I know of a few guys who run waterless in their boats (inboards with self-contained cooling systems).

On a $100k+ boat, the cost seems minimal, but the idea for using it is less maintenance on a motor that sees little use and no need to winterize.

 

Umm, like DexCool?

 

It sounds like its intended to be a more "maintenance free/low maintenance" option, rather than something intended to help the engine run cooler. Give it 10 years or so, to see the long-term results. In the meantime, moving on... nothing to see here.

 

There's a bunch of guys on the Ford Super Duty Forums running this, people tend to either love it or hate it. That being said, based on some people's reviews I'll stick with water - this stuff actually runs HOTTER than water/glycol (though they claim it's not an issue because no steam pockets form, just the same I'd rather stay at 194F with water than 235F without).

EDIT: From their website: When you buy new equipment, specify Evans Waterless Heavy Duty Coolant, 215°F thermostats, and ECM programming to provide for the following temperatures:
Fan-on: 230°F Fan-off: 217°F De-rating: 235°F Auto shutdown: 240°F.

You really want your cylinder heads seeing 230F on a daily basis?

 

I thought 220 was where the damage starts?

 

Nope, the damage starts at 240, 250 is death, 220 is fine, 230 is getting warm and you need to start thinking about what to do next, 240 pull over, remove engine load, turn on heater and increase RPM to 1200-1500.

 

Dex-Cool was a good idea, it just does not work well unless it is properly taken care of, and of course we all know that no one actually takes care of their cooling system, it only gets attention when there is a problem.

 

The version of this coolant they sell for your car is basically substituting proplylene glycol for the water with some growth and corrosion inhibitors so it's basically Ethylene and Proplylene Glycol.

The version of this coolant used for race cars/motor bikes is basically pure proplyene glycol which they use because ethylene glycol is toxic and banned from some tracks, events, etc. DO NOT USE propylene glycol for long term use as it is a good growing ground for organic matter and will end up being full of living gunk.

THE GOOD: It won't evaporate, corrode, etc your system as bad. Your lines won't pressurize as much which could save life on your hoses, reservoir tank, etc.
THE BAD: Water is about the ultimate liquid thermal transfer fluid so you will lose a little bit of the thermal transfer and you will probably run a little hotter overall.

If the system circulation is adequate, you should be Fine doing this and I could see some good benefits in extreme cold and extreme heat (when accounted for by using better radiators, flow, etc.)

It's kind of a toss up. The comments of using "tap water" is the main problem. The water should be Deionized water only. It's the salts in the water and salts that form with the water that cause the problems for corrosion. If you keep adding tap water to the coolant it will compound the problem.

Final Note: A quick rough estimate of using this versus water in the same vehicle.... You should warm up the engine faster because the waterless coolant has a higher viscosity and lower specific heat capacitance then standard coolant. As it warms up it balances out a slight amount. If you want to maintain the same standard running engine temperature, theoretically you would need to increase the flow in the 10-30% range.

 

I used to be a gm dealer tech, dex-cool is awsome especialy when it starts to eat the freezeplugs and gaskets, the only thing i have ever done with dex-cool is flush it out and put in green,also seems to break down to a mudd/ sludge like mess= flush real good this is my opinion /experience

 

I just watched an episode of wheeler dealers and Edd use that. Quite interesting if it does as it says it does.