Waterless Coolant

Hi Richard,

You are referring to Evans waterless coolant, which is nothing more than pure ethylene glycol antifreeze (with no water in it). The anti-corrosion and anti-boiling properties are excellent and beyond reproach, but the cooling leaves something to be desired, in my opinion.

Ethylene glycol has only 70% of the heat-carrying capacity of water. So your engine will run about 20-30% hotter than with water. This can have several effects:

(1) With the higher volatility of today’s gasoline, and the already present propensity toward vapor lock, the car will vapor lock at slighter provocations – ambient temperature over 70*, altitude over a thousand feet, hill climbing, etc.

(2) You will be anxious seeing your temp gauge liquid at the top of its range all the time.

(3) If your engine has valve seat inserts, the higher operating temperature could shorten their life – they may start loosening up prematurely due to wider temperature cycling range.

I try to run my cars at the lowest practical temp – heat is the enemy.

Water is THE best cooling liquid. You can add additives for corrosion protection (Nalcool, Pencool, etc.) and drain the block for storage times.

Running a 50-50 antifreeze/water mixture will cool better than pure Evans (but worse than pure water) and have some corrosion protection, but may foam in your Pierce.

The one area that pure ethylene glycol will cool better is in areas in the block that tend to have low flow rates, and the coolant lingers in a hot spot until it boils at that spot (even though the average block temp is OK). These mini-boiling areas then get even hotter since there is only steam contact, and can damage valves and seats, etc. The Evans coolant will not boil at these spots.

Evans would be ideal if the water pump and radiator were designed for it – with a 30% greater flow rate and radiating surface – so the engine would operate in the temp range it was designed for.

(There is an argument that engines operate more efficiently at higher temps, but I haven’t researched it.)

That being said, I know Restoration Supply (Escondido, CA) sells it for $35 a gallon. (I tried some in my ’38 Buick.) You can order some and try it for yourself. I bought a higher flow radiator core for my ’33 and when I install it I may try Evans again.

Regards,

Bob

Have replaced my radiator for a new “honey-comb” radiator. Not identical in design to the factory one, but it ‘looks like’ the real one. I had my water pump modified with sealed bearings, which does not inject grease into the radiator, does not add air to the fluid, and I have a nylon lady’s hose in the top radiator hose to catch any gunk left in the engine after cleaning it out.

The result, using Evan’s coolant is that the temperature gauge runs slightly over mid scale going at 65 up a grade, and below center gauge on the flat at that speed. The gauge was rebuilt and checked.

I am sure you can duplicate this performance with your car.