Coolant. Total end of discussion.

[BentleyArnage]

Hi everyone! Recently, I was commenting on what I use for coolant instead of Dexcrap.

I must be brain addled. True, I have been using Pentofrost Blue in all my rolling stock and the Toyota red/pink that runs in the semi trucks for the HD diesels we work on. The thread got me thinking, what the hell am I doing? I'm giving you all great advice, but I'm not giving you the best advice I can give.

I was talking to my buddy, Gary L Wales. If you get a chance, look him up on FB. He builds magnificent cars that are rolling works of art. He's been on Jay Leno's Garage I think 6 times. Truly an artiste!

Gary and I have been friends for 50 years. Very close friends. He introduced me to George Barris, the Meguiars, and many more. We were talking one day while he was building La Bestioni number 8. He mentioned Rusty 2 had a coolant leak when it got hot, but never leaked on the floor when cold. He had mentioned the pressure build up when hot would cause the leak. Haven't we all had one of those?

Out of the blue, I remembered a product that I distribute. Now before you start in that I'm trying to sell you something, please look up the product and find your own distributor and buy from them. I never want to get the reputation that I'm soliciting something here for my own personal profit. I sell this product for my collector car owners when we service their cars.

Years ago, one of my customers came in with the most beautiful Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III. Mason's black with magnolia hides, Wilton wool carpet and the boot to match. We did some rather extensive work to the A/C and brake systems. Also some respraying of the inner wings and the right hand frame. One of the things he harped about at the beginning was that he had his own coolant in the boot. I was not to add water...ever. Just add his coolant. Straight.

Well, I was curious. So I inquired of him about this product. Then I researched it myself and just about lost it! What a solution to all the ills of modern coolant.

The product is Evan's Waterless Coolant. I did the research. I talked to my customer more intelligently because I knew what the product was about. I talked to collectors and others. As a service provider, it made a lot of sense. When servicing a car that's worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, it makes sense to do what they did.

Here's the advantages of this product:
No water, so no boil over.
No pressure, so no blown hoses, leaky water pumps, radiators or heater cores. You won't overheat from a bad radiator cap because this stuff doesn't boil until over 360 degrees. Can you imagine running an engine with no hose clamps? It can be done. But we won't
No corrosion whatsoever. No electrolysis. What a great advantage in a boat with fresh water cooling!

And I'm so stupid I don't even think of running it my my cars. Well that's going to change.

Disadvantages:
Expensive.
Can't mix with water
Have to completely get rid of all water in the cooling system, then use their expensive cleaner to absorb the last of the water.
No more coolant flushes. Radiators don't get plugged, engines don't fill up with that water jacket grunge.

Well, that's about enough for the moment. I'm open to questions and comments. Gary hasn't gotten Rusty 2 out for a run yet, so I don't have his endorsement. But Jay Leno has been recommending this stuff for years. I think that's good enough for me.

 

[Bill 1960]

The significant disadvantage I’ve read of when it comes up is the specific heat of this material is significantly less than water.

Water requires about 4200 J/kg/degree C. Evans is 2633 per their data sheet.

Here’s a pretty concise article on the pros and cons.
https://greengarageblog.org/17-waterless-coolant-pros-and-cons

 

[wsteele]

I have had my Yukon since new.

I have flushed and refilled coolant twice. My cooling system has only had Dexcool. The inside of my cooling system looks perfect. I don't see a reason to switch to any other form of coolant. Sometimes, good enough, is just fine.

 

[gat0r]

Evan's works well, especially if you have a vehicle that tends to get hot... or goes on the track often

it is pricey though

 

[BentleyArnage]

The significant disadvantage I’ve read of when it comes up is the specific heat of this material is significantly less than water.

Water requires about 4200 J/kg/degree C. Evans is 2633 per their data sheet.

Here’s a pretty concise article on the pros and cons.
https://greengarageblog.org/17-waterless-coolant-pros-and-cons

Interesting article. While nothing is perfect, with these aluminum engines, we're seeing a lot less corrosion. A Rolls-Royce motor has wet liners. The Orings deteriorate over time. They have weep holes so you can watch your coolant pissing out under pressure. Not with this coolant. The article mentioned the cost of a broken water hose. Your chances of losing a hose are slim. No pressure, no blown hose. A minor leak can be controlled with duct tape.

I'm also lead to believe that higher engine temperatures lead to less fuel consumption. Hence our higher thermostat temperatures. I can tell you that the exotic and collector car people swear by it. Like I said, I'm not selling it here to the members. My concern is the members getting some knowledge and alternatives to the strange coolants we have today.

 

[BentleyArnage]

I have had my Yukon since new.

I have flushed and refilled coolant twice. My cooling system has only had Dexcool. The inside of my cooling system looks perfect. I don't see a reason to switch to any other form of coolant. Sometimes, good enough, is just fine.

The reason it has to be flushed and replaced often is that it becomes acidic. It also precipitates, which is just like a very fine wine. The older it is, the more precipitant there is in your cooling system.

You can't see into your radiator. The old radiators where we could take the tanks off would make it plain and obvious that there was cooling degradation in the radiator. Further, that precipitant would end up in the lower rear corners of the water jacket. I have dismantled blank off plugs from 100 year old Rolls-Royce and found literally shovelfuls of precipitant. Run the motor long and the back cylinders fry. $50,000 mistake.

Dex tends to have a lot more precipitant than any other coolant I've worked with. Like the Rolls, it all ends up in the back of the block and cooks the rear cylinders.

Don't bother switching if you plan on getting rid of your vehicle in a few years. It isn't worth it.

 

[wsteele]

The reason it has to be flushed and replaced often is that it becomes acidic. It also precipitates, which is just like a very fine wine. The older it is, the more precipitant there is in your cooling system.

You can't see into your radiator. The old radiators where we could take the tanks off would make it plain and obvious that there was cooling degradation in the radiator. Further, that precipitant would end up in the lower rear corners of the water jacket. I have dismantled blank off plugs from 100 year old Rolls-Royce and found literally shovelfuls of precipitant. Run the motor long and the back cylinders fry. $50,000 mistake.

Dex tends to have a lot more precipitant than any other coolant I've worked with. Like the Rolls, it all ends up in the back of the block and cooks the rear cylinders.

Don't bother switching if you plan on getting rid of your vehicle in a few years. It isn't worth it.

Thank for the advice.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

I appreciate you adding this information to our collective knowledge base. The more data and knowledge that we have and share, the better all of our choices and decisions should be.

 

[1BADI5]

Ok, before the my buddy/mechanic/uncle's brothers friend said............

Why did DEXCool get the name DEXKill? These opinions and discussions are about a decade or two late and no longer relevant. Do the research in the chemistry of DEXCool and how it was improperly rolled out.

GM screwed the pooch and initially started using it in vehicles (1998-2000ish timeframe) which were still vent style cooling systems; specifically or example case the GMT400 platform. That was causing the coolant to become acidic and that's where the problem stemmed from. (NOTE: there are/is countless articles, videos and reference material out there if you look for it.)

Once GM went to closed coolant systems the problem disappeared. Only took a bunch of chemist and engineers to figure it out.

How do I know.......well working as a tech, talking to GM Master techs and doing that crazy thing called research. Our culture here in America needs to friggin change and stop taking everyone's word on everything w/o researching it.

 

[Rocket Man]

There’s zero need to spend $300 for coolant that isn’t what GM’s engineers call for in these engines that typically run for 500,000 miles and more. Dexcool is what’s called for, it performs perfectly in these engines, and it doesn’t “cook” anything. Carry on folks.