water coolant

Hi all has any body use water less coolant in there bikes 

Last summer I pulled the sleeves out of my cylinder block and this is what I found. Pretty ugly. I restored the sleeves and reinserted back in to the block, but I don't want to see this corrosion again.


 
This was 1 of 6 all the same.

 
This what they looked like after cleaning up with a smooth file on a lathe.

 
And finally, after applying Ceracote

With that in mind, I contacted Evans Coolant in regards to what coolant they recommend and here is the reply. NOTE - His comment about  " I don't think Your engine has the same parts"
Our engines have wet sleeves identical to the wet sleeves in a diesel engine. Most motorcycles that have sleeves, the sleeves are cast into the aluminum, so the coolant contacts the cast aluminum surrounding the sleeve and not the sleeve itself. The KZ1300 is a different animal, hence the question I posed to Evan's Coolant
Evans Cooling Canada <evanscoolingca@gmail.com> Feb 5, 2024, 4:37 PM 
 to me
John.


Sorry about not seeing your email.

HD coolant has an additive for steel parts that contain commercial diesel engines.
I don't think that your engine has the same parts.
But you can use the HD if you prefer, It is the same coolant as the HP but with more additives for steel parts.
Guy

On Mon, Feb 5, 2024 at 1:35 PM John Eplett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:

Hi,
I have a 1980 Kawasaki KZ1300 6 cylinder motorcycle which has wet sleeves. Since it has wet sleeves I wonder if I shouldn't be using Evans heavy duty coolant which is more designed for diesel engines since the diesels also have wet sleeves.
Please advise.
NOTE- this is the third time trying to get an answer in the past 2 weeks. Maybe my inquiries are ending up in your spam??

sincerely,
John Eplett
Port Perry On L9L 1S3
Canada

So when the time comes, I plan on using the Evan's HD Coolant specifically because it has additives to combat corrosion of steel parts. 

 
 

May I ask, what are the advantages of wet liners - why do Diesel engines use that design feature?

Also, regarding the waterless coolant, will it have adequate lubrication properties for the ceramic water pump seal used on the KZ1300?

Diesel engines are more susceptible to Cavitation / Erosion  Corrosion. The higher pressures operating in the cylinder cause the liners to flex at a frequency. As the liners move outwards into the coolant passage, they compress the coolant and then as the liner retracts towards the piston, tiny bubbles form in the coolant, then on the next cycle, those bubbles compress and cause cavitation. The cavitation causes erosion, primarily in the form of pinholes through the liner.
While all this is happening, Corrosion of the cast iron is happening. Cast Iron is more prone to rusting due to the iron content. Preventing corrosion is a big part but an even more bigger part when the cylinder liners are cast iron. Realizing the Corrosion Erosion issues in diesel engines, manufacturers went to a replaceable liner.
Minimizing corrosion is a big part and coolant manufacturers changes the chemistry on the coolant to minimize the corrosion of the cast iron liners and also convert the Ferric Oxide (rust) to a different form they refer to as FE305 which is harder than Ferric Oxide thus reducing the corrosion erosion and prolonging the life of the liners. This conversion process reduces the chemicals i n the coolant so they developed a coolant monitoring process for diesels which involves using test strips to check the chemistry. When the chemistry is off they have a Supplemental Coolant Additive that can be used once to top up the additives which usually lasts for about 50 K miles, then you have to change out the coolant.

I'm not aware of any differences in water pump seals which would need different lubrication. The mechanical seal itself doesn't require lubrication just cooling. The other elastomers in the coolant system seals are the same as any other engine.