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coolant

albeam

Donation Time
Hi All,

I do not want to start a coolant war, but does anybody use soluble oil in their radiator cooling systems for these vehicles or is the glycol mixture the way to go? i have read where soluble oil is not the answer with modern vehicles but what about these old girls, where i believe 60 years ago that oil was commonplace? i am no expert on the subject, just interested.

thanks

Albeam
 

Limey

Donation Time
Never heard of soluble oil but I'm only 55;). I was running a it warm (new tight engine) so switched to a water-less coolant and dropped 20f off the gauge.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Limey, what is water-less coolant? Is it similar to Water Wetter?
Water wetter is an additive to the water that drops the temp raising the boiling point and popular in some high performace applications.

Evans waterless is actaully its own fluid.. Lowers the temperature and makes the system low pressure and removes corrosion issued by removing the reactions with water and the metals
 

Warren

Bronze Level Sponsor
That's pretty funny soluble oil had a 1934 elevator in a building that used water soluble oil. I suppose it was state of the art in 34
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
We had to use "Water-wetter" + water in the Tedder race car, because no glycol was allowed (SCCA). Why would anyone use that for the street, if I understand that correctly?
Jan
 

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
That's pretty funny soluble oil had a 1934 elevator in a building that used water soluble oil. I suppose it was state of the art in 34

????????? Have a reference, Warren?


Albeam,

Are you referring to the water soluble oil used in machining operations for lubrication and cooling of the tooling?
 

albeam

Donation Time
yes Husky,

i believe it is used for that application. i was told that the oil has a detrimental effect on the rubber hoses eventually but a chap i know uses it in is
older vehicles and swears buy it, but i am still not convinced.

albeam
 

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
yes Husky,

i believe it is used for that application. i was told that the oil has a detrimental effect on the rubber hoses eventually but a chap i know uses it in is
older vehicles and swears buy it, but i am still not convinced.

albeam

Interesting. I've never heard of using that product for that application. I'm not sure it would improve freezing properties, though.
 

Warren

Bronze Level Sponsor
The old elevator had a big water tank and the oil was put in the same tank. It was not a cooling but a hydraulic system.
It always seemed to have a look of not completely mixed. I've been in 115 degree weather in a Tiger with a 205 degree motor 25% regular antifreeze and distilled water. Past Summer solstice the T stat is restricting flow. No need for mas dinero coolant at latitude 34...
 

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
About 40 years ago I tried the soluble oil.

I wanted to try something different than Antifreeze.

It worked OK but WAS hard on the hoses.

DW
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Evans raises the boiling point but has a reduced ability to remove heat, leading to possible higher operating temperatures. So while the engine does not "puke" it runs hotter, not cooler.

Bill
 

Limey

Donation Time
Hi Bill,

It is possible that my 20f cooler running was because there was less cavitation (if that's the right word) due to the lower boiling point?
 

sd_pace

Donation Time
just because you raise the boiling temp does not mean it runs cooler. I used the Evans coolant for a while and yes it never boiled over but it ran over 220 on a 95 degree day, in my opinion that is to hot to run correctly on a motor that is made to run at 190 degrees
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
I put the Evans stuff in my Alpine motor right after I rebuilt it several years ago, thinking I'd use it to preserve the motor. BAD IDEA. Despite having a re-cored and expanded radiator and the advantage of spotlessly clean cooling passages in the motor, the car ran enormously hot - scary hot - so much so that I was concerned about warping the head. After a few runs I drained it out and went to 50/50 Prestone antifreeze ... the car dropped right back into the normal range and hasn't varied out of that since. That oil simply doesn't have the physical ability to absorb and release the heat generated by these motors.

Oh, and if anyone wants to try using the Evans crap, I kept it when I drained it, so you're welcome to it, free of charge. It's only got about 100 miles on it and came from a brand new motor so there's no rubbish in it. Having paid silly money to buy the junk I didn't have it in my heart to toss it out, so maybe someone can make use of it in some unimportant vehicle.
 

RootesRacer

Donation Time
I put the Evans stuff in my Alpine motor right after I rebuilt it several years ago, thinking I'd use it to preserve the motor. BAD IDEA. Despite having a re-cored and expanded radiator and the advantage of spotlessly clean cooling passages in the motor, the car ran enormously hot - scary hot - so much so that I was concerned about warping the head. After a few runs I drained it out and went to 50/50 Prestone antifreeze ... the car dropped right back into the normal range and hasn't varied out of that since. That oil simply doesn't have the physical ability to absorb and release the heat generated by these motors.

Oh, and if anyone wants to try using the Evans crap, I kept it when I drained it, so you're welcome to it, free of charge. Having paid silly money to buy the junk I didn't have it in my heart to toss it out, so maybe someone can make use of it in some unimportant vehicle.

I was gonna comment to say the same thing, though I have never personally used it.
It has a substantially lower thermal conductivity compared to water and though it boils at a much higher temp than even glycol, its ability to cool is perhaps half as good as water.

I have a acquaintance that put Evans in a hot-rodded flathead ford and it would not run below 260 degrees F at idle.
This would not be a huge problem (and he didnt mind it) since the vapor pressure with this stuff at that temperature is pretty low.
The big issue was that the thermostat would open up at 215 degrees F and then it would rise till the radiator had enough capacity (due to higher temp differential) to cool it down.

The result was that idling it would run 260 or so and then running down the road at speed it would run down closer to the thermostats temp.
The poor temp control made the engine tuning all over the place with a 60 degree range in coolant temp depending on conditions.
If you could buy a 260 or 275 degree thermostat then this would be alot less of an issue, but at those temps, you have to start worrying about oil degredation.
 

spmdr

Diamond Level Sponsor
I should add that I DIDN'T use the soluble oil in the Sunbeam, just my daily driver.

Also of note, the Evans coolant can cause big time Vapor lock Carb problems.

DW
 
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