The case for sacrificial anodes in your cooling system

[tubman]

Last August, I started a thread about sacrificial anodes in the cooling system : https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...ighlight=anode. I went ahead with it, and this summer, when checking the coolant level in my '51, I removed the radiator cap and was quite surprised at the amount of deterioration it had undergone in a little less that one year. The attached pictures show the anode as removed, a new chunk of magnesium I replaced the initial one with and a shot of the deteriorated anode after I wire-brushed the crud off of it. The cooling system on this engine was scrupulously cleaned when it was installed 5 years ago. After a manual clean and flush, I ran an Evaporust process 3 times to make sure I had everything out of it.

I think the attached pictures show the value of using one of these, especially if you are running aluminum heads like I am. I am sure glad that much material was disolved from the anode, not my reworked Edmunds heads. It looks like anode replacement will become a annual task for me. The magnesium chunks were obtained from RV water heater anodes available on Amazon. I will also be flushing and replacing the anti-freeze mixture soon.