[Jtheiral]

I was at the Ironman GNCC race last weekend and I got into a discussion about coolant with few of the team techs. I was unfamiliar with Evans coolant as it is claimed to be far superior than any other engine coolant. Their claims are

1. Waterless, no risk of corrosion
2. Boiling temp is above 375
3. Anti-freeze protection for below -40

I was told that there is no need to have a coolant recovery system because the coolant does not expand unless a boiling point has been reach, but at that point there would be very little fluid lost if any. There is no need for a high pressure radiator cap.

The biggest concern is there can be no water ever introduced to the Evans coolant as it makes the coolant turn to gel. I guess switching over to Evans coolant can be tricky.

It is little more expensive but I think it is make 10 to 15 dollars more a gallon than the Engine Ice that I use. The main problem I see is I do not see many retailers carry the Evans product line.

I am still thinking whether I should switch to Evans or stay with Engine Ice. Has any body use this stuff before and can add some insight?

[Harkon]

Evans Thermal conductivity is 0.27W/m.K

Ethylene glycol solution 0.43W/m.K

So it may not boil as soon but all things being equal, it has less ability to get heat out of your engine ... or says the math anyway

*edit*
I should also add that with lower thermal conductivity, coolant temps are typically lower, but that temperature is left in the hard parts. That's typically not good for anything but the coolant. Just use the recommended coolant. Generally ethylene glycol solution is the best coolant with the exception that it is toxic. Be sure to use silicate free and distilled or deionized water. I use premix.

[Jtheiral]

Thanks Harkon, I had to read more about thermal conductivity to see just how much a difference those numbers are.

While I was researching, I came across a forum that offered a little more clarification about Evans.


I personally don't see how Engine Ice coolant will allow an engine to run any cooler than Honda HP coolant or any other name brand coolant for that matter. I’m sure Engine Ice is a fine product, but so is Honda HP, Dex-Cool, etc, and most are a lot less expensive than Engine Ice. Just make sure you use a non-silicate anti-freeze in your bike because the silicates can cause problems with your seals. Pure water with a surfactant like Redline Water Wetter will cool better than any EG or PG based coolant, but you'll have to change it regularly to keep your system clean and to minimize corrosion.

If you’re racing certain events, then a product like Engine Ice, Evans NPG or pure water with a surfactant are about your only choices for legal coolants. Anytime water is used in a cooling system as with most coolants, the water in the coolant will boil at a temperature related to its system pressure. For instance, if your bike has a 1.8 bar radiator cap on it, this means your cooling system is pressurized to 53.154 inHg and you’re boiling point will be 255° F. You can increase your boiling point by using a higher pressure radiator cap, but that may not be a wise choice as your cooling system may not be able to handle that type of pressure.

The coolant from Evans is unique because it’s a waterless coolant (all propylene glycol instead of a PG/H2O mix) unlike anything else, but it has its own set of issues such as viscosity, flow rate, etc, so it may not be the best choice for some applications. On the flip side since Evans is a waterless coolant, your cooling system won’t suffer from the chemical corrosion issues from chlorides, sulfate and hardness of water that shorten the corrosion fighting ability of some water based coolants and you can keep it in your system for the life of your bike. Since it contains no water, its boiling point is much higher at 370° F, but a high boiling point doesn’t necessarily mean your engine will get that hot. Running an engine hotter isn’t necessarily a bad thing and boiling over doesn’t necessarily mean your engine is too hot at that point, but if there’s no coolant in your system due to a water based coolant boiling over, then your internal engine temperature will climb to dangerous levels much more quickly than if you had a coolant with a higher boiling point in your system to conduct the heat. Evans won’t cool your engine as well as pure water in the cooling system (just look at the specs above), but it will continue to work well past the boiling point of other coolants ‘IF’ the coolant temperature gets to that point.

There’s no perfect coolant for dirt bikes, but it’s nice we have different choices to meet different needs. Posted by Qadsan Apr, 2003. Thumper Talk

[Harkon]

You are correct, there has been much discussion on the subject.

I found the comment regarding corrosion due to "chlorides, sulfate and hardness of water" interesting as the general recommendation is to use distilled or demineralized water in your antifreeze solution. That would mean that you are not adding any of that stuff anyway.

To each their own, but if a company deliberately lies or misleads it's customers, then that company won't see dime one out of my pocket.

I will say, at least they publish the specs on their product. An informed person can, at least, make up their own mind. If the specs are lies, well then they aren't very good liars.

[Aussiecrf230]

Specialist fluids like this are really best used for large diesel engines that do millions of miles. The cost of their components justifies the use. I have found with bikes that because maintaining them often means moving parts of the cooling system you may as well just use one of the varieties of quality brands that limits corrosion. Any improvement in boiling point is a bonus but having to run higher pressure systems to achieve it can be counter productive. Using a brand that you can get easily will make life a breeze as well.

Yes, I don't have a cooling system in the 230F but there is a gaggle of CRs and KTMs at the farm that do.

[crfsonly]

We have had excellent success running with Engine Ice.

http://www.crfsonly.com/catalog/product ... ts_id/1920

Haven't run Evans but having it turn to gel if water is introduced is a concern. I can't imagine what it would take, if that were to happen, to clean the gel from the motor. If overheating is a real concern/possibility Engine Ice, high pressure cap, and electric fan will eliminate this as a concern. We have fans for the X models and a universal kit for R models.

Ken