Radiator stray currents

[GTP 85]

search function isnt workin for me rite now. So anyway

To those in the know...

I have never known much about radiators and the like, but now that I have a nice alloy tank fancy one in my race car i want to take really good care of it so it lasts.

The question... I always thought the radiator had to be insulated from the body work of the car? Someone told me the other day that if you have a full alloy core & tank radiator, you need to earth it to the body or the battery negative?

Can someone confirm this for me?

[Brett_jjj]

If you earth the radiator to the body,the currents can then flow through the radiator to the engine and cause electrolysis.This is why the radiator is usually insulated from the body,even the transmission cooling lines have rubber hoses included in the line to stop the radiator from being earthed through the trans cooler lines..Id fully insulate it and make sure you use the correct coolant/water ratio and change it regularly..

[axemurderer101]

the coolant can act like an electrolyte and the two dissimilar metals eg alloy radiator and iron block will act like a battery so if the radiator is earthed current will flow

[RX25SE]

Test stray current with a miltimeter set to millivolts.

Earth radiator to body.

Note drop in stray current.


(the better the condition of ther coolant, the lower the stray current will be)