Electrolysis Eating Heater Cores

[Arrowshooter]

My brother has a 95 C1500 with a 5.7. In the last 4 months he has gone through 3 heater cores. The shop doing the work says that it must be electrolysis causing the aluminum to corrode so fast. In other words the water is being electrified and causing a chemical reaction that hates aluminum. He put some kind of additive in the water and said he will not replace it again. I told my brother to bypass the core until we find the problem. Has anyone had this happen and how did they fix it?

[acemech128]

yes i had one i replaced about three heater cores in, i completely flushed entire system and refilled with new coolant, never came back, good luck

[2000izusu]

try grounding the heater core if nothing else works. that is from a ford tsb. as we all know ford had major heater core problems on the early 90's. also try to get a copper heater core. also stick the positve end of a digital volt meter in the antifreeze (via radiator cap) and the negative on the neg side of the battery. if you read anything over .5volts dc you got a problem and you need a major coolant flush. mike

p.s. if the truck is a real beater you can go the getto route and bypass the core and then go get a 12 volt heater that plugs into a 12 volt outlet. every auto parts store sells them.

[mxmikie]

run a ground cable from the engine to the frame

[taillight]

And a # 12 wire ground from the engine to the cab.