I think this might be more of a request for reporting rather than opinions.
I’ve been using Evans in my classics (and older daily drivers) for about 20 years now. I know the drawbacks, and I know the advantages, and I know that just the mention of the stuff could start WWIII. I have personally performed tests for flammability, and found that if tested neat, with no water, both ethylene glycol and Evans (propylene glycol) burn just as quickly and just as fiercely as each other. This is a ‘new’ car, really - block and head chemi-cleaned in a hot tank and pressure cleaned, new aluminium radiator with a large electric fan, new water pump, hoses, heater matrix etc. etc. An original, ‘skirted’ thermostat is fitted. The cooling system could not be in better condition for a 140.
I’d like to know if anyone is using Evans in an XK engine with the standard pressed metal head gasket and, if so, have you had any leakage issues? Do you run with a zero-pressure rad cap, as my other ‘Evans’ cars do?
I have limited experience with my recently completed 3.8.my major problem was hose seepage at the cheney clamps. Evans has capillary action seepage like nothing else, especially on the cast iron wp inlet! I run with my radiator cap just clicked on but not tightened down. No problems so far in +32°c heat.
Thanks Randall - it certainly finds the leaks. I think that again that’s a factor of it being used neat - ethylene glycol is probably the same, but it seems to penetrate less easily with the water mix.
Do you have the metal head gasket, or a composite type?
Hi Roger…i checked with a friend who,s built a C type replica with an xj6 4,2 engine…metal head gasket…his Evans leaked from almost everywhere on startup. .but not from the head…Would be ideal to run with coolant…fix all the leaks…then use tbe Evans system…but im sure you know that…Steve
Thanks Steve, very helpful. With a new engine build, I usually try to go straight to Evans as it’s a pain to use once water’s been in there - but that probably makes better sense. As Randall says there are a lot of potential problem areas, with either old castings to seal or connections without a swaged ridge to grab the hose. I have swaged my heater’s copper pipes, which will help, but it would be näive to assume it won’t leak from the outset. The head gasket is useful info, thanks.
Incidentally, I was told years ago by an Evans salesman when ordering over the phone for my daily driver BMW that the prep fluid is not needed when converting. He told me to buy the cheapest ethylene glycol I could find, half fill the system with no water included, and run at idle until the thermostat opened, and let it run for a good few minutes. Then drain, and if you feel like it, do the same again. Then go for the Evans. Apparently the cheap stuff will take all the residual water out OK.
Dont know about XK,s but on E types as far as im aware 2 bottled of Bars Leaks was added at the factory to seal up any leaks…this is what i do as well…then drain and add standard Bluecol. …Steve
I have been using Evans for the last 6 years in a 3.4 engine with the standard metal head gasket with no leakage there at all. Banjo fittings are another story, had leaks at the water pump fittings. I am using a standard 4 psi radiator cap.
I can vouch for the effectiveness of Barrs. In a stupid move some years back I decided to raise the boiling point of the cooling system by having a radiator shop graft a different neck on the rad in my car so it would accept a cap of higher pressure than the 4lb factory one. Stupid because all it did was eventually blow out the heater core! The solder on the “new” neck always wept a little anti-freeze, even after taking it back, so I ordered some Barrs Stop Leak. Once the requisite amount was deposited in the cooling system the leak was sealed and has remained so for many years, even following changes of long-life (5 year) anti-freeze.
If I remember correctly regular use of the product is recommended in the XJS workshop manual for the V12. Seemingly the active ingredient in it is ginger!
Mine is a composit head gasket. The 1st one did seep a bit at one spot but I had to replace it due to another problem (another saga), and the new one hasn’t leaked.
Idd here: in my old xj40, now gone, Barrs was added at each coolant change. The poor thing rusted in piece at 400000 km but never gave any sign of troubles from the coolant system side at least. I know some dislike the product, but our experiences were rather good.
Thanks for the advice and various reports, all. I’m a bit surprised that the factory or dealers used Barr’s quite so often, but casting my mind back to stories of how problems were fixed remind me that matters were a little more… open to interpretation back then. A very good friend of mine is the last person who started work at GM Europe in the late sixties as a shop-floor apprentice and ended up on the board of directors. At one point, he was the senior ‘man from the factory’ who used to go out to the dealerships to try to fix problems the dealer couldn’t (and the customer complained enough to get action). One such was a common one of leakage of the rear axle pinion bearing oil seal on certain Vauxhall models, which they simply couldn’t stop due to the axle having been originally designed for a different, less highly-stressed application. The factory line was: ‘Ah yes, this is working exactly as intended. It is our newly developed design to preserve the seal for a longer life, the new ‘wet-lip’ oil seal’. How they got away with these things I’ll never know.
Thanks especially Cliff, for the Evans-with-metal-gasket report. Obviously there is an element of luck/skill here but it’s good to know it can work.