[quote author=Rich link=board=2;threadid=14475;start=msg136921#msg136921 date=1081668665]
Doug,
All references to electrolytic corrosion were focused on the rapid destruction of aluminum radiators and heater cores, and in the worse cases eventually aluminum heads. All of the reports were from firms involved in the replacement radiator business. It is a real world problem. I considered it a possibility when I first starting investigating my problem but discounted the likelihood when I could not find any evidence in my truck such as high stray voltage, obvious corrosion products, or obvious corrosion in the radiator.
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I think this is a very valid point, but, just to argue another angle, with a thing like electrolysis, I think that when we read references that rapid crappings out of components was caused by electrolysis, what we are really reading is that someone had some super high power stereo or some super high power accessory connected without proper grounding. In these cases, electrolysis is easy to diagnose with definity because the test that tells the voltage in the cooling system is going to read ridiculous voltages. IOW, someone sees rapid radiator failure or heater core failure with swelling and screwed up solder and super high voltage and then that someone states that electolysis was the culprit. Well thats correct but that someone should specify that extreme electrolysis was the culprit.
IOW, the existence of any voltage indicates the presence of electrolysis. Period. What we are worrying about here is not extreme electrolysis (hopefully) but using the presence of voltage to help to determine the life left in the coolant. I would think of it as another analysis that will help you maintain your vehicle. It would be wonderfully interesting to graph out a voltage vs. time to failure chart to correlate the amount of voltage with the time to failure. I would imagine such charts exist for many different metals? If nothing else, marine zinc charts exist and would probably help at least understand the phenomenon. Anyway, if we are reading somewhere around .3volts, then that amount may mean that we are attacking more aggressively the metals, specificly the aluminum in the system, so, that may mean its time to change the coolant. A reading of around .3volts may also mean that the headgasket is having a hard time fighting the forces of electrolytic attack and that over time this will accelerate failure faster than a reading of around .006volts which is what I read on my coolant. Just thoughts, thought out loud.