Engine Ice help?

I swapped out my coolant for Engine Ice and the fan seemed to take the same amount of time to turn on from cold as stock coolant, 10 minutes. On PCH the other day in traffic fan kept coming on. Bike doesn't seem to be running cooler. Anyone else using Engine Ice?

Personally I would just follow what the manual says to use for coolant.

Some of these other coolants are not as effective as standard engine coolant. They advertise lower coolant temps but those do not equate to engine operating temperature. A coolant that is less effective at removing heat from the engine will generally run cooler since the heat is not transferred from the engine to the coolant (think of it as being an insulator).

Generally speaking it is hard to beat straight water as a coolant. Problem is the corrosion, freeze, and boiling point sometimes doesn't work with many engines. This is why coolant is added to the water - typically ethylene glycol. Most of your engine development and testing is done with a 50/50 blend of water and ethylene glycol used as a coolant.

Many companies will advertise benefits like lower coolant temps (not necessarily lower engine temps - your fan come on based on coolant temp), higher boiling point (may be of practical value and could be recommend by some engine manufacturers), and such but beware most of this is not substantiated by the engine manufacturer's durability testing.

For a bike like the WRR I would stick to the manufactures recommendation. If you are having an overheat problem there is likely a problem with the cooling system or you can be using the bike in extreme environmental conditions (which for most of us is never the case).

rsteiger wrote:

Personally I would just follow what the manual says to use for coolant.

Some of these other coolants are not as effective as standard engine coolant.  They advertise lower coolant temps but those do not equate to engine operating temperature.  A coolant that is less effective at removing heat from the engine will generally run cooler since the heat is not transferred from the engine to the coolant (think of it as being an insulator).

Generally speaking it is hard to beat straight water as a coolant.  Problem is the corrosion, freeze, and boiling point sometimes doesn't work with many engines.  This is why coolant is added to the water - typically ethylene glycol.  Most of your engine development and testing is done with a 50/50 blend of water and ethylene glycol used as a coolant.

Many companies will advertise benefits like lower coolant temps (not necessarily lower engine temps - your fan come on based on coolant temp), higher boiling point (may be of practical value and could be recommend by some engine manufacturers), and such but beware most of this is not substantiated by the engine manufacturer's durability testing.

For a bike like the WRR I would stick to the manufactures recommendation.  If you are having an overheat problem there is likely a problem with the cooling system or you can be using the bike in extreme environmental conditions (which for most of us is never the case).

+1

-morgan

I looked into the engine ice, I like that its non-toxic but ended up going with redline water wetter instead. They claim it works even better than engine ice and I've heard a lot of racers using it has no freeze protection so I just mixed in some maxima coolanol I already had.

haven't had the fan kick on this year

I've used Engine Ice on my SV650 when track riding, since regular coolant is illegal. It is a different compound (propylene glycol instead of ethylene). I kept it in there for summer and winter both, and never really had a problem. I have a new jug of it waiting for me to put it in the WR, just haven't got around to it yet.

As said above, water is the best at transferring heat, but it boils and freezes which is not good. So they add the glycol to lower the freezing temp and increase boiling point, but it has a lower heat capacity than pure water. The Engine Ice comes pre-mixed, just dump it in and go. Your engine will still generate heat, and the fan will still kick on to dissipate that heat. Especially in traffic when you have no airflow through the radiator.

I don’t think Engine ice claims to have better heat dissipation than with Ethylene Glycol. It’s more environmentally friendly and not as slippery as Glycol when you crash. That’s why I had to use it on the race track.
When I tested it, it showed that it will boil and freeze sooner than Glycol through still much better than water.

blusmoke wrote:

I looked into the engine ice, I like that its non-toxic but ended up going with redline water wetter instead. They claim it works even better than engine ice and I've heard a lot of racers using it has no freeze protection so I just mixed in some maxima coolanol I already had.

haven't had the fan kick on this year

Your fan never turns on at all? That doesn't seem normal.

Im sure my fan still works, It just hasn't really kicked on that I recall since I made the switch. Normally the fan comes on shortly after exiting the highway or when going too slow on trails. Though this year has been pretty mild so I guess i'll have to wait for a hotter day and report back.

blusmoke wrote:

Im sure my fan still works, It just hasn't really kicked on that I recall since I made the switch. Normally the fan comes on shortly after exiting the highway or when going too slow on trails. Though this year has been pretty mild so I guess i'll have to wait for a hotter day and report back.

Or just start the bike in the garage and wait for the fan to kick on.  Keep an eye on your high temp warning light though. There may also be a test procedure in the manual.  I'd want to know my fan wasn't working before I hit a situation where I needed it while on the road/trail.

I guess maybe next summer I'll change to water wetter and see if there's any difference in how long it takes my bike to go from cold to the fan turning on. I don't know if that's the best gauge, but seems reasonable.

I've stuck with the recommended coolant because I've done some reading on the subject. Basically there are several different types, some of which will damage a motorbike's mechanical seal and/or cause erosion in our engines.

Not really sure what that type of coolant is used for, but really I know enough to know that I know f-all about coolants. Bottom line is I agree with the sentiment that if the bike boils using Yamalube premix, then there's something wrong with the system. My bike has been fairly well tested in the heat so far, but I feel that more 'testing' is to come in the rocks of the property I grew up on, and upon which I'll probably be working next summer.

I've had some time to ride, gathered some data. Seems to me like sub 90's the fan does not come on at all that i can tell, at least when it normally would even after exiting the highway and coming to a stop. But if you are hot and sweating in 95+ degree stop/go traffic the fan will kick on and stay on for some time.

So my bike still turns the fan on, alot. So it's been my conclusion that Engine Ice doesn't help at all, despite it's claims. Save your money and stick with the stock stuff.

I was thinking about changing out for engine ice... I'm more worried about my not having corrosion in my coolant system... Does anyone have any suggestions with that in mind?