I may be wrong, but didn't DMCH try selling these new ones and they too were having failures splitting at the seam?
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Any recommendation for a non plastic coolant tank?
Mine had an UGLY steel one when I got the car. I replaced it with a stock plastic one. Been holding fine for a little over a year and probably close to 10,000km. Hell, I still have an original rad with plastic end tanks. I like to live dangerously.
What material has the most desirable properties? Aluminum can cool quicker than stainless but the coolant itself is corrosive to aluminum. I removed some crust around the lip where the cap gasket seats from my own. I don't think a stainless tank would have had this issue.
I like the look of plastic because it's oem. These metal tanks remind me of hot rods or go cart gas-tanks. It is good to know there is still a new plastic option out there but I'm not going back.
Most modern coolants are OK for aluminum, right? - unless they are not renewed/replaced regularly, which perhaps led to the "crust"? Aged-out coolant can corrode any of the aluminum bits like the coolant tubes to-fm the radiator, the heater core and most of the engine, setting aside wall thickness for the moment.
This means SS or aluminum are OK for that tank, no?
I still have my plastic header bottle....hanging on my peg board in my garage. I went stainless many years ago.
I never bought coolant that didn't say "safe in aluminum engines" or something similar. These past few years, I now use Zerek Dex-Cool which doesn't say it on the bottle but states it on the Valvoline website that it protects "ALL" cooling system metals including aluminum. I use it in my truck too (which also has an aluminum block), I really like that product but is more expensive than traditional auto-store coolants.
This is true. They were actually splitting at the neck, where the cap goes. The bottle itself was fine, it was the material used for the filler neck that was splitting. Shame to, I bought one, and it lasted 60 miles. I was bummed. Now I'm stuck with a metal one. I'm one of those that can't stand the look of anything other than the original plastic....
Dave, if you want a plastic one, let me know. I still have the one that came with my car when I put the SS one in. It wasn't split or leaking, I just replaced it along the "cheap insurance" justification lines. Shipping within Canada and no customs might lower your costs.
I talked to Ed and he said the first batch was bad but this is now a new run with a 1 yr warranty.