Just to clearify something....most all the engine coolant you see on the shelf anywhere is ethyleneglycol. DexCool, the "one for all" Prestone, etc.... They are ALL ethylene glycol. Ethyleneglycol is the coolant. The silicates or OA or DexCool refer to the corrosion inhibitor in the coolant, not the coolant type.
The only exception to this is the "Sierra" brand of non-toxic coolant or the other non-toxic and lo-tox coolants that others have jumped on the band wagon to have something to counter the Sierra marketing blitz. Sierra and all the no/lo-tox coolants are propyleneglycol, not ethyleneglycol. As far as I know there are only silicated PG coolants on the market, no long life OA versions.
There are only three types of coolants out there....ethyleneglycol, proplyleneglycol and plain water with some sort of corrosion inhibitor/wetter additive.
Coolant has two components. One is the basic coolant that provides the anti-freeze and anti-boil protection. This is what the ethyleneglycol does. The coolant in the jug is about 99% ethyelenglycol. The second componenet is the corrosion inhibitor system in the coolant. There are many types of corrosion inhibitors but basically what is available on the shelf today in the automotive/motorcycle section is a silicated corrosion inhibitor package or an organic acid based corrosion inhibitor. The "corrosion inhibitor" additive is only a very small part by volume of the coolant.
The coolant does three extremely important things. One, it prevents freezing (not such a big deal on motorcycles...) Two, it prevents boiling or raises the boiling point of the cooling system considerably. Three, it prevent corrosion of the internal engine cooling system parts. Aluminum engines, especially aluminum cyliner heads, are extremely prone to corrosion. Iron engines rust and turn the system red. Eventually the rust can clog the radiator but that is about all that will happen. Aluminum engines demonstrate a very undesireably phenomenon called hot transport deposition corrosion. In short, the aluminum around the exhaust ports (high heat areas) flakes away in microscopic bits, travels in solution in the coolant and plates out in the low temp areas. This results in a radiator full of aluminum and cracked exhaust port walls/cylinder heads.
You MUST run coolant with an adequate corrosion inhibitor package in an aluminum engine. Whether it is EG or PG it must have an adequate corrosion inhibitor for aluminum engines.
Silicated coolants or the organic acid based corrosion ihibitors such as DexCool will all provide adequate corrosion protection. The ONLY difference in corrosion protection is that the silicated packages need to be replaced every two to three years and the DexCool will basically last forever and can easily be run for 4 or 5 years or more with little concern.
You really want to use an ethyleneglycol coolant, not propyleneglycol. PG is more viscous than EG and thus slows coolant flow and hurt the efficiency of the cooling system. If max cooling capacity is your goal then EG is the answer. EG also has a greater heat carry capacity (specific heat) than PG which also makes it a more efficient coolant.
You really do NOT want to run plain water in an aluminum engine. Period. I know some tracks require it and if it is only on the track for short periods of time the engine will probably survive but you do NOT want plain water in the system for long periods of time. Corrosion and engine damage will result and the system will easily overheat due to premature boiling.
"Water wetter" and similar products help slightly when used in track systems that are plain water. They are useless in a system with properly mixed 50/50 ethyleneglycol/distilled water.
Understand that plain water boils at 212 F. In a cooling system that is pressurized with a 14 PSI cap and is running 50/50 EG/distilled water the coolant will not boil until 265 F. This is a huge margin in cooling performance that the coolant provides.
While it is true that the "best" coolant is plain water due to the lower viscosity of water and the very high specific heat of plain water using plain water for better cooling performance is very misguided. It obviously provides no corrosion protection. It will also boil at much lower temps without the EG. Inside the engine, directly in contact with the exhaust port walls, the plain water would boil locally, cause bubbles and steam pockets and drastically hurt the cooling system performance. The higher viscosity of the EG and the lower specific heat of EG, while theoretically reducing the "effectiveness" of the cooling sytsem actually improve it's performance significantly by raising the boiling point and eliminating localized boiling in addition to preveiting freezing and preventing corrosion (if the proper corrosion inhibitors are used.)
Why is anyone worried about using a silicated coolant in the FJR?? I haven't seen anything regarding use of a non-silicated coolant anywhere. Silicated coolants provide excellent corrosion protection, are readily available and don't hurt a thing.
The organic acid corrosion protection technology in DexCool and the other copycat long life coolants is also excellent but there are two concerns with switching to it. One is that one the system is filled and run with silicated coolant the use of DexCool is pretty pointless as the silicates that plate the inside of the cooling system cannot be removed and will contaminate the DexCool and pretty much neuter it's long life capability. Secondly, not all cooling systems are designed for OA coolants. There are rare cases where the heat exchangers have had problems with OA coolants. I don't know if the FJR rad is susceptable to OA damage but I wouldn't run the test on my bike.... Cooling wise, there is absolutely nothing to gain with DexCool....just long life corrosion protection. Which is what you get if you use silicated coolants and change or refresh them every few years.
BTW....I use the Havoline conventional silicated coolant in my FJR. Texaco/Havoline is one of the best coolants available as they are the OEM coolant suppliers for many of the auto companies and they developed the DexCool formula in conjunction with GM. They know coolants and do their own development, refining and blending. Not that other coolants won't work but the Havoline line of coolants are excellent.
