8Tech
03-01-2010, 06:16 PM
Whilst doing some modifications and additions to my cooling systems, I needed to remove and relocate my Pentosin cooler and got quite a surprise when I removed it.
This is how it looked before I started, didnt look too bad at all.........
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0654.jpg
A little bubbly on the paint surface I thought. Then I removed it.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0655.jpg
and found that the paint was detached from the cooler and was almost a shell around it. This was due to the powdery corrosion on the surface of the aluminium radiator, lifting off the paint. The scaly corrosion was severe.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0656.jpg
and the gaps between the vanes were possibly 75% blocked with this flaking paint. So I effectively had a blockage from passing air through to the AC and cooling system radiators equivelent to 75% of the area of the Pentosin radiator, and a Pentosin radiator wearing a nice paint crusted jacket with an insulating air gap between them. It couldn't have been much worse!
Would I be needing a new radiator? To find out, I needed to clean off all the old paint and corrosion and see what was left, so in the shot blaster it went and using fine silica sand, and a glove finger sealing the hose inlet/outlet, we got a nice clean radiator.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0686.jpg
Close inspection showed that all the corrosion was surface and a pressure test confirmed integrity.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0687.jpg
To finish off, sealing the now bare alloy, I used a matt black heat dispersant paint, thick enough to cover but not too thick that it would either insulate or form its own hard shell again.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0688.jpg
So there we go, hopefully another 14 years service from that radiator.
8Tech.
This is how it looked before I started, didnt look too bad at all.........
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0654.jpg
A little bubbly on the paint surface I thought. Then I removed it.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0655.jpg
and found that the paint was detached from the cooler and was almost a shell around it. This was due to the powdery corrosion on the surface of the aluminium radiator, lifting off the paint. The scaly corrosion was severe.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0656.jpg
and the gaps between the vanes were possibly 75% blocked with this flaking paint. So I effectively had a blockage from passing air through to the AC and cooling system radiators equivelent to 75% of the area of the Pentosin radiator, and a Pentosin radiator wearing a nice paint crusted jacket with an insulating air gap between them. It couldn't have been much worse!
Would I be needing a new radiator? To find out, I needed to clean off all the old paint and corrosion and see what was left, so in the shot blaster it went and using fine silica sand, and a glove finger sealing the hose inlet/outlet, we got a nice clean radiator.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0686.jpg
Close inspection showed that all the corrosion was surface and a pressure test confirmed integrity.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0687.jpg
To finish off, sealing the now bare alloy, I used a matt black heat dispersant paint, thick enough to cover but not too thick that it would either insulate or form its own hard shell again.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk287/big8bmw/IMG_0688.jpg
So there we go, hopefully another 14 years service from that radiator.
8Tech.