Petersubaru Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 is there an exact way to test the amount of voltage running thru the coolant to determine if electrolysis is slowly taking place either because of the wrong coolant in the system or just being to old and needs to come out....or does it even matter if there is a high amount of current running thru the coolant, so long as the coolant is changed a regular basis...some web sites say the car needs to be warmed up or at least running, others say rev the car up to 2000rpm before the test can be made...some others would say nothing, but just remove the rad cap and test... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBrat84 Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 I've honestly never even heard of electrical current flowing through your engine coolant. It seems to me like that would indicate something is wrong with your wiring perhaps. When the car is cold take the radiator cap off.. start the car.. stick the positive lead of your multimeter (set to 20v) in the coolant.. stick the negative lead on any good ground or neg terminal of the battery. I can't imagine electrolysis of your coolant being something that would happen.. it seems like if it did you would have hydrogen/oxygen pockets in your engine that could become a bit of dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petersubaru Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 I've honestly never even heard of electrical current flowing through your engine coolant. It seems to me like that would indicate something is wrong with your wiring perhaps. When the car is cold take the radiator cap off.. start the car.. stick the positive lead of your multimeter (set to 20v) in the coolant.. stick the negative lead on any good ground or neg terminal of the battery. I can't imagine electrolysis of your coolant being something that would happen.. it seems like if it did you would have hydrogen/oxygen pockets in your engine that could become a bit of dangerous. ..for your reading.. http://www.alldatadiy.com/techtips/Subaru/20030203d.html and http://www.sancarlosradiator.com/VoltageDrop/education.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xman Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Ensure good grounds and proper coolant. I think this is pretty far down on my list of things to worry about, but I am glad someone is aware of it. In all my years of being around Subaru's this is the first time I have heard mention of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petersubaru Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 Ensure good grounds and proper coolant. I think this is pretty far down on my list of things to worry about, but I am glad someone is aware of it. In all my years of being around Subaru's this is the first time I have heard mention of it. ..my personal experience is of late..had to replace the water pump on my vw diesel since the pump was making a noise and leaking thru the weep hole...I was surprised to find out that the "houseing" attached to the pump was nearly eaten thru and I don't mean a small pin hole..also, interestingly the pump itself was still looking OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 I wonder if it has anything to do with coolant leaks in second gen ej25 head gaskets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Been a long time since I had to think about this kind of thing but here goes: The radiator is made from copper that is lead lined. The engine block and cooling routes are aluminium. Lead is fairly inert and more importantly far more inert than aluminium. Therefore any corrosion that would occur would be to the engine block and not the radiator. Also because the % of aluminium block to lead in the radiator is far greater the % of corrosion to the block will be nominal over many years. Therefore I think this can be considered not to be an isssue to worry about. If the block is steel then the steel will corrode. Again this will have nominal affect to the block but the corrosion deposits could potentially block the radiator or cooling routes. No doubt someone will be able to either confirm or correct me on this. Cheers Dirk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Just read the links that Petersubaru posted. I think they are more usful than my comments. Deffinately good reading. A good ground wire is for sure a sound suggestion. Also I failed to mention that aluminium alloys frequently contain amounts of zinc and magnesium which are quite reactive elements. Typically zinc and magnesium sacrificial anodes are used on boats to reduce corrosion of vulnerable parts (engine, proper and shaft etc) Cheers Dirk. P.S. sorry about the bad spelling. Its Saturday morning here and the coffee has yet to kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis_Toboggan Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Dirk said it! Just mount some extra grounds on each cylinder head so the electrons can pull from the frame to the spark plug ground, instead of through the block to wherever the other grounds are (been a while since I've been under the hood of my roo). Path of least resistance vato! Anyways, that's one of the reasons why dex-cool was introduced. You could always flush your engine completely and then run a dex mixture, always a good idea for aluminum engines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.