Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 48
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

ahhh complicated subject, as in same cases earthing the radiator will cause more problems than it will solve. i know there was a big thread on this on NS, perhaps have a search on there.

it's a good idea to do it correctly though as i've heard of rads 'disappearing' in a few months after being installed!

Hey guys , I installed my ISC radiator! and it was pretty easy! what u need to do is take off your Fan aswell and put in the raidatoir with the fan shroud with the fan off at the same time! theres alot of fiddling around! Also if you got a stock air box.. the stock air thingy wont fit bcos of the metal on the side is a bit high.

When i installed mine. I didnt do any earthing.. whats the earthing for??

Edited by geraus

its to prevent electrolysis (corrosion). if you don't do it right, your rad can literally disappear into the coolant.

here's the thread with all the info.

http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/index.p...howtopic=371472

ps. never use tectaloy, use nulon longlife (or a genuine nissan/toyota/subaru coolant). i had a 2jz head eaten by tectaloy...

hmmm fark ... changed to a 40mm aluminium radiator recently .. never knew about this stray currents stuff. Oh well at least I did use a Nulon coolant flush product and rinsed like 5 times with tap water before putting new coolant in.. so atleast hopefully I don't need to worry about old coolant reacting with the new Nulon coolant.

But I never did check for stray currents .. on NS the info posted says to run the engine to operating temps with radiator cap off and then chuck in the mutlimeter probe. But how the hell do you run it to operating temps without coolant coming out of radiator cap opening .. unpossible! Anyway, time to check for stray currents methinks..

hmmm fark ... changed to a 40mm aluminium radiator recently .. never knew about this stray currents stuff. Oh well at least I did use a Nulon coolant flush product and rinsed like 5 times with tap water before putting new coolant in.. so atleast hopefully I don't need to worry about old coolant reacting with the new Nulon coolant.

But I never did check for stray currents .. on NS the info posted says to run the engine to operating temps with radiator cap off and then chuck in the mutlimeter probe. But how the hell do you run it to operating temps without coolant coming out of radiator cap opening .. unpossible! Anyway, time to check for stray currents methinks..

u can run the car up to operating temp with no radiator cap on its not pressurised or however u spell it lol.. thats how u get air pockets out etc..

. But how the hell do you run it to operating temps without coolant coming out of radiator cap opening .. unpossible.

You can run it up to temperature with the cap off, and you shouldn't lose any coolant. It's just that with a sealed system it builds up pressure when it warms up. This will cause it to spit water out when you open the cap.

A good way to tell if your radiator is being effected by electrolysis is to check the colour of the alloy inside the rad. If it's going black, then it is corroding and you need to do something about it.

Another trap is if your battery is in the boot. You need to run your earth cable (fat) all the way to the front firewall. Bolt the cable to the firewall, and then run another fat earth strap from the same bolt (on the engine side) to your engine block. This means that most of the current will run through the battery earth lead, rather than the car's chassis, which can cause stray currents through your radiator.

Which tectaloy? They make more than one coolant.

It was the tectaloy 90 or whatever. I'm pretty sure any of their green stuff will be bad, regardless i'll never touch the stuff again. why take the risk when other coolant is just a touch more expensive.

if you read the NS site ..apparently earthing the rad can make the stray currents worse .. Weird shit. I'm getting a multimeter tommorow with milivolt measurements ($30 at jaycar) and I'll see what comes up .. Apparently anything more than 50mV in the coolant is BAAAAD.

instructions in mspec i got were that it can kill a rad in few days if not earthed, well for the stray current to stuff it up.

If you use a concentrate, then you should be using either demineralised water. mineral content in tap water will conduct electricity better and cause a higher rate of corrosion. Off the shelf premixes can sometimes contain tap water so may have a higher mineral content as well.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • What copper washer do you guys use on the bleeder bolts? The existing one I have I had no idea where to find it in a local store, I did buy some online but that are only 1mm thick whereas my old one is 2mm+ thick and when I put the new washer out and squeeze the top radiator hose I can hear a bit of air but not with the old one. Does this matter? The new one doesn't leak, but the inner diameter is a bit loose whereas the old one threads on the bolt.
    • Howdy all, after being out a few weeks ago on a spirited drive in my GTR I have 2 issues that oddly have appeared at the same time. Whilst accelerating quickly through the gears all of a sudden i’ve lost power at the top of third gear (below redline around 6000rpm) for no obvious reason.    From that point onwards the car has been running rich on idle, won’t really rev under load without a ton of black smoke and the odd backfire, and dying as a pull up to a set of lights unless I keep the revs up around 1500rpm. In addition when shutting down the car that same night (I was 10 minutes from home) I noticed one of the turbos was significantly noisy on wind down when shutting off the engine. After letting the car cool down overnight it starts up fine, although once it gets to temp the revs start to creep up and down, the exhaust is darker than it should be and it also sounds like it’s running rich (fat note) I’ve put a new set of plugs in it - no change, the old plugs all seemed OK with two of them being somewhat richer/fueled up than the other 3 with 1 being borderline. I’ve smoked tested the intake system via the front of the Turbos, found a split vacuum hose going to the factory boost gauge sender, which I have since replaced.  Also found another leak on the gasket coming off the rear turbo outlet, have also replaced this. After fixing both of these leaks - still have the running rich issue. I’ve also tried another pair of AFM’s - no change here After pulling off the front turbo intake pipes, there is obvious shaft play in the front turbo, which now hisses loudly on light revvs although I can’t see why this would make the car run funny even under idle. I’m curious to know why it’s running rich before I potentially replace/rebuild turbos. The car is completely stock <50,000kms  other than an exhaust. Oil and coolant are all clear. I haven’t bothered with coil packs as it looks like they won’t be the issue due to condition of the plugs. Any help appreciated as I cry myself to sleep!
    • No probs at all. I used to love trying to dig up obscure info for those in need where possible going back 20+ years on SAU.  I did have another look and couldn't come up with any closer match. I'm leaning towards those skirts in your first pic are custom fitments, cut down/extended or from another car entirely and modded to fit an R34 sedan. I would've thought someone in Japan had them and taken a photo at some stage over the last 2 decades but there's nothing. Someone out there must know surely.
    • Welcome mate. Any pics? Even with a DE I'd be well happy if I had that as a 1st car. 
×
×
  • Create New...