Why are heater cores so short lived?

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oscarloco
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Why are heater cores so short lived?

Post by oscarloco »

I have noticed in this forum that a lot of us has had at least one heater core die. Why are they so short lived if they are such a pain in the *** to replace? In my ZX, the whole dashboard has to come out before you can get to it and that's not funny at all. I would't even think of touching those temperamental electrics if it is not absolutely necesary. Does anybody got a clue?
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Post by James.UK »

The coolant (water) becomes very acidic after a while, then the acid eats away at the fine ally honeycombe of your matrix.. So change the coolant at least every 2 years, sooner is better. and have a very high mix of anti freeze.. Mine is about 75% glycol - 25% water..
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Post by Stuart McB »

I see what oscar is on about. My first car (Austin maxi) never needed a new heater matrix and it was 6 years old when I got hold of it. I've never needed to replace any heater matrix on any of my Citroens but a few friends have on their ZX's and they are still relativley new. What I mean is my one mate has a K reg (whats that baout 93) Volcane and it's needing a possible third matrix !!!. They must be made out of cigarette papers or the anti freeze concentration is not enough about a third 33% the rest water.
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Post by NiSk »

75% glycol will do you no good at all. The optimum for both corrosion inhibition and frost protection is 50% concentrated glycol-based anti-freeze and 50% DEOINIZED water. It's the quality of the water that makes the difference. DON'T use tap water!
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Post by alan s »

I posted this a while back. It's information I got from a radiator and cooling system specialist company and explains a lot of things about where & why these matrix go. They even have a list of cars with common faults after repairs; it seems one Nissan Skyline has an earth between the subframe and bosy that is usually not replaced when the car has any panel work done and as a result will cause massive corrosion as a result and so it goes on.
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... IC_ID=8275
Another thing we discovered recently was that on our series one BX16V, when the air/con was being fitted, the matrix was taken out for inspection and cleaning and lo & behold, one end just fell off it. Internally, it was like new even though this car has a somewhat questionable service history, however on closer inspection we found the end was held on there by mountings and that each individual tube had an "O" ring to seal it off. I wondered (and asked in a posting) how many of these things get replaced due to leaky "O" rings rather than actual corrosion based on this being an ex UK car and its age and condition.
It seems that once the coolant gets old and diluted it becomes conductive and sets off static electricity to create the corrosion but also the problems we often discuss with lights and various electrical gremlins may have a bigger effect on the cooling system than on the cooling.
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Post by oscarloco »

Could it be that it's just another "feature" that makes older Citroens so cherished by their owners?
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Post by Wookey »

Should I really be using de-ionized water to make up my coolant? I've never heard that before. I do tend to use rainwater which has a lot less salts in it than tap water (especially round here, where it is super-hard).
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Post by Mosser »

your corrosion inhibitors will last a lot longer if you do use deionised water, its all about stabilising the ph of the water apparently and the inhibitors can only do so muuch bufore they get used up, tap water uses some of the inhibitor up whereas deionised water doesn't
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Post by NiSk »

The rainwater you get falling over most of Europe (UK included) is diluted suphuric acid!
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Post by Kowalski »

Our rainwater isn't as acidic as Europe's because the prevailing winds (gulf stream) take our pollution and dump it on Northern Europe. I'm sure Ireland does the same thing to us but they're less industrialised.
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Post by Stuart McB »

Not as much as America does. 50% of all polution from one Country / place?
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Post by NiSk »

When I lived in England (>1977), my father used to keep tropical fish. He used to collect rainwater for them, but always tested the pH before collecting. If there particularly heavy rainfall, he would wait 30 mins before starting to collect the water in water butts. His pH testing showed that the rain at the start of a deluge was particularly acidic. I don't suppose its got any better over the years!
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Post by Kowalski »

Sulphur dioxide emissions are the biggest cause of acid rain, ULSD and scrubbing plants at power stations have reduced these emissions greatly.
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Post by JohnD »

I´ve always changed the coolant 50%/50% using dehumidifier water every two years on all my vehicles. My 1991 BXTZD which is still being run by a forum member has (as far as I know)never suffered from any coolant related problems.
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Post by James.UK »

Purely out of interest, isn't there a more robust matrix in any other make or model that would fit? Flexi pipes and new fixing brackets may be needed. But surely one somewhere could be moded to fit?
I did cheack up on the Evans coolant they use in the USA, and whilst it is available here now, at £7 a litre I dont think its a viable option for most people.... [V]
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