Radiator issues.

Mmekataa kutuma fombe. Haisuru.
I have a few questions about motor vehicle cooling systems and radiators:

  1. Water jackets are made of aluminium. If that’s the case, why do they get corroded by tap water, considering that aluminium is a highly unreactive metal? It’s true that tap water may be slightly acidic.
  2. If the acidity in tap water may corrode water jackets, could adding some soap in the radiator reduce this effect? What is the pH of commercial coolants?
  3. Can distilled water act as perfectly as coolants?
  4. Does running the engine at relatively low temperature generally prolong the life of water jackets?
    Automotive engineers leteni maoni yenu hapa.

Aluminium is NOT a stable metal(read unreactive). As a matter of fact, Aluminium will react with Oxygen when exposed to air. The difference between it and Iron/Steel, is that unlike Ferrous Oxide(rust) which is weak and crumbles away exposing more metal to rust, Alu Oxide forms a protective layer that seals the rest of the metal from oxidation. That’s why Aluminium will “tarnish” but not “rust”.

Wazi

Nice information there. If it forms a protective layer, why does it continue to get corroded?

number 3, yes. it is best for everything.

i can’t answer regarding corrosion, but what exactly do you mean? is your radiator corroding or is it the rubber that connects to it?

Distilled water works in tropical areas. It may still damage the pump if the original coolant was intended to be a pump lubricant.

The water jackets

What buggles me is how the coolant temperature stays at the centre of the gauge without going even a little bit down or up…the cooling system must be really efficient…

It’s not the coolant temperature per se but the whole engine.

But the temperature sensor transmits the temperature of the coolant to the dash and ecu

ukibuy new radiator lazima uiweke chini ya bed tafuta ndume chunisha yeye kales. haitawahi haribika