Was out on the weekend at a family reunion giving rides to all the kiddies and went to give one of them a little thrill, and KABLOOEY! Billowing white pouring out of every hole on the front half of the car imaginable. Engine seemed to be running OK, yet, so I figured I lost a coolant hose and expedited the delivery of $25/gallon Evans Coolant all over a random country road (and into the air via immediate vaporization).
Was about 1/10th of a mile from "home" so I kept her running up the slight hill and around the corner and shut her down as the temp gauge rose as quickly as it could.
Home engineered surge tank had popped clean off the thermostat housing. Bad hose had lost its grip on the housing. Filled system with water, put it back together, and have been driving fine since...but this tells me that the J.P. Engineering surge tank, while nice looking (and original off an FE modified to fit my windsor AND keep the March high-mount alternator), will not continue to work. I need all hard parts between the engine and surge tank. Lesson learned.
In the process, I'd like to offer up an anti-recommendation on Evans Coolant.
On the surface (research other posts by me on this topic) I like it. It tastes good and doesn't kill you like regular EG anti-freeze. It doesn't boil until way beyond my motor would be melting and it doesn't freeze. It's good stuff. My engine ran considerably cooler (well, I'll get to that later). Did I mention it tasted good?
I did notice that my
oil temps were running considerably hotter than before. Considerably as in increased from typical cruising of 160 and hard driving 190 to typical cruising of 190-200 and hard driving of 230-245.
Led me to one conclusion. Specific Heat Capacity of Evans cooling is about 30% lower (worse) than water. It's just not pulling the heat out of the engine. Sure, it's running cooler. Hell, SAND would run a LOT cooler. But my engine would melt and die. Just think...if you fill up your cooling system with sand or play-doh or oatmeal, pick your poisin, the "coolant" would probably run cooler than water. And you would melt down.
I had gotten used to the new temps because they weren't alarming, just cause for some concern and gauge vigilance. There was something disconcerting about the water gauge reading 70C and the
oil gauge reading 95C......tooling down the interstate.
On the way home from the reunion running well water and a little leftover Evans (no worries, no extended well water plans), the gauges reversed. Water: 90.
Oil: 70.
To me, that's closer to the way it should be. That tells me water is pulling heat out of the engine. Having read Turk's extended run-stand research where coolant makeup was the independent variable, I think I'm going to go with water and water wetter only. Seems to do the trick right...and when a hose happens to let go, it's no fun watching $100 in steam blow out the "gills" and hood scoop.
Hope this helps anyone considering using Evans. Cool product to be sure. Just didn't fit my needs at all, probably won't really fit yours, either!!!
JP
Kablooey!
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