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Date:         Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:59:47 -0700
Reply-To:     Mike Miller <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Miller <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Subject:      Re: Coolant pipes replacement
Comments: To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
In-Reply-To:  <EE898973-756F-4B96-8171-6FE14E017950@uvic.ca>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Well I don't know about testing but since I've had to do things to the van EVERY year that involved losing a bunch of coolant and refilling and burping the damn thing I'd say most of us change the coolant more than once a year.

JMHO, YMMV, etc.

Mike

On 6/29/06 7:37 PM, "Alistair Bell" <albell@UVIC.CA> wrote:

> Of course the coolant is a conductor, but just as you can't light a > light bulb with one copper wire going to it, to cant have > electrolysis without a return path. > > > Now before David B. chimes in with stray current problems in marinas, > I understand their can be funny things going on with electrolytes, > dissimilar metals, relative sizes of dissimilar metals etc. Indeed > there are probably all kinds of cool electrolytic things going on in > the stock set up. > > > but in the car, one seemingly can isolate metal components "on the > return path". And yes, there are dissimilar metals in the stock > vanagon set up, metals of differing "nobility" and of differing > surface area (exposed to coolant). > > Think of the brass in radiators, think of the cast iron, brass in > sensors, aluminium in heads. I'd say that refreshing the coolant once > a year would do much to quench runaway corrosion as any worrying > about "isolated" copper in the system. i could be proved wrong of > course :) > > Anyhoo, how many of us actually test our coolant , not for glycol > conc, but for pH (which is an indication of corrosion inhibitor > levels), and how many of us DO change and flush coolant every year? > > Alistair > > > > > > On 29-Jun-06, at 6:54 PM, Jake de Villiers wrote: > > Well, don't argue with me, I'm not a professor! The guy who laid it > out on the Subaruvanagon list made a convincing case for the coolant > being an electrical conduit. Electrons are pulled from the aluminium > by the copper through the coolant. > > I'm pretty sure the low coolant level sensor uses the water as a > conductor. > > On 6/29/06, Alistair Bell <albell@uvic.ca > wrote: > Jake, > > in circuits and electrolysis one needs a return path. > > isolate dissimilar metals with non conductor, its not a new idea. > > Alistair > >


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