|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
03-09-2020, 10:53 PM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: sw minnesota
Posts: 4,541
|
whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
some history first, new brassworks radiator, flushed when received. i have no running water in my shop, so i collect rain/snow in buckets, should be pure water. block was scraped, vacuumed, pres tested, found casting flaw and had it spray welded, which in the heating process (i assume) loosened up more crud, vacuumed, blew, scraped some more, should be the cleanest block in the western hemisphere. new motor was filled with rain water last year for first fire up, driven about 30 miles up and down my country road this fall, life ends in summer for me...work, now i am removing the radiator to drill a hole in the water pump for hot water heat, and i find this. i expected rust brown water, but this stuff seems more like a chemical reaction, or electrolysis, ...or somthin! the tubing is aluminum i got from the neighbors junk pile, he's a farmer, could be some old chemical residue? stuff probably was out side for decades before i got it. polished with mothers, antiseize applied to the pipes under the rubber. any ideas from the sharp guys here? i will clean it all up, and this should be the final time so it will get antifreeze next. just wonder what the heck. its late, i am going to bed, will check back in the morning...not 5 months from now!
|
03-09-2020, 10:56 PM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: MN
Posts: 7,053
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Not a sharp guy but. Something in the rain I guess... Have some build up. Distilled was what I was taught.
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|
03-09-2020, 11:02 PM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: East Shore of LAKE HOUSTON
Posts: 11,106
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Man, I hope that's not some of that stuff that made the DOW drop 5,000 points this past week. DD
|
03-09-2020, 11:03 PM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: sw minnesota
Posts: 4,541
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
maybe the water, something doesnt like the aluminum
|
03-09-2020, 11:06 PM | #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: MN
Posts: 7,053
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Coop, I don't want to go there but you might want to look at opac lowering oil prices today. Never been a bad thing over all for us, for lower oil prices here. What comes down, goes up. Go do some burnouts!
China closing production matters also. It's a bump in the road, not a panic. |
03-09-2020, 11:26 PM | #6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LaGrande Oregon
Posts: 865
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
|
03-09-2020, 11:52 PM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: MN
Posts: 7,053
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
In five yrs we will all be here talking fords. Distilled water, from your dehumidifier will work better.
|
03-10-2020, 12:30 AM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 5,946
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Doesn't MN have acid rain? That's what we hear on the west coast.
|
03-10-2020, 04:08 AM | #9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Posts: 3,045
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Looks like aluminum wasn´t to happy about something...
If everything else is iron on the engine...i would clean and go steel tubing. Even if the water has some impurities anti freeze should be able to handle it. Fast check is to measure freezing point...if it starts to change the additives in the antifreeze is used up and time to change. |
03-10-2020, 07:37 AM | #10 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,171
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
The aluminum is acting as a sacrificial anode. The white jstuff is aluminum hydroxide. Jack E/NJ
|
03-10-2020, 07:43 AM | #11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Powell, TN
Posts: 2,503
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Some of the peddlers sell a sacrificial anode you can put in your rad that should help stop that stuff. I have seen the same thing happen with alum. heads on a engine.
|
03-10-2020, 07:48 AM | #12 |
Member Emeritus
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Wichita KS
Posts: 16,132
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
I didn't see anything about antifreeze or water conditioner. Pure water in a system with dissimilar metals is going to react.
Last edited by JSeery; 03-10-2020 at 07:56 AM. |
03-10-2020, 08:57 AM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Napa,California
Posts: 6,005
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Looks like electrolysis to me caused by the aluminum.
|
03-10-2020, 10:07 AM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Shelton, WA
Posts: 3,777
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Where is your ground cable from the battery attached? Also there should be a ground from the body (usually the firewall) to the engine , where is that attached to the engine?
If your tap water is full of calcium or some other impurity, buy some deionized water from the store. As others have said, rethink the rainwater. |
03-10-2020, 10:10 AM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Solihull, England.
Posts: 8,732
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
I don't know if I'm missing something but I'm perfectly happy to use tap water and common anti-freeze/summer coolant like all the other millions of everyday motorists out there.
Mart. |
03-10-2020, 10:27 AM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: sw minnesota
Posts: 4,541
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
come on guys, your going to tell me our beautiful "land of ten thousand lakes" has dirty rain water? just kidding, could be. i've seen acid rain on cars in a junk yard out east with holes in the roofs and hoods...we dont have that, thank goodness. the water was only supposed to be in for first fire up, then switch to antifreeze, but sadly that has been a year and not a few weeks as planned. i am aware of problems with aluminum heads, but it never occurred to me i would have an issue with my aluminum tubes. so, either i replace them with some other metal, or what? get a sacrificial anode to take the hit? it will get antifreeze, and it will have proper ground straps.
|
03-10-2020, 10:37 AM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bonita, CA
Posts: 1,374
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
Maybe that block wasn't as clean as you thought it was.
|
03-10-2020, 11:20 AM | #18 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Coral Springs FL
Posts: 10,872
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
This is a wild stab in the dark but could it be the result of mixing two different mixtures of antifreeze? Also, wouldn't rain water and melted snow contain lots of minerals.
|
03-10-2020, 11:41 AM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 1,579
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
|
03-10-2020, 11:45 AM | #20 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: sw minnesota
Posts: 4,541
|
Re: whats this fuzz growing in my new radiator?
its never had any antifreeze in it yet. minnesota has lots of iron in the well water, people have trouble with that. in my case, i always thought my water from the sky would be better than water from the ground, but what do i know. i wash my hands in it every day, i suppose i'll get the virus now
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|