I just popped the hood and noticed what looked to be some dried coolant on the aftercoolor of my SOS setup. I decided to undo the cap and noticed it was rather pressurized, and noticed that the cap looked like this:



I last drove it on Monday and have put on 2,500 miles or so since I installed the SC back in August 2010. Any cause for concern? Water pump still works and there is still some fluid in there as I can see it circulating. For what it's worth, I installed the kit in August 2010 and originally had Honda 50/50 in the AC. By the end of October 2010, I did my best to drain the AC, and then opted for DEI's Chill Charger with distilled water. I can't recall the exact ratio that I had, but I believe I obtained the recommended ratio of 1 oz of Chill Charger per quart of distilled water.

 

I'd look into the cooler to see if you can see the corrosion.

If the cap is of a different metal, it could be the sacrificial anode in the galvanic corrosion process. Dissimilar metals in a cooling system will cause one of them to corrode fast. For example, in a copper and aluminum system, the copper will corrode fast (at least that's what happened in a system I built).

If the inside of the AC looks good, I'd say it's probably fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

 

Thanks for the input Steven. I'll try to check out the inside of the AC this weekend.

Any other input?

 

I'd just make sure the fluid you are using has some corrosion inhibitors.

Even in FL, I opted to use at least SOME antifreeze because of this.

 

The plug is zinc plated steel. Corrosion like this is not normal. We have seen deposits and corrosion caused when coolant additives are added to the water. We recommend glycol based coolant (Honda premix coolant is what we use).

-- Chris

 

Thanks for chiming in Chris. I didn't think it would be normal.

The product that I used with distilled water is Chill Charger by DEI: http://www.designengineering.com/cat.../chill-charger. Per their product description, it's supposed to "protect core corrosion, electrolysis and harmful mineral build up".

What do you suggest that I do? Drain the system? Uses a different product? What if AC looks good?

 

Interesting, yeah this isn't normal Johnny, you have no miles or time on this unit. I have had much better results with either Redline Water wetter (which is what Comptech recommends) or the competing brand that I am using currently(I forget brand but is green in color)

I'm going to see you at the xxx burger Sunday for the multi forum convertible meet right? Details are in our forum.

 

I have a playoff football game tomorrow. I'll check out the details to see if there is a conflict or not.