Waterless coolant

[daykrolik]

I have a feeling this will join the silicone brake fluid controversy in terms of longevity and diversity of strong and contrary opinions. (I used silicone with great success for 35 years in my XK 150 but do NOT use it in my E, so go figure.) I agree with those who say: "Exactly what problem are we trying to solve?" Perhaps the major advantage is potentially protecting the environment from conventional glycol systems being flushed every few years, but I don't think I'm going to consider that the controlling factor. Water and conventional antifreeze seem to function quite nicely if renewed occasionally. Even though I'm not a youngster I'm all in favor of automotive innovations and advances, but not being a youngster I have seen too many of them ultimately turn out to offer no real benefit for classic automobiles. Perhaps I'm delusional, but I feel classic machines are usually more compatible with contemporary products and techniques, and if nothing else there is a certain beauty to maintaining those.

[Gfhug]

Earlier in the thread the comment was that thousands of Rolls Royce Merlins ran on ethylene glycol. However: "But it was soon found that pure glycol was not the best coolant. A major move was made to pressure water cooling using 30% glycol as an anti-freeze. The advantages of using water as a cooling mixture are considerable. With 135 C coolant head temperature the mixture at 15 lb per sq in reduces the cylinder head metal temperature by some 30 C when compared with 100% glycol." This quoted from a Rolls Royce Heritage Trust book about the development and use of the Merlin.

Another lovely quote from the period, there was a long discussion about what quality/cleanliness of water should be used in the mix to prevent corrosion problems and how to define that quality. After listening to the engineers for a while Lord Hives the charismatic boss of RR cut short the discussion with the comment "it should be clean enough to drink"!

[JJC]

Stay away...for sealed, or race engines. Not needed, and perhaps even dangerous , for the everyday street motor. I would rather my car all of a sudden run hot, so I could stop, and look into the problem, and fix it. Evans could mask a problem until damage is done. Waste of money for us.