I was reading an issue of Diesel Power and was drawn to an Evans NPG+ waterless coolant conversion. I went to the website and researched this coolant. Appears to be some pretty top of the line stuff. Anyone ever used this stuff or heard of it? They have quite a gallery of trucks and success stories. Heck, they even have a Ford Diesel Gallery all to itself! I would be willing to give this a try, gonna be doing a coolant flush here soon anyway. Here is a link: http://www.evanscooling.com/main1.htm

Let me know what you guys think,

-Dave

 

Propylene glycol has been around for awhile but it was always more expensive so people wouldn't use it. It is "RV" anti-freeze it is also what is in paintballs.

It will make a dog sick but it causes an acute sickness which will filter out of the body but ethylene glycol causes a chronic sickness which is pretty much forever.

I have read that other companies have a version of proylene glycol and it is compatable with ethylene glycol bases coolants. That makes me kinda wonder though. The two have a different spacific gravity and if you used the float ball type freeze point testers the one for ethylene wouldn't be accurate with the propylene based. That was told to me by a coolant guru from Fleetguard.

Remember when Seria coolant came out. It was Propylene glycol based and they claimed you had to use a different tester.

I would need some more info because I am a curious person by nature but I am sure it would be a good coolant.

 

I read some of their literature and it seems like some pretty nice stuff. Its about $32.50 a gallon though...Lifetime stuff but I think I might just pickup some HD coolant recommended for big rigs from my local walmart for $5 a gallon instead. Rather spend about $40 to flush the radiator instead of $260. But overtime and radiator flushes through a lifespan, maybe it would pay off in the long run...Still clearly undecided

 

I've been using the stuff in all my vehicles for a couple of years now. my truck just got it about 4 months ago when I put the fresh engine in .
I love the stuff, cheap insurance. It's already saved one of my cars from a disaster while towing a heavy trailer and a thermostat stuck ( underhood temps got do hot that it melted the clips off the air filter box and fried a handful of computer sensors,) but no damage to the engine. Had that been regular coolant, I would have been out a couple of grand for a head job at interstate prices.

It's nice in the truck when towing , hard pulls, no worries, gauge goes up, as long as nothing is boiling, no hot spots, no damage.

I run all the vehicles so far with a zero pressure system. Some vehicles , they suggest a low pressure cap, to keep from pumping coolant out at high rpms, but I haven't experienced that.

I found the stuff after I lost an engine on one of my diesel cars to a stuck thermostat in NY and had to spend a couple of grand to get it and me back home. Never again.

The stuff is cheap insurance. your temps will run a bit higher when pulling, but it's nothing to worry about, with a 375 deg boiling point, your gauge could be pegged to the right and still not hurt anything, the engine will shut down way before you get anywhere near it's boiling point.

When you consider that you don't need to change the stuf every year, no SCA's needed, and no more water corrosion/rust related issues, plus longer hose life from running at low to no pressure ( even with a pressure cap on, I ran a system with a pressure gauge on it for a while when first testing, and the system never got over about 3 psi from thermal expansion, even when a fan clutch konked out on me ) The price starts to balance itself out.

 

RLDSL, thanks for the imput. Appreciate it. I do have a few questions for ya though. What if any changes did you have to do to your rig when adding this coolant? Is there any sort of install procedure? (Read something about no more than 5% water in the system should be allowed as per diesel power mag IIRC). You mentioned that the temp gets a little hotter but still functions, just how much hotter? Don't want to go melting anything hehe. Thanks.

-Dave

 

You have to pull the drain plugs from the engine block and leave them out for several hours in order to get as much water as possible out of the block. Then, after the Evans is in, you drill a hole in the radiator cap and run a zero pressure system. That way any remaining water can boil/evaporate out of the coolant. It stinks running an open system and you will get a whiff of it while driving on a regular basis.

I ran Evans in my truck for a couple of years...the problem is that nobody carries it locally so if you have a failure of the water pump or hoses you are either down for a week waiting for the make up coolant to be shipped, or you refill with water and have to go through the process of flushing the block out again.

Seeing as you could run something like the CAT ELC or any of a half dozen other heavy duty extended life coolants for less than a third of the cost, you would have to run 900,000 miles to recoup the cost of the Evans.

You may have surmised by now that I have switched back.

 

Best way I've found is to put one of those flush Ts in the heater line, flush thoroughly with water , open up the radiator petcock and block drains let it all outdisconnect the heater lines, blow through the heater core with compressed air *LOW PRESSURE* turn it down to about 15-20 psi. then either with the prep fluid or some extra evans, pour it into the heater core and in the top of the block and a little in the radiator SLOWLY and it will displace any water left, blow that out and you're good to go.

I don't drill holes in caps mounted directly to the radiator, only remote expansion tank caps, for an IDI, you can either get a zero pressure cap from Evans,( this way you still have fluid moving in and out of the overflow tank with thermal expansion ) or you can put a low presure 7 lb cap on. I'm runniong zero pressure and have not had any issues, they do mention that some engines can start pumping coolant out at high rpms, I guess that's not an issue when I never go above 3100
They do mention sealing the weep hole on the water pump, something about it drawing air in, although I've never done that. Suppose i should.

If you lok on their websire there are extensive instructions, and they are very helpful over the phone

As far as the temp, I've got mine as high as 220 when climbing a 20% hill with 10k pounds of trailer behind me on a hot day, and I was pushing it, if I took my foot out , it pulled back down, I just had a fresh engine, that I didn't build, and i wanted to tear the thing up if it wss going to, while I wass close to home.
My truch normally, while pulling stays around 190-195 , fan comes on then, sometimes it'll get to 210 when on a long steady up grade pushing it hard. Certainly nothing to get concerned about, and that's with the 3 row radiator, I've got a custom aluminum 5 row equivilant radiator on order that should be ready soon, with thatr thing, we'll be able to turn up the fuel a little more and stand on it on next years trip out west over the big hills

On my volvos I notice a little more of a temperature increase than my truck, but still, it's not an issue( their thermoststs don't really open all the way till around 210 anyway)

I've got a case of the stuff here for a customers car i'm about to switch over. this lady has dodged a bullet on a trashed head twice from defective fan belts. I feel so strongly about the evans that i told her I'll do the switch no charge on the labour. I'd rather have her as a regular customer for maintnence items for years to come than to have to stick her for a head job ( as I shoot myself in the foot yet again .

---------Robert