Heads Up On Heater Valves

[kyreb1862]

I installed a new heater valve on my B last year and it started leaking about 10 months later so today I installed a new one and found something very unusual. The base of the heater valve around the hole had started to disolve. The disolved aluminum could literally be wiped out with a cloth. From the looks of the damage, another 6 moths would have seen total failure of the valve. Has any one else seen this? I have only used name brand 50/50 mix coolant.

Regards John

 

[WA1KWA]

Phosphate free?

Colin

 

[kyreb1862]

The coolant I used was already mixed 50/50 and didn't require the addition of any water. Actually the coolant I used was Prestone. The Green kind.

 

[PAUL161]

GM used to have pellets that helped control this. I bought a new Eldorado in 1985 and GM told me to use them in the radiator and they helped control the chemical reaction of aluminum parts in the cooling system. We had the car for quite a while and never had a problem. Those who didn't use the pellets did.