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Products & Services - Cooling Systems

Coolant and Your Engine

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The cooling system of any vehicle is by far the most important component of the entire machine. It is a fact that between 60 and 80% of engine and transmission failures are caused by cooling system "malfunctions". This has been an enormous cost to equipment owners and $1.5 billion dollars annually is attributed to this failure across Australia.

This is an enormous amount of money considering the fact that it could be reduced dramatically (probably by 75%) by the installation of the correct cooling system products.

FluidMasters ongoing commitment is to offer the very best cooling system products that can be produced. The products FluidMasters market were developed by the School of Chemical Engineering at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (Curtin University) in the early 1980's by Dr Richie and his team developed a protectorate as well as a flushing product.

FluidMasters have been marketing these products to their client base since 1982 and in that time the two most common and most destructive problems confronting the operator as far as the cooling system is concerned are "Cavitation Erosion" (Pit holes that drill through the cylinder liners) and "Electrolysis" (the destruction of alloys, i.e. cylinder heads etc).These two major problems have become a thing of the past for our clients with not one instance being recorded in over 26 years.

The design of cooling systems today is as it was in Henry Ford's time, with very little changes. Water, a radiator and radiator hoses, fan belts, a radiator cap, and a water pump.

In engines today it is essential to protect complicated alloy heads and multi valve systems. An alloy head is subjected to "electrolysis", the disintegrating of alloy by electrical action of the engine. It is as though the engine is one big "battery". An alloy head can cost anywhere from $1000.00 to $6000.00.

Scary thought but a reality, and still they go unprotected as owners take the advice of the repairer or the garage owner who sells them the incorrect or inadequate product for their equipment's cooling systems. Remember, the retailer usually has little knowledge of the products he is selling.

So, why is it that FluidMasters can advise you on the correct products for this protection? Because, we manufacture our products to perform as required by the manufacturer. Sadly though, MANY of the OEM engines cooling system protection just DO NOT WORK, or fail before the stipulated time of protection is reached.

Diesel Engine manufacturers have increased engine operating temperatures to improve engine efficiency. This means proper cooling system maintenance is especially important. Overheating,overcooling, pitting, cavitation, erosion, cracked heads, piston seizures, and plugged radiators are classic cooling system failures.

Proper coolant selection and maintenance of the system is the owner's choice and the right coolant is vital to successful engine service life. In fact, coolant is just as important as the quality of your fuel or lubricating oil.

FluidMasters provides cooling system preventative maintenance products and services to help you avoid the down-time & costly effects of coolant-related engine / transmission failures.

Below are images of the results from lack of system maintenance (Images from the Caterpillar Coolant book):

	Corrosion on a water pump passage due to lack of supplemental coolant additive in the cooling system.
	Rust and scale deposits in absence of supplemental coolant additive caused temperature regulators to fail.
	Failure causing corrosion on a pre-combustion caused by lack of supplemental coolant additive in the cooling system.

Our Cooling System maintenance products include:

• Cooling System Conditioner
• Cooling System All Seasons Coolant
• Cooling System Flush (Please note that we do not provide onsite services anymore)

Tech info
Stray Current Corrosion Test Results

Purpose: to evaluate the corrosion effect of minor voltage in cooling fluid under controlled and measurable conditions. A leading brand coolant was chosen for the test as it has a known and proven level of performance without the presence of voltage.

Test method used and modifications made

The test method chosen for evaluation of the effects of stray current corrosion was ASTM D1384-87. This test method is recognized world wide as a basis for evaluating the corrosion potential of a cooling fluid on the six basic metals found within the cooling system. Two tests were run using identical coolant. This fluid was chosen as it is known to perform excellently under this test method. Test setup ONE was in accordance with standard ASTM D1384-87 requirements for testing coolants. Test setup TWO was modified to include voltage leakage commonly found in faulty automotive cooling systems. The test coupons are in two insulated bundles. (Copper, Solder, Brass) and (steel, Cast Iron, Cast Aluminium). Positive voltage was induced on the Solder Coupon and the Cast Iron coupon to ensure both sets received the same voltage flow. All test metal coupons were new and certified to conform with the material specification of ASTM D1384-87. Both tests were run over 336 hours at 900 c with aeration of 100 ml per Minute.

Results and Conclusion

The results were staggering; Test ONE with no voltage present was inline with all previous tests of the brand name coolant (Virtually no metal corrosion weight loss on any coupons). Test TWO with 1 volt present in the coolant suffered massive corrosion and weight loss on Solder, Cast Iron and Aluminium. Both Cast Iron and Cast Aluminuim were the most sensitive to stray current increasing in corrosion rate Thousand of percent over the standard the test with no voltage, Aluminium pitted badly, Solder's corrosion rate increased some 500% when voltage was present. Copper, Brass and Steel showed a minor corrosion rate increase in the presence of voltage but still fell well within the corrosion performance level required by ASTM D1384 We also noted a marked increase in the conductivity of the coolant at the end of the test that was subjected to Voltage, this indicates that the fluid is taking on corrosion by products and further enhancing the effect of voltage corrosion. Stray current is obviously a major corrosion problem where Cast Iron and Aluminuim are present regardless of coolant type.

Stray current tests

Top set of metal coupons are from Test 2. This Test had 1 volt induced into the cooling fluid. Note Severe corrosion and pitting on Aluminium & Cast iron. Bottom set of metal coupons are from Test 1. This test was performed using the same cooling fluid as test 2 minus the voltage. The results were near to perfect with no pitting or corrosion weight loss on any of the 6 metals. The initial results indicate that no matter what cooling fluid is used if voltage is present in the cooling system accelerated corrosion of Solder, Cast iron and Aluminium will occur. Also we noted that any cooling fluid including water will actually increase its conductivity as a result of voltage leak and continue to enhance the Stray Current corrosion loss on all metals. Voltage induced corrosion is a MAJOR PROBLEM and cannot be ignored any longer as it is causing motorists Millions of unnecessary dollars per year.

Great radiator repair rip-off?

This is the story told to the Ministry of Fair Trading only the twist is that some cooling system specialists do not believe that stray current is responsible and motorists are being ripped off/ Although "experts" appear divided on whether stray current causes corrosion, which then causes damage to radiators quickly, "stray current detectors" are widely used by the radiator repairers and relied upon to diagnose problems. Stray current detectors look similar to a voltage meter, with two probes connected by cables, which are inserted into the top of the radiator and into the radiator fluid. When switched on, the reading is either a green light or a red light depending on whether stray current is present or not according to its manufacture. One Perth cooling system engineer is convinced that stray current detectors are just "smoke and mirrors" and motorists are paying out for new radiators they may not have needed if their cooling systems had been flushed out correctly at the time of the first repair. Here's how he thinks it is happening:

• A motorists experiences a problem with their cooling system in their car
• they take it to a radiator repairer who inspects the cooling system and may find the radiator leaking and in need of replacement. This is subsequently done and the motorist drives away
• Weeks later, the new radiator develops a leak causing cooling system problems. Consequently the motorist takes the car back to the radiator repairer. In many cases, the radiator repairer produces a "stray current detector" to "test" for the presence of current from the car's electrical system travelling through the radiator.
• In numerous tests, repairers have been able to find that stray current was supposedly responsible for the corrosion in the new radiator, not faulty products or workmanship. The motorist is then billed for another radiator repair or replacement.

The cooling system engineer claims that not only are these detectors poor diagnosis tools, but cooling systems are not being flushed correctly when radiators are being replaced, causing chemical "cocktails" and reactions of different coolants which are the real culprits for new radiators leaking soon after installation.

A Ministry of Fair Trading investigation produced conflicting evidence from different industry experts as to the validity of the type of stray current detectors being used. A highly technical argument is being put up by the manufacturers, along with equally technical information being provided by the cooling system engineer, who insists motorists are being offered "snake oil" The Fair Trading Act provides penalties for false or misleading activities by traders and the continued claims of foul play has the Ministry of Fair Trading concerned.
The Ministry of Fair Trading has approached the RAC because it would like to hear from motorists who have experienced problems with a recently fitted radiator. Motor Vehicle Branch Manager, David Hillyard, said, "It is important that the Ministry gets some firsthand information about this matter, as motorists may be at risk of being disadvantaged.
The types of incidents the Ministry is interested in are motorists who have vehicles with fairly new radiators, developing problems within six months of being installed, and attributed to stray current, "Mr. Hillyard said.
The Ministry will be seeking comments and advice from motorists until Tuesday March 27 2001 Contact Fluidmasters by phone, fax and email

Can you afford not to use FluidMasters for your cooling system? Contact them now on 1300 302 949.

Manufactured to ISO 9001 Standards for distribution by FluidMasters Pty Ltd