1989 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer 5.0L, Automatic Trans, Manual Transfer Case, Manual locking hubs, 3" li
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36 Posts
So, while this didn't happen in my Bronco, it may very well be relevant for those of you modifying yours with electric fans and aluminum radiators and higher voltage alternators.
Put an aluminum radiator and a larger aluminum intercooler w/dual fans in my 08 Shelby. Wired everything as directed for the new fans, topped everything off and hit the roads. All was well for about 8 months. Then I developed a leak. A very small leak. It took a month of daily driving to drain the reservoir. I hoped it was a hose and put off the project because the lower hose on a shelby is a PITA. WELL, aroubd month 9-10, it started draining in a week, and then it would drain overnight. I realized I wasn't suffering a hose leak but rather a radiator leak. Parked her, pulled the front bumper and grill and yoinked out the radiator. As I pulled the bumper I noted that the crimp on one of my grounding wires had come undone. I thought nothing of it, told myself I'd fix it when I got the radiator back from the shop.
Went to a very highly recommended radiator shop in the area. They had a few days and when they called, they apologized and said it was unrepairable. Im thinking oh great, there goes $850 for a new one. He proceeded to tell me that due to the location of the leaks and the number of them (where the tubes meet the tank) and the residue he found in the radiator when they flushed it, I had suffered an electrical casualty ... on my radiator. Highly suspect would be a bad groubd. Essentially something was allowing voltage into either the coolant or the radiator itself, causing an electrolytic reaction to take place that eats away at aluminum. It did so at the weakest location on the radiator. Thus my leaks.
He told me an easy test is a multimeter with negative clamped to the battery, positive clamped to a short piece of copper pipe dropped in the top of the radiator reservoir. If you see anything over 0.3V, bad juju. If you see over 0.3V, much like a short, you can start pulling fuses until you see the voltage drop off and identify where its coming from. Another failsafe is to go on ahead and run a grounding wire from your radiator to chassis and/or battery negative.
I've got a new radiator installed and am running my grounding wires before getting her filled and off the jack stands.
Hopefully this $850 lesson will help yall not run into a similar issue on your Broncos.
Put an aluminum radiator and a larger aluminum intercooler w/dual fans in my 08 Shelby. Wired everything as directed for the new fans, topped everything off and hit the roads. All was well for about 8 months. Then I developed a leak. A very small leak. It took a month of daily driving to drain the reservoir. I hoped it was a hose and put off the project because the lower hose on a shelby is a PITA. WELL, aroubd month 9-10, it started draining in a week, and then it would drain overnight. I realized I wasn't suffering a hose leak but rather a radiator leak. Parked her, pulled the front bumper and grill and yoinked out the radiator. As I pulled the bumper I noted that the crimp on one of my grounding wires had come undone. I thought nothing of it, told myself I'd fix it when I got the radiator back from the shop.
Went to a very highly recommended radiator shop in the area. They had a few days and when they called, they apologized and said it was unrepairable. Im thinking oh great, there goes $850 for a new one. He proceeded to tell me that due to the location of the leaks and the number of them (where the tubes meet the tank) and the residue he found in the radiator when they flushed it, I had suffered an electrical casualty ... on my radiator. Highly suspect would be a bad groubd. Essentially something was allowing voltage into either the coolant or the radiator itself, causing an electrolytic reaction to take place that eats away at aluminum. It did so at the weakest location on the radiator. Thus my leaks.
He told me an easy test is a multimeter with negative clamped to the battery, positive clamped to a short piece of copper pipe dropped in the top of the radiator reservoir. If you see anything over 0.3V, bad juju. If you see over 0.3V, much like a short, you can start pulling fuses until you see the voltage drop off and identify where its coming from. Another failsafe is to go on ahead and run a grounding wire from your radiator to chassis and/or battery negative.
I've got a new radiator installed and am running my grounding wires before getting her filled and off the jack stands.
Hopefully this $850 lesson will help yall not run into a similar issue on your Broncos.
