Crystals in waterways

for those with Series MM sidevalve cars produced between September 1948 and February 1953
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seriesmm_1
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Crystals in waterways

Post by seriesmm_1 »

Hi everybody,happy new year to you all,
Ok took the top hose off my USHM3 engine yesterday as I needed to do some remedial work on the water system & found what I believe are crystals in the water take off point on the head.Worringly there was quite a build up in the casting,does anybody know the cause of this & a possible remedy.The engine has been rebuilt in the last 2 years so it isnt a build up over a long term.Unfortunately I didnt take a photo,i had scraped it out but today I found little white spots inside the casting which looks as tho they are starting to build up again !!!
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BrianR

JOWETTJAVELIN
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by JOWETTJAVELIN »

This seems to be a natural process, as it has happened to me with parts taken off the car too. Some anti-freeze solutions can cause it. It does seem to affect cars that have been standing unused. I guess you could try using distilled water and anti-freeze in the system.
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by Banned User »

It’s connected to the problem that we have with swimming pool water in this country. The various water companies add and remove various minerals etc from our tap water. Then water will try to ‘balance’ itself by pulling minerals from what’s left. It can manifest itself as deposits on pools walls or damage to pumps and heaters. We deal with it in pools by hardening/softening water and increasing/decreasing alkalinity and keeping the ph at 7.4. The safest thing for a car owner is to use premixed coolant, unless you have a way of analysing your house water, which changes during the year just to confuse things.
seriesmm_1
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by seriesmm_1 »

Thanks fellas going to use de-ionised water & see how that goes
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BrianR

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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by Banned User »

Distilled is better than deionised for cooling systems.
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mobylette
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by mobylette »

What about rainwater?
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DAVIDMCCULLOUGH
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by DAVIDMCCULLOUGH »

I had this build up in my Austin 10 in the aluminum waterways (almost completely blocking it) when there was no antifreeze in it, doesnt seem to happen with the old blue type anti freeze in it.


Too many Minors so little time.....
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by Banned User »

mobylette wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:25 pm What about rainwater?
There's a lot of contaminants in rainwater, I wouldn't use it. How much is 5 litres of distilled at Halford, £4?
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Re: Crystals in waterways

Post by irmscher »

Don't forget use good antifreeze
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