Evans Coolant - Detailed Test Results!

[MidOHasp]

Executive Summary:
The stuff is extremely stable. Much more so than any water based combination I've tried to date. It keeps my temperature MUCH more consistent. My oil temp appears to have climbed about 10-20 degrees on average, however. This confirms my suspicions that the reduced specific heat capacity of the NPG+ DOES HAVE AN EFFECT! Oil temps during spirited cruising run about 205-210. Oil temps during hard driving rise to 220-230. Oil used to run about 180-190 normally, up to 210-215 on hard driving. Water temp is very stable. Cruise temp (78-80F ambient air) is 160-180 and very steady and predictable. 160 when puttering, 180 when flogging. Period. A little cool for my taste but there is no thermostat with this system.

The Nitty Gritty Details:
$28/gallon from the State 8 Motorcycles here in NE Ohio. Got 5 gallons. Shop said I did not need to run their flush fluid. I drained the radiator and attempted to drain the block. The block plugs were not moving. So I ran a hose out one front coolant passage and a shop vac in the other hole. I blew a bit out of the block and sucked some more out with a narrow hose on the end of the shop vac.

I ran one gallon of Evans NPG+ into the re-assembled cooling system (had it apart for some other work) and fired up the motor. Let it run for about a minute (maybe 2) and shut it down. Opened the radiator plug and out came the NPG - nearly crystal clear and no new color. Looks like I got most EGW out of the block!

The fluid itself is a similar viscosity to a regular Ethylene Glycol. It is clear and slightly brown colored. Slimy on the fingers. Looks like a very low viscosity motor oil. I filled the system until the level was at the baffle in the expansion tank. Cut the bottom seal off a radiator cap and ran a hose from the overflow line into an empty NPG jug. I probably blew out about 4 cups of the coolant while bleeding the system. However, I don't think it was because the level was too high. I think it was because there is no thermostat and the coolant just shot right up and out the cap. After 5-10 minutes of idling, I removed the cap (pressure was being relieved due to my "custom" cap) and checked the level. It was as low by as much coolant was in my jug. I emptied the hot coolant in the jug back into the system, capped it (16#) and said goodnight. The radiator cap is still used at that pressure because of the lack of thermostat. Hi-Vol pump, overdrive pulley, will blow off a lower PSI cap. The system does not run pressure, but some will happen in the expansion reservoir due to the location.

First run was pretty easy stuff. Takes a bit of time to get the oil temp up with no thermostat. Oh well. At idle, the water will go straight up to 210 and then the fans kick on. 210 in the manifold, 195 in the radiator (cold side). Fans cycle on and off at this point. I also wired in a fan override switch while I was at it. With the override and that great SPF radiator, I can make sure the coolant temp never goes above 180. Even after a flogging and then immediately stopping and idling.

Once I had confidence in the system, I ran the car very hard. Repeated trips through the gears to redline, one extended rev-limited fish-tailing burnout, and lots of very spirited driving. During the easiest of the driving, the coolant temp stuck right about 165. Mildly spirited driving, 175. Hard driving, 185 was the top mark I saw. Steady, slow rises and drops, predictable . . .

When I ran water, the gauge would stair-step up to alarming temps. I'd get into it, and it would shoot from 160 to 190. I'd lay off, and it would settle back down to 170. Then from 170 to 200, and back to 180. And so on. Go to www.evanscooling.com and read up on nucleate boiling. While water is a superior cooling fluid to NPG+ or ethylene glycol, once it reaches its boiling point, it loses ALL cooling capacity. Period. When I would boil water on the surface in the water jackets, I would lose all cooling capacity. Boiling would slowly begin, air pockets would form, water would push out through the cap. Repeat vicious cycle.

I believe that my internal temps are hotter by a little bit, but that they will never get out of hand. The NPG+ will simply not boil over and not lose its cooling capacity. It will keep doing its job. This is not an advertisement - it's from experiences I had.... YESTERDAY.

If you have a consistently hot set-up, and it JUST RUNS HOT all the time, NPG+ probably won't be your cooling epiphany. My motor would run cool, but when flogged, it would run quite hot, and a water based system was too unstable. NPG was my solution. It alleviated my stair-stepping temperature issues. My overflow bottle stays high and dry. My coolant level stays consistent. After a hard day's drive, my surge tank has nice clear fluid in it. I'm not staring down my dry gooseneck into the intake anymore. I like that.

If you have any questions I may not have answered about my experience with Evans NPG+, ask me. I'll do my best to share my experiences or create them on the road so that I can answer your questions. The stuff is very very cool, but probably not a solution to every problem. And if your system runs perfectly well on water, well... if it ain't broke.....

This solved some issues I was having and wanted to address. If you experience similar cooling issues, $150 bucks... really cheap insurance. Seems ridiculous that coolant could cost that much, but think about it. I can run extremely hard now and watch the ROAD instead of my temp gauges. Peace of Mind..... you put a price on it! $150 fit the peace of mind budget for me!

[petek]

Interesting results, thanksfor sharing! It will be interesting to see if the results are similar after you've driven the car a bit more.

What do you think of your new oil temperatures?

[MidOHasp]

Pete,

I don't know what to think. I'm not experienced enough yet at this stuff to know what is "TOO HOT".

I've heard 250 is too hot, I've heard 230 is too hot, I just don't know what is so hot that things are going to start going wrong.

I'm running Mobil1 15W-50, so I know it's not going to break down or flash, but... still... I'm not sure how hot I want my bearing temps and cyl-head temps.

All in all, though, I think the temps are short of the "freak point". If I'm wrong, someone needs to let me know ASAP because I need to do some more experimentation.

JP

[Back in Black]

Will not corrode your block/water pump, radiator,etc... Extended life for all the above would be a fair assumption.. and no unsightly corrosion! Will be using Evans next week on startup for my rehabilitated 514

[badrich]

Thanks for the great info on Evans coolant, JP. I had a cooling problem when I first fired up my new engine and tried several fixes, including changing to an oversized puller fan, etc. I eventually got things under control by building a custom radiator shroud, dumping the ethylene glycol and replacing it with distilled water and water wetter. [I am fortunate to have mild weather and a nice warm garage.] Had this not worked, I was ready to call Evans. Sounds like an excellent product. Rich

[Back in Black]

The engineer at Evans told me that Barsleak or Alumiseal are fine to use with Evans.. (cooling system sealants) as long as they are the SOLIDS type and not a liquid. The tablets or powders are OK!

[Mr.Fixit]

BiB,

I wouldn't put the high dollar coolant in a fresh motor. In fact I don't even put antifreeze in a fresh motor until it has a few miles on it proving to me it isn't a leaker, no unforseen problems, then it gets the green stuff.

[MidOHasp]

Begs the questions...

How hot is too hot (for oil temp) ??

[Mr.Fixit]

try to keep it under 230 F

[Back in Black]

I would generally agree for many situations but in this case I have a dry radiator and it will be simple to flush the block with the Evans prep solution, therefore making install of the Evans easier. The instructions state emphatically that all water must be removed from the cooling system. With everything else I have spent so far the Evans cost is the least of my worries. So I am going for broke (maybe literally with all the repair costs I have incurred on my new cobra

)

I will be using Barsleak on startup, Evans says it's compatible, as is Alumiseal.

[rdorman]

Back in Black, I may have missed something but what is up with the Barsleak?
Thanks
Rick

[Back in Black]

Saw a bit of moisture/emulsification in the oil filler cap during the dyno run. May have just been residual moisture from the final tank cleaning. My engine guys recommended, just in case, to seal the block on startup with Barsleak, in the coolant.. just in case there's some small weepage somewhere. They can't do the barsleak on the dyno. I do have a warranty on the motor and these guys are dependable from what I have seen. Going to Tacoma to pick up the motor right now. Will take another look at the engine and oil, first, before payment!

Steven, AKA Back in Black

[AL427SBF]

I use Evans coolant in my BMW K1200S sportbike. Great stuff, no problems and it does the job just fine with all the added benefits discussed here. Made a trip to Lake Tahoe over the summer, about 250 miles and it was one of our hot days @ 93F on the coast. Elevation change went from 200 ft to 10,000 ft, the bike never overheated - temps stable as a rock and the fan only came on intermittently when I was at a stop. One of those stops was for about 20 minutes in Sacramento where an accident screwed up the through traffic, the temp there was 108F (bike has an outside temperature sensor), fan kicked on for a couple of minutes and then kicked off - did that about 6 times then I was on the move again. My ECU does adjust for elevation from Ox sensor data, but not much can be done about compensating for the air cooling in thin air. The bike ran like a champ all weekend long between 6-10K elevation. One of the most memorable rides I've had on that bike was that weekend and when I blitzed up the backside of the mountain (NV valley) up to my timeshare which is ~300 ft ABOVE the base of the Heavenly Valley chair lift. That is super highway asphalt and a straight climb from maybe 5K to 9K in elevation, and in about 10 miles. No traffic and I was hauling ass, speedo showing anywhere from 70 to 110 mph all the way up to my turn off to the timeshare - again, no heat issues at all. I asked the guys at the performance shop where I bought the stuff if they've had any experience with Evans waterless. They said yes, they track a 4-cylinder inter-cooled turbo charged dodge which had heating issues on the track - until they switched to Evans. The steady-state operating temperature is a little higher than normal coolant, but the beauty of this stuff is that once you're there, that's where it stays within a very narrow temp envelope no matter how hard you load the motor, and with no pressure build up or boil over risk.

I'm totally sold on the stuff (NPG+c), and intend to use it in my aluminum DART 427w from the start. If anyone has had problems - then it's possible (I say Likely) that they failed to perform proper flushing of the cooling system with the Evans flush before loading in the actual Evans coolant.

Your motor, your money - do what you want. I'm just sayin', all else being equal and with no pressure/boiling, corrosion or future flushes, the extra $$ now will pay for itself later. I personally can't justify using anything else now that this is available.

[CHANMADD]

I just don't get it........Why do you need Barsleak, or Alumaseal on a new motor? If that's the case the problem is not the coolant but the assembly of the motor. If you're getting hot when you gas it a bit, the radiator is too small..........Its like fixing the symptom and not the problem........

[AL427SBF]

Originally Posted by CHANMADD

I just don't get it........Why do you need Barsleak, or Alumaseal on a new motor? If that's the case the problem is not the coolant but the assembly of the motor. If you're getting hot when you gas it a bit, the radiator is too small..........Its like fixing the symptom and not the problem........

Agree, otherwise known as band aid fixes that don't address true root cause. I use Evans for those other benefits - no corrosion and good for life. That being said, makes sense to go with the highest quality water pump and thickest premium hoses you can find, would hate to have to refill with the stuff because one of those went prematurely after 10 years

[scottj]

The use of coolant pellets is standard practice by the OEMs on all new cars. There are some exceptions, e.g., GM had a Technical Service Bulletin discontinuing the practice on Corvette engines.

I've never installed a new or rebuilt circle track race engine without GM type pellets, per instructions from the engine builder.

[cycleguy55]

11 minute video of Jay Leno talking with Marketing Director for Evans: https://youtu.be/t7PykrgzWPQ