Cooling System And Corrosion

[linkems]

Hi i'm about to put in water/oil temp gauges etc... There's a bit of report that running one of those radiator aluminum hose adapters causes corrosion, does any one know the reason behind this.

I might also add that i do vaguely remember someone telling me that brass with aluminum causes corrosion. If this is the case why do the stock sensors with the factory alloy pipe not cause any corrosion. Will mixing stainless steel with aluminum be a better idea?

cheers

Pat

Edited August 30, 2010 by linkems

[XRATED]

Pat, running an alluminum temp sensor adaptor in your 'rubber' rad hose isn't going to affect anything. Your coolant contains a corrosion inhibitor anyway.

Just make shure you put some thread tape on the sensor, before you screw it into the ally housing.

The corrosion your thinking about is galvanic corrosion, caused by dis-similar metals that are connected together and emerssed in an electrolyte. The less noble metal will give up electrons to the more noble metal...

Cheers

Justin

[ClutchBurndout-:(]

as above.

im interested to hear where you got that adapter and sender from?

[linkems]

thanks justin

clutch that was just a random picture from google . Jump on ebay some asi performance guy selling em for around $15 delivered. I think i might get my engine hard pipe tapped instead though, will look neater.

[salival]

Hey guys,

I actually work for a radiator shop AND build alloy radiators so I think I have a bit of knowledge in this area

The thing that kills alloy radiators (re: about 2 weeks i've had one of mine come back from new) is Electrolysis (Electrolysis of water is the decomposition of water (H2O) into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen gas (H2) due to an electric current being passed through the water.)

Anything electrical that isnt grounded correctly can emit stray current into your cooling system. We see this alot on bodged up drift cars and Taxi cabs that are put together cheaply.

This can kill a brand new alloy radiator within weeks. Corrosion from coolant related mixing is also very bad for a radiator but does take longer.

Copper Brass radiators are alot more resilient and repairable from corrosion.

My suggestion, Ground everything as much as you can. You should be able to drop into your "friendly" local radiator shop and ask them to do a stray current test. Will take about 30 seconds.

They hook up alligator clips to the + and - terminals of your battery then put a probe into your cooling system (in the top tank normally) and it will give a "pass" or "fail" if the cooling system does or doesnt contain stray current (about 50 Milliamps from memory)

Sorry for the ramble

Cheers

[T04GTR]

if in doubt just run a wire to earth it. to eliminate any chance..