Cooling System Electrolysis

[Denis]

Anyone have any information on automotive cooling system electrolysis. My wife had to have the heater core replaced in her car recently. The mechanic left some paper work on the seat; one of them referred to rapid heater core failure due to electrolysis. The paper suggested checking voltage to ground from the coolant and stated a value above . 300V could cause a problem. Checked my diesel and the value was . 259V. I dread the thought of changing the heater core after reading the recent article in the TDR. I use distilled water and recently changed the anti-freeze in my truck. Questions: what would cause this voltage to change, what can be done to prevent electrolysis as grounding a heater core is not feasable, is there even a problem if voltage to ground is less than . 300V???

 

[fox]

I'm not an expert but I think it is the Specific gravity that actually gets checked. You can use a dc volt meter, with + probe in the antifreeze and - to ground. Anything over . 4 or . 5 is bad and time to change it. It is the minerals in the water that cause the problems.

This has nothing to do with the freeze point.

 

[ata]

The older your coolant gets the higher the PH level in the coolant will be. The voltage goes up with the PH level. Changing your coolant every two years will save you from a lot of problems. You can get PH test strips from NAPA to check your PH level and they have an additive to lower the PH level. But electrolysis has not been a problem with the Dodge cooling systems or Cummins 5. 9 motors.

 

[Denis]

Coolant voltage

When a reading is taken from the coolant to ground what potential is actually being measured?? Is it a galvanic cell or a voltage "leak" between a hot lead and ground??

 

[MKinner]

make sure all those ground points on the vehicle are clean and tight. all those little ground straps and ground wires to the block and to the body or fame need to be tight and clean. if not, you will end up replacing the heater core over and over again.

 

[AHughes]

I bought test strips at a catapillar dealer in Central Oregon and also a bottle of galvanic conditioner that is supposed to remedy that problem. The conditioner was really reasonable about $3. 00 to $5. 00 as I recall? This is the stuff they use in the big rigs and is supposed to solve that problem.



98. 5 24 valve, Quad cab, Leer Canopy, DSS elect noise filter, AFE, Edge Comp, F1 injectors. 53 block and 90K miles no problems yet!! We live in hope??