Electrolysis....

9

91 XR7

Registered User
Between the Batteries Ground and the coolant in the Radiator i'm getting .31Volts.. I've read that anything about .1 Volts is bad..

Since Adding a couple of (small mind you of 8ga) grounds to the engine to chassis didn't lower that .31 at all.. Would just flushing the system work or no?? (i'm waiting on a rad (used) and New upper/lower/By-pass and rad cap to `flush' the system
I'm dreading the T-stat housing thou even thou it does leak as-is thou.. (kinda hard to figure out why, since how the rad cap is now, I can't see it holding pressure at all)

This is on my '91 SC (which i've posted a few other post below about)

If the head gaskets pop on this car it will be parted out.. And everything i've put into it will either go into my '89 or '91 XR7 :) Just hope it lasts past this weekend (the company i work for is doing a cruise, and i like to take it.. )
 
Hmm.. just checked.
.034v in the 93 which has zero water in it, all Evans NPG+R. all Aluminum radiator. .41v in the 1990 which is 50/50 coolant/water mix with the Aluminum radiator with plastic side tanks.

I guess I'm gonna say perhaps it's time to try and change the coolant and see if the number changes. May be related to metallic content in the coolant in concert with the water?
 
pablon2:
Last i knew of they were.. I'm too tired to head down to the car to double check.. Maybe i'll reply in the morn when i go past it to go to work.. :eek:

Mike:
From what i read on a Multi Material engine/cooling system, like that in a SC.. changing the coolant every like 18-24 months is a good idea.. And water is a conductor of electricity.. and in the coolant water may become alittle aciditic (?) and you have instant battery :(

And what would be a good additive to hopefully combat the build up of Electrolysis???

Hopefully this friday i can have a hoping chance to do something about this...
the parts lady forgot to order in the Hoses i needed.. She's cute so i'll let it slide :)
 
Yeah... I'm gonna change the 90 before it goes into winter storage. Electrolysis is one of the reasons why I'll likely not run water in my air/liquid inter cooler system. Instead I'll have a cool can type container to pack with ice that will cool the fluid mixture I run through it.

Nothing is more irritating on a seasonal car than the radiator or heater core springing a leak simply because the metal disappeared.
 
Pure water is non-conductive, so it's likely due to the coolant in your system or the fact you're running tap water and not distilled.
 
Well tomo i should have a rad.. then on friday its the change over time..

Now i should have a head start on pray to the mighty car gods that the T-stat housing will seal enough to hold water.. doughtfull.. But you know.. if i get this head start it MAY just happen...

Heck i know with my '89.. on the last try.. had NO water anywhere around the T-stat opening.. took the housing to the bench sander and sanded it flat.. put a nice bead of Silicone (maybe 3/16" thick) on either side of the Gasket.. tightened the bolts down just enough for the silicone to be squeezed out abit.. Left it for 16 hours before putting coolant in.. STILL LEAKS!!

So here i will start my search on what luck others have had on that :)
 
Pablo94SC said:
Pure water is non-conductive, so it's likely due to the coolant in your system or the fact you're running tap water and not distilled.
Click to expand...

As mentioned in the article Duffy posted, distilled water may not be the best either as it is 'hungry'/'thirsty' and seeks ionization.
 
Besides the fact that as soon as you add the distilled water to the cooling system it will no longer be pure because of all the corrosion products coating the inside of the system.

I used distilled water in my car to ensure there were not extra minerals in the water to plate out on cooling surfaces. I was not concerned about the water being "hungry" or "thirsty" for ions.

There are links on that page I posted to some corrsion protection products that looked interesting. The only one I would probably try though was the sacrifical anode radiator cap.
 
If you mix half and half with coolant you don't have ionized water, you just have diluted antifreeze. Most coatings aren't soluble in water, let alone glycol. The less pure water is, the more chance there is of a precipitate forming from becoming hypertonic. Therefore, it is best to use distilled.

Plus, hard waters contain calcium which is soluble in water/glycol, but when heat is applied it will separate and adhere to any higher charged metal such as the thermostat housing, intake, heads, etc...
 
Bah i'm going to be running tap water anyways :eek:

Tasty Tap water to boot, it's from the right Reservoir (we have like two main ones, one the water is kinda Blah, the other is pretty good) :)

But i will redo it again in like a months time.. and see if i can find one of those in line filters that you can put onto your garden hose and go that way..

And on the topic.. and to hijack my own thread..
What would be the verdict on making a Silicone Gasket for the T-stat?? I have some 1/8 thick Semi dense? Silicone used in the Aircraft world that i can try it out with... Maybe i'll make one to try and `flushing' the system (shrug)
 
make sure the gasket surface of the housing is flat...flat..flat. Stick some sand paper on a flat surface and run the cap over it. I spray painted the face of the thermostat housing and scraped it across the sandpaper. Keep going until it's flat enough that all the paint comes off. Had to reapply it a couple times.

Then I used a couple dots of super glue to hold the thermostat to the housing so I didn't have it coming loose while installing. Then some rtv holding the gasket on, rtv on the intake manifold, and set it in place, take it easy on the bolt tightening.
 
Tap water's definitely okay to run. I don't even know why there's a thread about it, haha.

I requested for someone to through and through a bullet in my head if I ever buy a 24 pack of bottled water and pour it all in my radiator.
 
If i can find my Spare housing at work tomorrow (Why didn't i look for it today i do not know) I'll take it to the Belt sander :) I did it before (read above) But still with no luck.. so maybe 2nd time that way lucky??

the thing is i will not have ALLOT of time to allow the silicone to Cure.. If all goes well MAYBE 6 hours.. :( (like 18 or so hours Helped my '89)
Leaving it over night can happen, but leaves me little time to do other things i need to do before a cruise at 10:30 in the morn (nearly 90 minutes away too) (my cars are parted like 20-30 minutes away from where i live, and can only bring `home' one at a time :( (F'n apartments)

But i will have another chance to do it.. when i do the flushing again.. and i'll be able to leave it to cure for a week if it needs to be...
 
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The main problem is not the kind of water you use (though I wouldn't make a blanket statement like using all tap water... some taps don't have nice water for cooling systems) but cooling system break down which becomes acidic.
 
I need to backup stock pile (well i had one left) of T-stat gaskets.. since i was given the wrong one when i got my T-stat.. (not TOO surprised)

Well I think the quality of Tap water is Dependant on where it comes from, How it's stored, and How much they `treat' the water before it plumped into your house..

I think typical Ground water (pumped from the ground) will have more dissolved Minerals in it then the Typical Rain water Held in Storage `lakes'.. BUT even then, Eroding of the shores, and streams coming into them (and in the case here, we have a Smaller one feeding a Larger one through a Man made tunnel through a moutain... ) do add Dissolved minerals into the water, then add in the fact that they add chlorine (??) and such to `make the water more safe'......
 
91 XR7 said:
I think typical Ground water (pumped from the ground) will have more dissolved Minerals in it then the Typical Rain water Held in Storage `lakes'.. BUT even then, Eroding of the shores, and streams coming into them (and in the case here, we have a Smaller one feeding a Larger one through a Man made tunnel through a moutain... ) do add Dissolved minerals into the water, then add in the fact that they add chlorine (??) and such to `make the water more safe'......
Click to expand...

Municipal water supplies are generally derived from a only, or a combination of water pumped out of the ground, rain captured, water from a river or resevioir. Each method of supplying water has it's own combination of issues for treatment. Cities then treat the water to the standards set by the EPA. None of the standards focus on optimizing performance in a cooling system.

The key to proper cooling system maintenance is regularly replacing the coolant on a schedule that is matched well with doing so before the anti-corrosion additives are depleted from the coolant package. If you run straight water, you don't get the anti-corrosion additives.

If you check your coolant with a digital meter, and find that there is a voltage potential of some significance, it's time to either change the coolant, or perhaps identify if something else is placing a charge into the coolant. (bad ground, bare wire)
 
Well this car is new to me.. and i have no idea when anything was changed on it.. And was shocked to see that it was .31 volts.. I haven't checked my '89 since i swaped the motor around 18 months ago?? I know my '91 and '96 was changed in the last year too (Rad and Heater core respectively)

Well true about tap water.. all the cities and such care about is making it safe to DRINK, and that's about it.. And that's truely all that matters thou..

Before i head off on my trip today, i'll see what it's at... But i have `grounded' the engine in a half ~~~ matter.. So.. ( I will do a better job once i get some Better wire and Battery terminals) On my '91 and '96 i have 2 4ga wires going directly to the Alternator to the Battery (positive fused) And may do the same with the Bird..
 
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