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Heater valve replacement question

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John_Mc

John_Mc

Jedi Knight
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I finally got around to replacing my leaking heater valve with a new one from TRF. When I removed the old one the nipple and coupler screwed out with it and they were on the old valve pretty tight. So rather that fight with the old nipple and coupler I just ran over to home depot and got replacement parts. It seems pretty straight forward, but my question is this: is there any harm from a metallurgic standpoint of having a brass coupler on the steel pipe and steel (I assume) valve? Also, I didn't drain my radiator prior to replacement. Any probs with that?
 
Theoretically, dissimilar metal corrosion is always a concern. But, from a practical point of view, I'd just put some teflon pipe dope/paste on the threads and forget about it. You should be OK.
I don't see any problem with not draining the radiator, as long as the coolant didn't slop out all over the place, or you weren't interested in cleaning out the system.

Tom
 
The original TR3 heater valve was brass, and they don't seem to have any particular probems with dissimilar metal corrosion. Perhaps the aluminum thermostat housing acts as a sacrificial anode ?
 
I asked my mechanical engineer at work about a year ago, and she said that the dissimilar metals are only a problem in a salt water environment. There shouldn't be any problems in a car's heating system for years to come.

Scott
 
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