The Shaggy Chassis

[blo0d]

Originally Posted by shaggyjake

The car was having a major issue with electrolysis. So bad that it destroyed my koyorad and i had to get a replacement. i tried adding grounds, pulling fuses chasing down the stray voltage. Disconnected the battery and the coolant still had .4V. I read this type of electrolysis can be caused by leftover material after machining processes. Bought some additives from Inter-Ject, did a major flush, added a zinc-anode. So far no issues, so we'll see how it holds up.

More details on this? I have never heard of this problem affecting a build before.

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by blo0d

More details on this? I have never heard of this problem affecting a build before.

Not sure how familiar you are with electrolysis in general, but basically there is voltage flowing through the coolant, which can, and does, corrode vehicle components, in the case aluminum. After hours and hours of troubleshooting trying to locate where the voltage was coming from (most articles suggest that electrolysis is caused by poor grounds), i tried disconnecting the battery, effectively removing the source, and found there was still voltage in the coolant. How was this possible with the battery disconnected!?!? After some more research, I found that initally there may have been a small voltage current through the coolant, that was then amplified by the leftover metals left from the machining process (probably a dirty hot tank at the machine shop), and even with the battery disconnected, the voltage remains. To combat this, I did an extreme 7 day flush using a product specifically designed to remove electrolysis, added a sacrificial zinc annode (commonly found on marine equipment) which has a stronger attraction for current than aluminum, and added a ground strap with a 1 way diode that, theoretically, will allow the ground loop to be completed with current returning to the coolant.

here's some more info on it.

http://www.sancarlosradiator.com/electrolysis.htm

Originally Posted by Kviper52

Thank you for your service, and cool car

Thanks for the kind words!