ExplorerTom
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Not using premixed coolant. I mix my own 50/50 with distilled water.
I looked into the possibility of electrolysis killing my radiators. I think I ruled out structural failures. And it can’t be just horrible luck.
Electrolysis isn’t a super common failure mode, but it does happen. Read about one particular poor soul who was replacing heater cores at a much faster rate than I’ve been going through radiators.
The good news is that you can test for it. I followed this procedure:
http://ve-labs.net/electrolysis-101/how-to-test
.3V is the bogey. I was at .4V. Bad, but not SUPER bad.
I decided that a good thing to do would be to install the Big 3 Upgrade. This upgrades the battery cables that go to the starter solenoid, the alternator and ground with MUCH larger cables- 0 AWG in most cases, up from 4 AWG.
I could have sourced my own wires and connectors but I decided to buy a kit from HD Circuitry LLC:
https://m.facebook.com/hdcircuitry/
He makes a kit specifically for 10th gen F-150s. He owns one himself.
The kit comes with nice instructions that were easy to follow. I also got to buy a new tool: a hydrualic wire crimping tool. Part of the procress is to repurpose existing cables for something else bu cutting off the ends and reterminating them with ring terminals. I only have hand crimpers and they didn’t even open large enough. And to get a really good crimp, my basic hand crimpers aren’t enough. The hydraulic crimpers are a jack that smashes the wires and connector.
My negative cable from the battery to the frame had seen better days. I was supposed to reuse this cable but instead I replaced it.
All said and done:
It’s a little messy and I need to clean up my aux wiring (especially since I have a fun new crimper!).
Redoing the electrolysis test after the Big 3, it dropped me down to .2V. Better, but not great.
But oddly enough, my radiator isn’t currently leaking. Weird.
I looked into the possibility of electrolysis killing my radiators. I think I ruled out structural failures. And it can’t be just horrible luck.
Electrolysis isn’t a super common failure mode, but it does happen. Read about one particular poor soul who was replacing heater cores at a much faster rate than I’ve been going through radiators.
The good news is that you can test for it. I followed this procedure:
http://ve-labs.net/electrolysis-101/how-to-test
.3V is the bogey. I was at .4V. Bad, but not SUPER bad.
I decided that a good thing to do would be to install the Big 3 Upgrade. This upgrades the battery cables that go to the starter solenoid, the alternator and ground with MUCH larger cables- 0 AWG in most cases, up from 4 AWG.
I could have sourced my own wires and connectors but I decided to buy a kit from HD Circuitry LLC:
https://m.facebook.com/hdcircuitry/
He makes a kit specifically for 10th gen F-150s. He owns one himself.
The kit comes with nice instructions that were easy to follow. I also got to buy a new tool: a hydrualic wire crimping tool. Part of the procress is to repurpose existing cables for something else bu cutting off the ends and reterminating them with ring terminals. I only have hand crimpers and they didn’t even open large enough. And to get a really good crimp, my basic hand crimpers aren’t enough. The hydraulic crimpers are a jack that smashes the wires and connector.
My negative cable from the battery to the frame had seen better days. I was supposed to reuse this cable but instead I replaced it.
All said and done:
It’s a little messy and I need to clean up my aux wiring (especially since I have a fun new crimper!).
Redoing the electrolysis test after the Big 3, it dropped me down to .2V. Better, but not great.
But oddly enough, my radiator isn’t currently leaking. Weird.