Last week I was at the local Saturday night "cruise-night/car show", and about half way thru the evening, the rodder next to me pointed out a big greenish puddle under the Canary, and said "Hey--Is that out of your car?". I got down and crawled around---nothing dripping---nope, couldn't be mine---"must have been there when I parked"!!! I drove home and parked, never thought any more about it. On Monday I backed out of the garage to drive up to the bank, and "Hey---Whats that trail of leaked "something" following me out the driveway????" I stopped. opened the hood---and sure enough, I've got a leak, right at the joint between the waterneck and the intake manifold.---------So--------I pull the waterneck, and sure enough---there's the problem---When I built the car 3 years ago, I managed to screw up the o-ring installation, and part of the o-ring was not seated in the groove in the base of the water neck!!!---funny though, that it never leaked before this. Anyhoo---off to the parts store to buy a new o-ring (which is a whole saga in itself). Installed the new o-ring, bolted everything back together, and filled it up with a water/anti-freeze mix, and---WHAT THE HELL---WHATS THAT DRIPPING SOUND????? Take another look, and its still leaking in the same place. THIS CAN'T BE!!! Out come the wrenches, take it all apart again---what the HECK is going on??? I hold the waterneck up to the light and look at the inside of it---Holy Nuts---I can see daylight thru the side of the friggin thing!!! The upshot of the story is that it wasn't my funky o-ring installation. The side has rotted out of my pretty chrome water neck--after only 3 years---running a water/prestone mix, (which is supposed to have lubricants and rust inhibitors in it). That ****s WITH BIG LIPS!!! So---I call my mail order hot-rod supplier in Milton Ontario,---Yes, we can sell you a new one, but we'll have to order it in from the States---Canary is still down, new part should be here Monday.
It's not just you, those chrome O ring style necks are ****. I use a regular gasket instead of an O ring, because the O ring groove turns to **** so fast. That won't stop it from rotting out the neck, of course.. Good luck, -Abone.
Nope, there was nothing wrong with the o-ring style seal---it never did leak, even though I had screwed up the o-ring when I installed it 3 years ago. Look at the picture showing the inside of the neck, where I am holding it in my hand. That is corrosion, plain and simple. The neck is too heavy to be aluminum, and yet a magnet has only a very small (almost non-existant) attraction to it. I'm pretty sure the damn thing is made of cast "pot metal" some kind of zinc/lead/tin compiliation, then chrome plated. It was cheap to start with, only cost $20 or so. I think this was truly a case of "getting what I paid for". <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
Had one of those necks begin to weep. When I went to remove the hose, half of it broke off with it. The pot metal just crumbled in my hand.
Maybe the government should make aftermarket guy's list what it's made of before you buy it like food labels. But your right about one thing if it lasts a long time you paid alot for it and that's just the way it is. Rags
Maybe I shouldn't be so damned cheap!!! I bought expensive, good quality parts for everything else on the car, and haven't had any problems other than this %$#@ waterpump neck.
I had an Autometer fuel pressure gauge go bad so I went down and bought a new one. The old one was made of metal inside the new one looked just the same on the out side but was cheap plastic on the inside. The generator wire on my 56 Buick shorted out and burned the Delco regulator up so I bought an aftermarket "reproduction", after the second one stuck in charge mode overcharging the battery till it sprayed acid on $300 worth of brand new chrome spotting it up I took one apart and looked inside. They only had one cheap contact where the 50's Delco original had two so I found a good used Delco and cleaned it up and never had charging trouble again. I bought a "rebuilt" va***e wiper motor for the Buick that ran the wipers half ***ed, then I tried the old motor off a parts car I bought and the wipers worked great. It seems impossable to buy anything that isn't junk any more?
Thats not very good quality materials being used. Their foundry work on that part should never have been sent out. It was a flawed cast and had some pitting that allowed the turbulance of the radiator flow just do what water does in a running brook. It eats up the rock in its' path and wears down stuff. 180* water with antifreeze is a good mixture for a slow errosion on messed up parts. Sorry to see your part suffered from lack of quality from the aftermarket Niponees shop. Thats why I still pay the extra cash for MADE in USA parts. Maximo
If the housing is made of zinc it will sacrifice itself. Boats use zinc annodes to limit deterioration on castings. They are used on outdrives, prop shafts, etc. You can add some zinc to the engine block drain ports, check them in a year and see what they look like. The corrosion maybe from dis-similar metals being together. Look at it this way, the cheap overseas **** protected your engine.
I have replaced two of those cheap necks on two different rods. unfortunately one was in a Wendys parking lot on a '34 Ford truck!. Now i pay the extra for a supposedly "good" one!
I isn't just poor Chinese quality. Twenty years ago I had the same leak from an aftermarket chrome neck. After doing the re-gasketing dance (no O-rings then) a couple of times I put a straight edge on the mounting flange. Yep - warped as hell.
I have given up on chromed thermostat housings and stick with good old cast iron like the OEM pieces. Clean 'em, file the casting flash and seams, paint 'em with spray epoxy primer, especially inside, shoot some spray engine color on 'em and they last forever. IF you must have the chromey ones, clean and paint the inside just like I do the iron ones and they'll last a lot longer.
I buy the aluminum ones polished or the br*** ones chromed , never ever had a leak or deteriation problem
Hey Brian, how often were you changing your coolant and what brand were you using? Some stuff goes acidic sooner than others.... But your water neck still should NOT rot out on ya. If the Milton shop sold it to you, and they're just going to sell you the same stuff, I'd definitely look around for a better solution. At least you could throw a stock one on with a gasket and close the hood for now Flatman
. I would test your rad for electrolysis, coolant (+) to ground (-) should be less than 0.10v, and make sure the rad has has its own grounds. ELECTROLYSIS: What it is; How to Test for it; and Ways to Prevent it http://www.carolinarodshop.com/Store/Griffin/radiator_electrolysis.htm .........Using the same method as with the copper/br*** radiator-one end of the volt meter attached to the engine block, the other end dipped in the coolant solution. Avoid touching the radiator core (metal) with the volt meter probe. The old cast iron block/br*** radiator point of no return was .3 volts. The aluminum radiator/mixed block limits are .15 volts........... For other good tech articles Google... Radiator Electrolysis
Same exact thing just happened to my pop on his 47 chevy... EXACTLY!! The early warning would have been the "made in tiawan" letters stamped in it...
exactly. it's (not so) common knowledge that corrosion happens in your cooling system. like a couple others have mentioned, a zinc anode acts as your sacrificial metal, no anode, the electrolysis will attack the next easiest part, your cheap zinc(potmetal) housing. it just saved your aftermarket intake manifold, or even worse, your aluminum radiator. if you replace that housing with a better one of steel, the next part to rot will be a more expensive one of you don't add a zinc anode.
I'm setting here looking at Hortons current catalogue.The Billet Specialties 45 degree aluminum water neck is $94.00---The Street and Performance aluminum water necks are $160.00. I think I paid $21.00 for the water neck that I used. (the one that rotted apart). Fortunately, I found the problem at home---no harm done, except to my penny pinching dignity. BUT---Ya can see where this would have had the potential to cost big big if I was on a trip and cooked a motor as a result of my cheaping out.
Brand name---SEMA number???? You gotta be kidding---but down in one corner, real small, was a picture of a guy with kinda slanty eyes, eating a bowl of rice---
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