[SHOtimes] heater core and helms manual

[George Fourchy]

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 16:22:57 -0500, Leigh Smith wrote:

>There are both copper and aluminum cores available from Ford, my stock one
>was aluminum and it should give you less electrochemical corrosion issues.
>The stock system has almost no copper for a reason. The aluminum parts
>(including the heads, but the core is much thinner) act as a sacrificial
>anode compared to the iron or copper. At least the copper core won't
>corrode, but adding copper to the system will increase the electrochemical
>corrosion potential against the aluminum cylinder heads.  If you go copper,
>just keep the antifreeze fresh.Using distilled water also helps lower this
>issue.

FYI...went through this very thoroughly in the late '90s.  Make sure the heater core
is grounded to the engine or chassis.  My '91 wagon's heater core is (was) not, and
3 replacements were each devoured by electrolysis in just a few weeks, at about the
60k mile point.  One aluminum one lasted 8 days.  These were all under warranty,
thank goodness.  I wouldn't use aluminum.  Your logic above makes sense, but as long
as the core is grounded to the engine, there is no electrolysis at all, and
copper/brass (at least the one I got) is more strongly built.  We used an
aftermarket NAPA core the last time, with Ford warrantying it for me for a year or
12k miles.  Now, 60k later, it's fine.

George