Engine Ice - Ducati.ms

**mbohn** · Mar 24th, 2007, 9:38 pm

At my 6000 mile service my dealer put Engine Ice in my bike in place of antifreeze. (A radiator hose had failed and they said the engine had no coolant in it. But that’s another story).

I’m told that Engine Ice is ok to use at the track and the company’s web site says it will protect your engine down to -27 deg F. That is pretty cool because it eliminates one of the more tedious steps in prepping a street bike for track duty and it eliminates worries about trailering your bike home after a track day when the night-time temperatures can get below freezing.

A link to the company’s web site:

http://www.engineice.cc/products.html

They also claim your engine will run 50 deg F cooler. I’ve only ridden my bike 2 or 3 times with the product in but I don’t see any significant cooler operation. As is typical when in a bit of traffic the temperature marches right up to 213 deg F and the fan comes on. In reviewing their physical property data compared to 50% ethylene glycol/water on this page

http://www.engineice.cc/faq.html (scroll down to the table about half way)

the properties don’t indicate any special cooling abilities so I’m not surprised that I didn’t see any cooler operation. In fact, based on the properties, you can show that for turbulent flow the heat transfer should be about 14% less for their product than for 50% eg/water.

So, two questions: (i) anybody have any experience with this product being rejected for track use and (ii) has anybody seen improved cooling with it?

(BTW, I did a search on Engine Ice and got back threads with "Engine" in them, as you might expect I got a few hits. When I searched for "Ice" I got nothing. Which leads me to another new thread...)

OldBaldy · Mar 24th, 2007, 11:33 pm

Engine Ice is accepted at some tracks, and by some track orgs. It is a good alternative to standard EG coolant, which is almost never allowed on the track.

In my experience, it does not provide ANY cooling advantages over EG (at least nothing measurable), but then again, it seems to be as effective as standard EG coolant.

It is not as efficient as water and WW, and I find that WW runs significantly cooler in both my previous 748 and 996 motors. I run WW on the street, and drain the WW for the winter up here in the North.

galaxy · Mar 25th, 2007, 2:13 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldBaldy

Engine Ice is accepted at some tracks, and by some track orgs. It is a good alternative to standard EG coolant, which is almost never allowed on the track.

.

Just to build on this...you need to research each track/organization before you head out. EI is not automatically accepted like water/WW. I can't remeber where I saw it or I'd link it but yes, I have seen organizations that do not allow EI...only water/WW.

Ducatibob749S · Mar 25th, 2007, 2:18 am

CMRA does not allow Engine Ice to be used while racing, even though it is allowed by the AMA. I used it for racing and street riding, and also saw no significant temperature change.

lubricity · Mar 25th, 2007, 5:50 am

One thing to remember, there is a thermostat in the motor. So it will run the motor up to a temperature before releasing the hot water to the radiator. SO no matter what is in the coolant system. It needs to reach it before beiing released.

OldBaldy · Mar 25th, 2007, 11:08 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lubricity

One thing to remember, there is a thermostat in the motor. So it will run the motor up to a temperature before releasing the hot water to the radiator. SO no matter what is in the coolant system. It needs to reach it before beiing released.

That is the theory, but the Duc thermostat does NOT control the temps as well as it probably should - and so one DOES see significant changes in temps between the EG/PG coolants and WW. - even overcooling in many cases, as you can get with WW, which generally runs about 10-20 degrees cooler than EI.

**mbohn** · Mar 25th, 2007, 11:27 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lubricity

One thing to remember, there is a thermostat in the motor. So it will run the motor up to a temperature before releasing the hot water to the radiator. SO no matter what is in the coolant system. It needs to reach it before beiing released.

Ok, but my point was that a 50 degree reduction in coolant temperature would have never allowed the fan to come on.

OldBaldy · Mar 25th, 2007, 11:32 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbohn

Ok, but my point was that a 50 degree reduction in coolant temperature would have never allowed the fan to come on.

Yup, that's because it does not drop temps 50 degrees. Not even close....in fact, not all all, in my experience

**mbohn** · Mar 25th, 2007, 11:42 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldBaldy

Yup, that's because it does not drop temps 50 degrees. Not even close....in fact, not all all, in my experience

Isn't it amazing that you can sell any product by making outrageous claims that you never have to defend? To me the product has two very important benefits as I said in my first post but why do they have to stretch?

1fast750ss · Mar 25th, 2007, 12:24 pm

No EI here in CCSSW. WW only. Stay away from EI. I tried it last time I flushed my coolant and my 996 runs hotter than before. I just bought some WW and will be changing it today. EI lasted one week in my bike, what a waste.