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Date:         Mon, 18 Jan 1999 09:54:55 -0500
Reply-To:     "Carroll A. Smith" <cas@DIGITAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Carroll A. Smith" <cas@DIGITAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: corrosion & anodes (Short!)
Comments: To: Michael Townsend <townsend@RTP.ERICSSON.SE>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Probably unnecessary but funny none the less!

Deionized or distilled water might be a good investment. Tap water can meet local health codes and still vary widely in ionic contamination. Has the water been treated with a water softener? If so it may be contaminated by chlorides which can wreak havoc with aluminum. Are you in a coastal community? Your water may be a tiny bit brackish, ok for drinking but not good for your engine. If your water comes from mountain snow melts you are probably in good shape.

The answer to Yau-Man is yes, drinking water does vary place to place and it might in some instances contribute to internal corrosion.

Caution to those who would use their hard earned chemical knowledge to predict corrosion processes: metallic corrosion is a subtle business in which kinetics has a large part. It may take years for a process to become noticeable which is why much of the anecdotal stories can be misleading. It doesn't really matter whether we are "right" or not. What matters is when the engine quits.

When in doubt, use deionized or distilled water and factory approved additives/antifreeze. Forget sacrificial anodes in the overflow reservoir unless it makes you feel good. (If it does by all means do so. I am a firm believer in the virtues of placebos! <G>)

cas

Michael Townsend wrote:

> Hello, > > Can anyone give us the part number of the official German Water that we are > supposed to use? Does it come from the river in front of the Wolfsburg > castle? Is anyone organizing a group buy? :-/ > > Just when you thought you learned everything. > > Michael Townsend > townsend@rtp.ericsson.se > > -----Original Message----- > From: YauMan Chan <YAUMAN@CCHEM.BERKELEY.EDU> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Date: Monday, January 18, 1999 12:52 AM > Subject: Re: corrosion & anodes (Short!) > > Carroll, > > Thank you for the clarification. > > I must admit that I know not what I speak of when it comes to marine > electrochemistry..and it is certainly very different than my encounters in > the lab version! I defer to your wisdom and experience on that. > > Now, VW maintains that the kind of corrosions we observe in our Vanagon (and > other Al VW engines) is not a problem in Europe. They blame it on our water > or at least hint that it may be because of our water. Is there any validity > to this? Can the ionic composition of their water be so different than > ours? > > Yau-Man Chan > 87 GL


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