Waterless Coolant?

Road-race engines and ancillaries - general discussion
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PumaPhil
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Waterless Coolant?

Post by PumaPhil »

Hello,

I was getting a fix of 'Wheeler Dealers' on TV and Ed China put Waterless coolant into to cooling system of a TR6 (product details withheld to preserve posting rules). His, and the makers' claims are:

Protects engine cooling systems from -40ºC to 180ºC.

No Water - No Overheating
Has a boiling point of 180°C and will not boilover [so no risk of pipes bursting I guess].

No Water - No Corrosion
Water contains oxygen, oxygen allows corrosion, therefore eliminates corrosion (no sludge buildup in the system).

No Water - No Pressure
It allows cooling systems to run at a lower pressure, reducing the strain on engine components.

No Water - No Liner Pitting
It generates significantly less pitting when compared with all water based coolants.

No Water - More BHP
It eliminates premature detonation associated with overheating.


Apparently all traces of water needs to be removed from the cooling system first using some prep fluid.

It costs around £60-90 to fill the system but the amazing thing was to see Ed China remove the radiator cap whilst the engine was at operating temperature and because there was no vapour expansion there was no hot spray!

Aside from the initial cost, although it never needs replacing, are there any reasons not to invest is a product like this or is it too good to be true?

Anyone have any experience or thoughts about using this fluid?
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fingers99
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Re: Waterless Coolant?

Post by fingers99 »

I've not used it, but the theory behind it seems sound.

I've heard a rumour that a certain US tractor/combine manufacturer uses/sells a similar product (albeit one that doesn't do quite so well in the cavitation tests) at better prices.
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MattD
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Re: Waterless Coolant?

Post by MattD »

Have had some experience of waterless coolant in an old historic car.

Its a 1940s AC tourer, which had a tendency to boil its water in stop-start traffic, as it has a pretty inefficient crank driven fan.
Over a period of several trips out (not just the one day), the waterless coolant didn't boil, but the engine did still suffer from heat soak throughout.
The oil got VERY hot and started to burn off, to the point of driver to stopping & switching it off at regular intervals. Not a confidence building exercise !
We have since rebuilt the engine & gone back to water.

How the product performs in a more modern engine I don't know.
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fingers99
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Re: Waterless Coolant?

Post by fingers99 »

Two points to note are that it's essential to remove all the water based coolant (including the heating system). On some cars (MR2s come to mind) this will be pretty difficult. Also the waterless fluids are said to be slightly inferior in conducting heat away (at least, under ideal circumstances -- no vapour barrier, bubbles in coolant, etc.) in comparison to water.

As a cure for a suspect system, I'd not entertain it: better to fit an electric fan, bigger radiator, etc.
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PumaPhil
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Re: Waterless Coolant?

Post by PumaPhil »

I think the point of it is not to solve any overheating problems but rather it's supposed to overcome the drawbacks of water/antifreeze mix. The biggest advantage surely is that it operates at a lower pressure therefore reducing the strain on coolant pipes?
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MattD
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Re: Waterless Coolant?

Post by MattD »

fingers99 wrote:Two points to note are that it's essential to remove all the water based coolant (including the heating system). On some cars (MR2s come to mind) this will be pretty difficult. Also the waterless fluids are said to be slightly inferior in conducting heat away (at least, under ideal circumstances -- no vapour barrier, bubbles in coolant, etc.) in comparison to water.

As a cure for a suspect system, I'd not entertain it: better to fit an electric fan, bigger radiator, etc.
I agree with you on both points. But feedback was asked for & given.

The car in question has no heater in the water circuit - it has a lovely bakelite AC Delco electric element heater instead.
The use of the waterless fluid was never meant to be a cure for a suspect system, more an opportunity to see what happened, given that a known problem existed.
It was a last minute £80 test, vs the inevitable £5K+ engine rebuild costs. We had nothing to lose by trying it, just time & effort.
The system we used consisted of two stages - a flushing fluid (to remove the water droplets left after draining), and the waterless coolant itself.

I think you hit the nail on the heat when you said "slightly inferior in conducting heat way", that was our experience, and certainly low water circulation speed and a 50yr old radiator didn't help. The point I was trying to make was simply that any excess heat is still there, just being transferred to other components.
I agree too that a bigger radiator & electric fan would have done far more to solve our problem - cannot really do that when trying to maintain "authenticity".

But to answer the original question, would I use the waterless fluid again ?
In this particular car NO, but I will very probably use the 10ltrs I've still got in something else more modern later.
I've not been put off completely, just made aware of what else to consider in the overall setup.
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