant has a much higher boiling point that the traditional coolants and will not boil under normal engine temperatures. Running with no pressure should put a lot less strain on hoses, gaskets, radiator etc.
I have been using it for about 3 mos. now without problems. Allegedly, it will not corrode any parts of the engine.
The only thing I am not too happy about is the fact that is not readily available (except for Evans).

 

Evans coolant (propylene glycol + an anti-corrosion mix) has a boiling point much higher than other coolants. It's well above the operating temp of auto cooling systems. Hence does not require the system to be pressurized.

There've been a handfull of members who have reported successfully using it over the years.

It's a tad pricey, but claimed to be permanent.

 

OK, the pressure also serves to dramatically reduce evaporation and if your trying to keep water out, pressure will do that for you too....

 

Is it about as permanent as lifetime tranny fluid (from BMW)? I keep changing my permanent tranny fluid at 50K miles and my permanent coolant every other year.

Frankly, even permanent coolant gets replaced when you change hose, water pump, thermostat, and or just to remove the hoses to get access to the timing belts.

 

OK, you got my interest so I went to their web sight and read the tech info
http://www.evanscooling.com/main25.htm
(click on tech info)
What I noticed was that there "facts" were chosen for very specific and generally unlikely conditions. The truth is that their coolant is only 2/3 as good as straight water and only 85% as good as standard 50/50 at taking heat out of the engine. Also at normal operating temperatures, is takes 4 times the power to pump the stuff than 50/50 and over 10 time what water takes. Further, if anything does go wrong with your cooling system like a belt, thermostat, or hoes (very likely since they are telling you 10 years on hoses...where the primary failure is due to oxidation and oil contamination making them unpredictable after 5 years) you are almost guaranteed a head gasket or similar failure. The engine will go very quickly to 375 degrees where the coolant starts boiling instead of being controlled at 230 ish with 50/50 or 212 with water. A low boiling point is your friend when it come to protecting your engine. For a safely stand point, this stuff is like running fuses that are 2 or 3 times higher than the circuit is rated for, a very bad idea.

So, all that said, as a mechanical engineer I would not recommend this product. In fact I would strongly advise against it. Use the coolant the manufacture recommended. If you want better cooling and the most hp, run the highest water content you can. Water with water wetter is about the best you can do, but 70/30 or 50/50 gives you a little more margin on boil over, saves any worrying when the temps turn cold and prevent most corrosion.

 

I have an Ex WSB ducati 888 corsa with magnesium engine outer cases. The water pump cavity is magnesium and water causes pinhole corrosion in ther magnesium over time (I cannot run regular coolant in the bike on a racetrack). As the cases are very hard to find, we tried Evans to stop the corrosion. Even though it did work to cool the bike and perhaps put less stress on the water pump seals, the magnesium corroded just the same as if straight water was used. So if you have any magnesium in your cooling system, beware.

 

I agree with all of the above. Water with water wetter is the best way to cool an engine. Anti freeze is of course necessary for cold climates but doesn't cool the car as well as good old H2O. Raising the boiling point above what a pressurized cap will do is a double edged sword, as stated above. I'm under the impression water wetter helps the efficiency of water to absorb heat without significantly raising the boiling point.

Ken

 

Speaking as an engineer who's job it is to analyse this sort of stuff, I've gotta agree more or less with Mark Eberhardt.

Local boiling is not bad, in fact it's very good. Local nucleate boiling is how most engines keep cool in areas where there is high heat flux like between the exhaust valves. Basically as you put more and more heat into the cylinder head you start off with convection and then you get nucleate boiling. It's a very stable mechanism which can remove around 10 times more heat than convection, for hardly any increase in the metal temperature. It's more or less bomb-proof till you get 'film' boiling or 'burnout'. Anti-freeze is also important though because the good ones contain anti corosion additives which prevent cavitation pitting and corrosion, (and they don't freeze).

Right I'll shut up now. Sorry for the lecture

 

Remember that everybody who sells something wants to present it in the best light. The water wet data is probably true, but that is abot all I could say about it...to me at least, it seems like an odd test with the only real purpose to highlight the one thing their product does well. I like their product and have used it in race engines, but I don't believe most of there "facts" are very useful. They specifically don't want to talk about corrosion or lubrication where they're product is at a real disadvantage to standard coolant. Everything is a balance. If you have a radiator that is nearly shot, switching to water/waterwetter will get you another season or 2 out of it because it cools better. If you're racing, it lets you run a smaller radiator which can reduce drag and help you go faster. If you don't have any problem with cooling, but never want to change coolant again, Evans coolant might be for you. But if you just want good reliable performance from your cooling system I think trusting that the engineers who designed it knew what they were doing and following their directions is probably the way to go. JMO

 

Err... At their website, they go to great lengths to explain the anti-corrosive benefits of Water Wetter. One of the primary reasons that I use it. According to their data, its much superior to antifreeze from this standpoint.

 

Here's the tech sheet I found on it:
http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/redtech3.htm

Their words are very carefully chosen. They go into great detail to tell you that you need corrosion procetion and that old coolant probably doesn't have it. But all they say about there product is "Red Line Water Wetter will provide the proper corrosion inhibition for all cooling system metals, including aluminum, cast iron, steel, copper, brass, and lead." They make no claim that is better or even as good as fresh standard coolant. If it was, I have to believe they would. On lubrication they go to great lengths to say it does not change the coefficient of friction between water and rubber so it can't be doing the seals any good...I know they are generally not rubber, but that is the only info they give and changes in friction tend to tract across most materials. Again, if it was in fact better or even as good, I have to believe they would say it is instead of working so hard at avoiding the issue.

Again, I think it is a good product for it's intended use, racing. I don't personally believe that it belongs in a street engine, but that is just my opinion.

 

Just checked their website. Bummer. They changed it.

The old site had much greater detail on Water Wetter, besides the .pdf that you find now. Including an interesting tale of it's development.

I had printed out the old web pages. Maybe I can find them in my "F-Box" somewhere.

 

Nucleate boiling has the effect of taking far more heat out apparently because the local turbulence (local surface velocity and stuff like that) increases. When the boiling rate gets ALOT higher, so where it's almost impossible to go with normal engines, then you get 'film boiling' which is when the rate of production of vapour bubbles is so high they cannot be removed fast enough and it forms a film over the surface. Then you get 'burnout' or critical boiling and the heat transfer is reduced. Film boiling is analogous to a drop of water on a hot hot-plate, sitting there floating on a film of vapour, as opposed to boiling off.

just my 2 cents....

 

Evans recomends the 7 lb cap because the stuff stinks when its hot, the 7 lb cap keeps it from venting and stinking. You could run a 7 LB cap but then you would need 7 lb nose plugs.