OT, Cheap Tricks

[Shannen Durphey]

In fleet maintenance it's very common to test coolant for acidity.  This is
essentially what you're doing with the voltmeter, checking the acidity of the
coolant by testing for galvanic action between the dissimilar metals the coolant's
in contact with.

In the fleet garages the common test is to use a litmus paper which changes color
in the presence of acid.  After dipping it in the coolant, the paper color is
matched to a color chart.  If excessive acidity is indicated, additives are poured
into the coolant to bring it back up to satisfactory condition.  New and recycled
coolant should have a ph higher than 12, IIRC.

What's this mean?  Parts stores that service fleets can generally get the litmus
paper "test kits", and often give them out for free.  And a bottle of additive will
go a long way in a homeowner's garage.

One brand of additive that I specifically remember using is Nalcool.  I know that
less concentrated versions are sold at regular parts stores and sometimes at Wally
World.
Shannen



Guy Hammer wrote:
> 
> Found in the June, 2001 Four Wheeler magazine in the Techline column by
> Willie Worthy - a way to check your antifreeze with a digital voltmeter.
> 
> Sure, one of those floating ball 'martini' testers will clue you in to
> the level of freezing protection of your coolant, but it doesn't tell
> you anything about the condition of the additive package that helps
> prevent corrosion in the cooling system. (those of us with all-aluminum
> engines tend to care about such things... :) Here's what you do; take
> your digital voltmeter's positive probe and touch it to the radiator
> (in a paintless spot - maybe the sealing surface of the filler neck?)
> and dip the negative probe into the coolant. A reading of .2 volts or
> less indicates that all is well. A reading of .5 volts indicates that
> you should start thinking about changing the coolant. A reading of .7
> volts or more indicates that you should change the coolant NOW!
> --
> Guy Hammer, guyh at aracnet.com
> http://www.aracnet.com/~guyh
> --
>   4:00pm  up 39 days, 16:58,  5 users,  load average: 1.00, 1.00, 0.96
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from diy_efi, send "unsubscribe diy_efi" (without the quotes)
> in the body of a message (not the subject) to majordomo at lists.diy-efi.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from diy_efi, send "unsubscribe diy_efi" (without the quotes)
in the body of a message (not the subject) to majordomo at lists.diy-efi.org