Here's one that didn't turn up in a search. Some history is required, so bear with me for a bit.

I'm progressively getting the car back together, and have to go a little at a time because of my mods. My serpentine setup, for instance, is mated with the Vintage Air AC kit that includes a Sanden compressor. The Sanden needs adapters to mount up to the early 90s F-body serpentine bracket, and had to be mounted so I could get the measurements for the right belt. I'm running Vortec heads and didn't like the massive glob of components needed to fit the temp sensor into a smaller hole in the head than what the original heads had, so I moved the temp sensor to the intake, which interferes with the stock water neck. This drove me to a swivel type thermostat housing. It needs to be in place to measure for and get an upper radiator hose that clears the serpentine belt and lines up with the position of the new housing. This is where it got interesting.

One more trip back in time. A couple of years ago, before I decided to make all these changes, I put the newly rebuilt motor back in the car with a stock thermostat housing and stock V belt arrangement. Shortly after doing so, I pulled the thermostat housing off for reasons I don't recall, and found my thermostat in little, teeny, shredded-paper like pieces in the intake. It simply disintegrated. I cleaned out the mess, put a new one in and put the water neck back on.

To the present. I pulled the stock water neck off again last night to attach my new pieces and there was the same thing as I'd found a couple years ago. The thermostat had again disintegrated into little, tiny pieces.

This engine was run for about 20 minutes those years back when the first thermostat went away. This second thermostat has never had a liquid pass over it. I'm intrigued and baffled. Anyone got an idea of why these thermostats are disintegrating? I thought the first time it might be an issue of the type of coolant, but this second one has never been wet.

 

Got any pics ? Some sort of metal reaction ? Dissimilar metals....aluminum, brass, pot metal ?

 

No pics, sorry. An Edelbrock aluminum intake with a Mr Gasket thermostat. Probably a combo in use in thousands of cars.

 

Thermostats are usually made from stainless steel and brass pieces. Neither of which just disintegrate. Did it maybe just come apart somehow? Were the pieces still intact?

 

Yes, but yours is the only one thats turned into confetti.

 

Had to be some kind of really odd galvanic action where the thermostat became the 'sacrificial' piece. You indicated that the last one had no water touching it, so it couldn't be some acidic coolant that ate it up. I'm assuming that you had a brass-bodied thermostat...they don't sell cheapo aluminum-bodied stats in Florida, do they? A possible solution would be to look for a stainless steel stat (if they make them?).

P.S. Do you have a hi-powered ground wire hooked up near that water inlet housing? If so, run it to the frame, instead and see if that fixes it.

 

No pieces. It was a pile of powder-like material that used to be a thermostat.

I'm thinking like you, galvanic action of some sort, but why only the thermostat? There are other components touching the intake. The distributor runs through it, the carb attaches to it, heater hose connections. I see no effects on any of these. I have no grounds in contact with the intake at all. I have the ground from the block to the frame on the passenger side. I'll look closer, but I'm pretty sure that's it. Granted the thermostat would be most susceptible because it's least durable, but having disappeared, it would seem to me that a galvanic reaction would start seeking another sacrificial anode and I'd see evidence on something else.

 

Got me?! I was just theorizing....

 

Just a thought......

Did you use an radiator flush and forget to dump it and refill the system with an antifreeze & water mixture?

Wild, but possible......

 

Nope. Fresh rebuild on the motor, installed dry, filled with fluids, run to set timing, etc., and then I started making the mods. The initial run was with the first thermostat that went away. After replacing it, no coolant added and no runs on the engine, yet the second one disintegrated like the first.

 

is it possible re-builder used an acid to clean or dip block and forgot to rinse off........
Try draining radiator flush system with massive amounts of water, add new coolant and hope it is the answer to your problem.....

Keep us informed......

Good Luck

 

Never heard anything like this any concerns for the radiator disenergrating?

 

I've never seen a tstat the was made of anything but stainless, brass or a combo in over 40 years.
I've taken apart some severely corroded systems and the tstat was always the least affected item. Without coolant almost nothing should happen.
The swivel housing is much more sacrificial anyway. Even with seawater cooled engines the cast iron will corrode thru before the tstat.
If the system were full of strong acid, many other parts would go before the tstat.

Really need some pics of this.

 

 

maybe no thermo was actually put in there and you are seeing something else ?

 

Was something used that is high in alkaline? That is what used to be used to clean blocks and anything cast or forged iron. It was called caustic soda, it would dissolve aluminum or brass. i would recommend flushing system as it will cause eventual problems with aluminum as well. Good luck keep us posted.Pics of the brass would be cool.

 

I'm wondering if he is spoofing us.

 

This is the best I've got for photos. I cleaned the majority of the residue out. If I back the camera off to improve resolution, you can't see the residue. If I want the residue visible, I have to get up close and get the lousy photos you see here. The powdery stuff on my fingertips and what remains in the intake is exactly what I found, just a larger amount.

I know they were there, as I put them in.

I'm inclined to think this is my only course of action at this point. Hope it was something left over from the cleaning done when it was rebuilt that is causing a reaction and flush the heck out of the system to get it all out.

I value the knowledge and helpfulness of the people on this forum. I can assure you, I have better things to do than waste my time and the time of others with immature "spoofs."

 

send it to myth busters....

 

I don't suppose you did a PH test did you?