John Gibbons wrote:

A more common problem caused by the acidity is the pitting of the cylinder
liners. I can't remember which side pits more but one side does and it is a
result of the direction of flow of the coolant through the block. You wake
up one day and find your coolant is low and your oil is high. The cure is to
use a coolant additive which balances the ph and change your coolant every
two years. It is also a good time to change out your hoses too or go to the
silicone ones which should easily last ten years. You definately do want the
best hoses and fittings you can get as a catastrophic hose failure is just
that, with regular replacement of your coolant the acidity should not be
much of an issue.

John

I ran into an engineer at OSH that works for Cummins I think.
He did not have a card on him but hopefully he will join
up as I gave him my card.

He told me the life limiting factor on a diesel engine is the cooling
system. When the antifreeze gets old it turns acidic.
When that happens black low cost automotive hose becomes part of a

battery

because of the conductive carbon in it. You can actually measure
the voltage with a digital voltmeter by putting one probe
on the hose and the other on the hose barb. The black hose
loses carbon to the mixture. This causes a reduction in strength
of the hose. The answer is silicone rubber hose and changing your
coolant once a year. This could be a factor in the two crashes
we have had due to cooling hose joint failures. In both cases the
people had been flying their rotary powered airplanes for several

years.

Paul Lamar

 
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