ckuske Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Hi All, I'm getting closer to finally putting my cooling system back together. I bought a new 3 row aluminum radiator, and an aluminum water pump. Usually I'm a total purist on keeping things stock, but I thought these upgrades were worth it - I've read (hopefully the right material) that aluminum conducts heat better than brass, so the radiator will function better than the old style brass radiator. As far as the water pump, it just looked good! Now to my question - I stumbled across this Zinc anode to install into the radiator. It seems like it would be worthwhile to preserve the aluminum parts in the cooling system. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these? Are they worth the trouble? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I don't have any experience with that anode, but I don't believe it is necessary if you keep your coolant up to snuff. Modern coolants have corrosion inhibitors that prevent the galvanic corrosion that anode addresses. But the inhibitors are used up over time, so it is important to change the coolant periodically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lima Delta Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I've been using a similar aluminum rad for the last five years or so with no anode. I use Prestone 50/50 coolant with a bit of the concentrate to bump up the freeze protection a little. Radiator works great and I haven't noticed any corrosion issues. It's a much sturdier rad than the stock unit I replaced. Looks good too. I have read (but never seen) that the biggest and quickest trouble with corrosion in aluminum radiators occurs when the electrical system develops a fault where it grounds through the cooling system. The stray voltage can create an electrolytic reaction which will apparently ruin the radiator in short order. LD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I've been using a similar aluminum rad for the last five years or so with no anode. I use Prestone 50/50 coolant with a bit of the concentrate to bump up the freeze protection a little. Radiator works great and I haven't noticed any corrosion issues. It's a much sturdier rad than the stock unit I replaced. Looks good too. I have read (but never seen) that the biggest and quickest trouble with corrosion in aluminum radiators occurs when the electrical system develops a fault where it grounds through the cooling system. The stray voltage can create an electrolytic reaction which will apparently ruin the radiator in short order. LD Having a current go through the cooling system is an absolute no-no. And that is possible if the radiator support isn't properly grounded since the headlights and several other things ground to the radiator support in the original wiring scheme. So it is important to make sure that the radiator support is grounded, and a ground wire from the fender to the radiator support would be a big help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I never used the zinc anode before but if you do have more aluminum than OE I strongly suggest you upgrade your coolant. Conventional green is ok for limited aluminum but once you start adding more aluminum in the form of heads, intake manifold and radiator you are better off running at least global gold coolant or dexcool as they are better at protecting aluminum. I will be running global gold as it looks very similar to conventional green just considerably lighter and it wont hurt if there is a little conventional green left over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_S85 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I've been using a similar aluminum rad for the last five years or so with no anode. I use Prestone 50/50 coolant with a bit of the concentrate to bump up the freeze protection a little. Radiator works great and I haven't noticed any corrosion issues. It's a much sturdier rad than the stock unit I replaced. Looks good too. I have read (but never seen) that the biggest and quickest trouble with corrosion in aluminum radiators occurs when the electrical system develops a fault where it grounds through the cooling system. The stray voltage can create an electrolytic reaction which will apparently ruin the radiator in short order. LD You are talking about electrosis which isnt so much caused by bad grounds, GM trucks had this problem in the 80`s and why GM came out with Dexcool it was just the conventional green coolant with the design of the cooling system that was creating an electrical charge. No amount of grounding the radiator or core support in those trucks would stop the electrical charge build up in the coolant. You could take a 80s GM truck and pull the radiator cap off and stick the positive lead of a multimeter in the coolant and touch the negative lead to ground and get a voltage from the coolant itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I've got one of these in my cart for my next order. That way it doesn't plug up your drain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I never used the zinc anode before but if you do have more aluminum than OE I strongly suggest you upgrade your coolant. Conventional green is ok for limited aluminum but once you start adding more aluminum in the form of heads, intake manifold and radiator you are better off running at least global gold coolant or dexcool as they are better at protecting aluminum. I will be running global gold as it looks very similar to conventional green just considerably lighter and it wont hurt if there is a little conventional green left over. Looks like Champion doesn't recommend dexcool. https://shop.championcooling.com/articles/What-Coolant-Color-Do-I-Use We get asked quite often what coolant we recommend for our radiators, and while we don't necessarily recommend one brand over another, we do have a type of coolant that we discourage using. We have found that the 'red' coolants, such as Dex-Cool and Toyota's Long-Life coolant, can clog our radiators, as well as promote leaks. We recommend the traditional 'green/yellow' coolant from most name-brand manufacturers, and to mix that coolant with distilled water at a 50/50 ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Looks like Champion doesn't recommend dexcool. https://shop.championcooling.com/articles/What-Coolant-Color-Do-I-Use We get asked quite often what coolant we recommend for our radiators, and while we don't necessarily recommend one brand over another, we do have a type of coolant that we discourage using. We have found that the 'red' coolants, such as Dex-Cool and Toyota's Long-Life coolant, can clog our radiators, as well as promote leaks. We recommend the traditional 'green/yellow' coolant from most name-brand manufacturers, and to mix that coolant with distilled water at a 50/50 ratio. That's really important info to know, Scott. Thanks! So Dex-Cool is a no-no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 That's really important info to know, Scott. Thanks! So Dex-Cool is a no-no. Since I am in the process of doing a few flushes I figured it was a good time to re-research some of this Most of what I found was on forums but a lot of the Mustang and Corvette owners with aluminum radiators are using and recommending the green. Take it for what it's worth. Dewitt had this to say: The key to maximizing the life of an aluminum radiator is not so much the coolant brand as it is the water type. All coolants sold today will protect the aluminum radiators adequately however distilled water must be part of the package. I ordered the cap with anode today but without time passing, won't be much to report on regarding it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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