Technical Thoughts On Minimizing Electrolysis

Unfortunately I found some pretty gnarly damage to the cylinder heads on my flathead yesterday and it filled my oil pan with about two gallons of coolant. Fortunately the oil and water were separated and no water was pumped through the engine as I found it before running it. I'm going to replace the heads but want to make sure I cut down on the possibility of it happening again. This time around I will have a sacrificial anode in both heads, fill it with GM dex cool and test for any voltage passing through the coolant after its back together and running. The engine and trans are grounded directly to the battery through the tail housing on the trans. Am I missing anything? Any suggestions would be welcome since offy heads aren't exactly cheap.


RLFFRL

 

Ron Davis Radiators instructions say to ground the radiator.

 

Ground everything and change the coolant at least every 3 years. Ethylene glycol (traditional antifreeze) turns more acidic as it ages, Dexcool becomes a salt as it ages. Neither situation is good for metal. You can get some litmus paper to test the ph. Try to keep it at 8. I am not sure how your seals will hold up to the orange stuff.

 

I had a manifold water neck rot out because of electrolysis last year. I just purchased sacrificial anode radiator caps for both my cars from Summit Racing. Hope they work!

 

There are radiator caps that are made with sacrificial anodes.

The anode will disintegrate over time, which is normal as it is absorbing the electrolysis instead of the aluminum components in the cooling system. HRP

 

Why would you use dexcool?


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Dex cool was recommended to me on account that GM was using it for their engines with aluminum and iron parts. Grounding the radiator also sounds like a good idea too. From what I have dug up, as long as the voltage measured with one probe in the coolant and the other on the negative battery terminal is less than .1v, it's not enough activity to do damage.


RLFFRL

 

How about running Evans coolant? How's electrolysis with it? There's no water in it.

 

Subscribed. I just put Edlebrock heads on mine. Can you just use a piece of zinc for an anode?

I bought a new '96 Chevy with dex cool. Ate the intake gaskets at 72K miles on a 70K warranty. $1,300 bill, they wouldn't cover it.

 

Zinc anodes are what we used on the fishing boat, they kept electrolysis from eating the aluminum parts on the drive train.

 

Many people out there blame dexcool for eating gaskets. I personally don't like the stuff


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I had a radiator shop many years, anyone who recommends dexcool is not your friend........Good old prestone ,and a good water soluable water pump lube, gunk makes a good one. As for grounding the rad, I would not. Just make sure your engine and chassis , and body grounds are in place.

 

Fel-Pro has a gasket that's supposed to take care of the problem. Chilton's flat rate is under 6 hours to replace the gaskets.

But we're sorta drifting off topic. Evans coolant says no electrolysis. As near as I can figure out it's the same stuff they run in big rigs. Propylene Glycol maybe? It's been a long time since I looked.

 

This is what you want to use. I mix it 50-50 with distilled water

 

I was just gonna say diesel trucks run an additive to stop electrolysis, I can't see why it wouldn't work in a gas engine but you'd want to check and make sure it's compatible with aluminum.

 

These are all excellent suggestions and worth looking into. I've never had any issues with this flathead until now, and it's been driven hard! Once I get it sorted out I will post some results back on here, as it could benefit someone else dealing with this same problem. Here's a little background on my car too; I started piecing it together a bit before the summer of 2003 and it was built with all dirt cheap or free parts. Had it on the road by 2007 or maybe a little earlier, I can't really remember. It was rusty, primered, and all around not much to look at. People were digging on it hard though and it felt pretty rad because I just put it together how I could manage with my skills at the time. Definitely a big departure of the mini truck scene that's for sure. In December 2010 I blew it all apart to make it look a bit better and it snow balled into a full gloss paint job, not even close to resembling its first incarnation. I hope to have it back in action by this summer.


RLFFRL

 

I am not sure how your seals will hold up to the orange stuff.

 

Don't use copper head gaskets with aluminum heads. That is a battery. It will eat all the rust out of the block at the expence of the heads. I run a corrosion inhibiter from NAPA.

 

Use an old analogue (moving coil) meter rather than a digital one, you will get more consistent readings when trying to determine your voltage reading. I tried with a digital meter and was getting inconsistent readings. Changed to an analogue meter, and all good

There is some good info on this site http://www.sancarlosradiator.com/VoltageDrop/testing_for_electrolysis.htm

As this website explains, there are 2 types of electrolysis, one caused by electrical systems (poor earthing) and the other by chemical reactions.

I have heard good things about Inter-Ject electrolysis arrestor, but have not used it myself.

A good test is to tie a piece of cotton to some aluminium foil and leave it in your radiator coolant overnight, and see if it has started to be eaten away or not. Maybe leave it in for a few days, but check on it regularly. If the ali foil is eaten away, it is only a matter of time before your heads are attacked (if you don't have sacrificial anodes that is)

Good luck

 

Tractors use it too. Try a New Holland dealer. They usually have it.

 

I see this Water Wetter stuff "Satisfies ASTM D2570 and ASTM D1384 corrosion tests for glycol-based antifreezes". I have a bottle of it I got free somewhere, maybe I'll try that with straight water since I don't need coolant.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10

Next question, straight water or distilled?

 

Lots of big rig people use and recommend a product called pencool, used to be called nalcool. This stuff gets your PH right.

blowby, you need coolant, what part of water lubricates your waterpump bearings?

 

They screw into the timing cover and are lubricated by engine oil.

 

I bought a new 96 s10 and drove it 140k mikes over 12 years and only replaced the radiator cap. Had the same dex cool in it the whole time and never had any trouble with corrosion or gaskets.

 

Mine started having a lifter tick. One day it wouldn't go away, loud. Took it to the Chevy dealer. They said the coolant had eaten the intake gasket and coolant ran down into a lifter and stuck it. Could have been BS, I never saw any of the parts, just paid the friggin' bill. At the time I poked around on the internet, there was actually a petition going around over the issue.

 

Both stories make sense. Seems the truck failure rate wasn't 100%. Maybe the 3.4's always failed. But I've seen some trucks leak bad and some don't.


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Sorry for OT post. Put some normal coolant in it. If you're still worried, the rad cap with the anode won't hurt. Then just service every couple years


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Some years back this was a real problem in diesels .Manufacturers found a lot of the problem was the water they and owners where using now we always use distilled water and test regularly with coolant ph test strips..

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Fleetguard DC-4, coolant additive. Use their test strips and add the DC-4 accordingly. Cat has an additive and I think it is cheaper. Cat has different kinds to match up with the type of antifreeze is used. I use it in my motors with the aluminum heads.

I have also put the anode in a radiator hose but can not remember which one I put it in so I have gone with the coolant additive. I check it with the test strips one a year. The test strips from Cat have a longer shelf life.

Neal

 

There are many possible causes, but only one type of electrolysis. Electrons move from one metal to another, eating the "higher" (most anodic) metal.

Zinc is about the most anodic with aluminum really close.

Steel is between lead and aluminum, which is why lead battery terminals eat steel battery bolts and steel bolts eat up aluminum parts.

A little dirt and water is all that's required to get it going.