MY STORY - Solved! OVERHEATING WHEN TOWING. WATERLESS COOLANT. ZD30. GU Patrol
MY STORY. SOLVED. OVERHEATING WHEN TOWING. WATERLESS COOLANT. ZD30. GU Patrol.
I have learned so much over the years from snapshot readings from other members of this site that I thought it was about time I become a member which I did yesterday so that I can give something back. I hope my story can help others who may struggle to resolve overheating problems especially when towing and under heavy load.
I have owned my 2001 GU Patrol ZD30 now for some 10 years. Pre our purchase, the engine was rebuilt, shorter dip stick fitted as was the norm in the early ZD30 but since then, it has been a great reliable tough truck especially after the usual minimal cost effective engine mods were made such as 3" exhaust, Dawes valve setup, new fully welded but standard size inter cooler etc. Budget always was a limiting factor so mods always were minimum. However, my lovely wife of over 40 years had the urge to hit the road by way of upgrading our small caravan to a near 2 ton caravan we purchased 4 years ago. The Patrol surprisingly towed it very well however I would get nervous when we came across hill climbs especially on hotter days and as it happened, the engine would get hot and finally overheat especially when outside temps were in the high 30s. Sooner than later, I changed the thermo, cleaned outside of radiator from insects, engine flush be it was a clean cooling system already and refilled with quality "green stuff". Problem solved, so I thought till next caravan trip and we boiled climbing through the ranges and it was in the high 30s did not help. Never safe to pull up on mountain roads to cool down but one has no other option. Finally I fitted a bigger core fully welded alloy radiator thinking this should solve the problem, went caravaning and overheated once again under very heavy load uphill. I read threads from everywhere and had no answers and thought about getting a smaller lighter van.
However, one day watching the Bathurst car races, I wondered how can these high reving high HP/KW race cars keep there engines cool? So I did some Google research and I came across the words Waterless Coolant? "What is that" came to mind? More reading on and most info was sales pitches on how good it was but little info on how it actually works.They sell it at auto supply stores in a brand called Evans but I wanted to know more about it before I commit and not just rely on advertising on the label or from sales person in the store so I did more research. With Evans waterless coolant I did see the product being offered on car lover Jay Leno's car show one time and in a little more detail by Ed China on Wheeler Dealers some time back so again but again, it did not offer technical info on how it works. I needed to know much more.
The game changer for me came when I read a very detailed and informative article by Liquid Intelligence Australia based at western Sydney who supply their very own Waterless Coolant, 100% proven Australian Product (Evans brand I believe is from the US). Respectfully may I stress the importance of understanding how waterless coolant actually works and the benefits of same so please go ahead and read the very detailed info in their link as follows and just keep scrolling down their page and read on. Very informative.
http://liquidintelligence.com.au/pro...erless-coolant
Simply, water boils at 100 deg C, a touch higher with additive. Liquid Intelligence tested at 195 C and no boiling. It is non toxic unlike the very poisonous "green stuff" we for so long have put in our radiators, a few drops of which would kill a cat. It is an excellent anti corrosion product for the cooling system and get this, I can drive around all day, pull up and immediately take the radiator cap off my hot engine and no pressure, thus no spraying of dangerous hot coolant all over myself. Love that side of it. You then wont run the risk of blowing hoses, you can úse it for the life of the car or just drain it into a clean container if doing major engine repairs and reuse it or put it into another car. More than four years on, still towing, no overheating even in near 40 degree outside temps and towing up long high steep mountain roads with my exhaust temps deliberately pushed by over fueling to 450c and upwards at times. You may ask yourself, the Liquid Intelligence product may not boil in the 190c temps but my engine won't cope should it climb towards those temps? The point is that if the engine coolant does not boil, the engine will not suffer from vapour blanketing surrounding your cylinders, a kind of insulating effect that prevents engine heat being transferred to the coolant. Destructive cavitation is also eliminated:
https://www.underhoodservice.com/wat...ation-vehicle/
How to install Waterless Coolant to your cooling system? It is absolutely crucial to remove all water from your cooling system. Though I recall 3% maximum water is acceptable mixed in the Waterless Coolant ( in the event you can't or failed to completely drain empty all the old water/coolant from your cooling system), I would recommend doing everything you can to remove all old coolant to optimise the waterless coolant doing its job. My analogy is that if you say put waterless coolant into a tin and add 3% or more water into it then put it on the stove, as it reaches 100 deg. C, the water will have reached its boiling point and want to steam off whereas the coolant is no where near its boiling point. Have that mixture of waterless coolant and some water in your cooling system and you can see the obvious.
I warmed up my engine but not to running temp then completely drained my radiator, engine block drain plug removed, thermostat removed, removed radiator hoses, heater turned on to allow old coolant to drain from heater radiator via one disconnected heater hose. I pushed compressed through here, there, every where for starters. I then temporarily replaced thermo cover but without thermostat, reconnected radiator hoses to engine simply to get to the point where I could inject high volume warm air through the radiator so that the air could pass right throughout the already warm engine cooling system and vent out via the block drain plug. I let it sit for a good hour plus. TIP: I used an old Little Beaver Spray unit to inject high volume air that came out warm into the cooling system but a home vacuum cleaner, older type perhaps that lets you also attach the hose to expel air would do the job well. Overkill? Perhaps but I wanted to make sure I removed the old coolant completely. I then removed radiator hoses ends to see if any water or moister was blowing though, moisture being visible as it vents past a good strong light. I was confident by then that all was good and then reassembled thermostat and system. Liquid intelligence Waterless Coolant added, went for a test drive, turned engine off, put a tea towel over the radiator cap to slowly open it as I was still feeling twitchy about the possibility of hot coolant spurting over me from the radiator but there was zero pressure, no venting out, no spray. Brilliant! I was mindful that if any old coolant was left behind mixed with the new waterless coolant, removal of the radiator cap may have resulted in some pressure buildup being released and spraying hot coolant out. The fact that I had no pressure release, no spray out confirmed to me that I had successfully removed all old coolant.
The next test was towing our caravan. WOW, no over heating. We have been on multiple trips towing near two tons since adding the waterless coolant. Last summer, a doozy, very hot days, went to Tamworth from north east NSW, through the ranges, very high 30 degs C outside temps, lots of steep long mountain roads, no overheating. Mind you, I still looked at my exhaust gas temp (EGT) gauge and anyone who has had one fitted for a long time knows to drop back a gear in big climbs when towing to not over fuel and thus help keeping EGTs down but when I have purposely over fueled to get EGTs high up to see how the engine temp gauge would go, I had the needle only just move north a touch if at all. No overheating.
So there is my journey which I share with others who may be interested and with apologies for the long report. I hope this will help you the reader. If you are having similar overheating issues, please first check to make sure the problem is not related to a dirty radiator inside or out, failing viscous or electric fan system, water pump or a dirty cooling system that could be causing a blockage. If you are confident that you have a healthy cooling system but still suffer overheating when towing and all else failed, then consider waterless coolant as I did. It worked for me being the Liquid Intelligence product so I hope it will be successful for you. They delivery Australia wide. Read in great detail via the link to them I provided earlier herein. I am not trying to promote a product here, just sharing my journey that worked for me.
Cheers Ted
