Underbody flush

[BlazerLT]

Kestas,

The module does work. Toyota is installing them at the factory and the dealer level. I have a toyota Corolla that is three years old in the driveway here that will prove that it works. But it isn't my car and I personally like a coat of oil over anything electronic that will need to be replaced every so often.

Also, up here in the northern climates, you get the truck oiled in the spring after an initial underbody wash to stop the salt eating throughout the hot summer where heat will enhance and strengthen the corrosion process.

I know for a fact seeing I took the rust spray guys advice and changed over to the spring and man what a difference.

 

[Kestas]

Blazer, three years doesn't prove anything. Here up north new cars still look pretty darn good after three years. Get back to me after seven more years of winter field testing.

I've studied corrosion protection. The only way you can use electriclty to protect metal from corrosion is if you use a sacrificial (anodic) metal in electrical contact with the base metal, and both are in the same electrolyte (salt solution). Electrical potential applied between the two metals markedly enhances this effect.

This is the way it's set up in the marine industry. They use a number of magnesium anodes on the hull and apply an electrical potential. The magnesium wastes away while protecting the hull and has to be eventually replaced. Even then, the sacrificial anode only protects to a certain distance... the stronger the potential, the further away from the anode the metal is protected.

There are three things that don't make sense with this device you mentioned.

1. How can it work without sacrificial metal that needs to be replenished?
2. How can it work on a parked care without draining the battery?
3. How can it protect the metal farther than a few inches away from the immediate area where it's hooked up?

I don't know what Toyota is doing at the factory and at the dealer, but if it really worked, this would be HUGE news... and I'm sure I would have read about it in all the professional journals, since this inexpensive device would be the answer to a problem that is costing America billions of dollars in damage to our cars, infrastructure, and industrial capital. The Dept. of Navy spends 10% of its budget devoted to corrosion-related issues. If what you're saying is true, for one, we can go back from expensive stainless steel exhaust systems to cheap steel systems and at the same time put muffler shops out of business. It would be the answer to a host of problems I battle when I'm working on my cars.

I suppose you've done a controlled study with a decent population of vehicles - some oiled spring only, some oiled fall only - to attest the difference of which season is best to oil? This really flies in the face of reason.

 

[BlazerLT]

Kestas,

I am not going to get into a debate about testing conditions, here up north of you in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada the conditions our cars see is terrible with ample amounts of salt used every year. The conditions will easily surpass anything seen there.

The car shows no sign of rust anywhere. Not in the engine compartment, not anywhere under the car. This car is never washed, never oiled.

The module draws an extremely small amount of power from the battery and isn't enough to drain it unless it sits for months and months.

The module has to be replaced every so often, I forgot the time frame. The block corrodes instead of the car body and this technology has been used for years with underground iron piping. I used to install them on iron intake pipe at water treatment plants.

This technology has been around for a long time and people have been using it with great results up here.

I too was a skeptic until I saw the difference between a 2002 corolla with and without one. You could see the difference in the same conditions.

Saying that no rust will form in 3 years up here is a joke. I have seen 5 year old cars with rust coming through the panels.

 

[TOMBUCK]

here is a sure to get rid of the salt. Park in a creek that is about 3 feet deep for a couple of days.

 

[BlazerLT]

On purpose?

 

[TOMBUCK]

Just being a W.A.. You would have plenty more problems after letting it sit in 3 feet of water for a couple of days.

The only way I know is to do a Z-BART treatment when it is brand new, this coats most everything and somethings you don't want coated. It works good for A FEW years, but least everything wears out or off. It's hard to beat Mother Nature and the Elements.

 

[BlazerLT]

That is why rust treatments should be applied yearly.

 

[sifan]

It may sound crazy. When there is heavy rain, I will drive my car on highway to let the rain wash away any salt on my car.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: BlazerLT
Kestas,

The module does work. Toyota is installing them at the factory and the dealer level. I have a toyota Corolla that is three years old in the driveway here that will prove that it works.

Blazer, how is your Corolla holding up? Still rustfree?

 

[91344George]

Originally Posted By: sifan
It may sound crazy. When there is heavy rain, I will drive my car on highway to let the rain wash away any salt on my car.



This is plain common sense. Like others mentioned when you drive through heavy rains on the road it mimics the same exact spray conditions when you drive through the slush from the brine residue on the roads the longer you drive throught that heavy rain at higher speeds the better the rinsing of the undercarriage.

I live in many different locations during the year even though my home base is CA, many of those areas have roads loaded with salt and liquid brine.

You still should use high pressure car wash soap and water to rinse off properly though. I always apply the regular old self service car wash soap first to the undercarriage, let soak for about five minutes or so and than a thorough rinse with warm clean water.

 

[Kestas]

Be aware that these self-serve car washes recycle the soap solution. This accumulates salt and means that you're essentially cleaning the car with salt water.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: wiswind
OK, this is not an oil tip.....

To wash the salt from the underside of my car, I use a simple metal lawn spinkler. Not the big oscillating kind, but one of those small metal ones that sprays up and out in a circle.

I got fancy, and put a cheap ON/OFF valve, like one of the ones that often comes on those watering wands,...then to that, I put a short length of hose. Onto that, I put the lawn sprinkler. I slide the sprinkler under the vehicle, and turn the water ON using the little valve. Then I move sprinkler around under the vehicle....washing the underside.

I use a normal spray nozzel to wash out the wheel wells.


I do something similar, or my power washer idling with the pressure very, very low. I pass the wand under the vehicle only if I feel the bottom is very dirty. I can even add soap to the mix.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Be aware that these self-serve car washes recycle the soap solution.


That depends on the wash and the jurisdiction (i.e. regulations). Up here, that's certainly not the case.

As for those that do recycle, some of them do a bang up job of purifying the water before reuse.

 

[dakota99]

I usually take my truck out during the first torrential spring rain, on the highway for about ten miles. I figure it gets fresh water everywhere and then i wash it down good when i get home.

 

[ahoier]

I've used the lawn sprinkler approach.....not for salt...afterall I'm in Florida

But just as a good undercarriage wash for the fertilizers that get abused around here.....and a somewhat mysterious oil leak......

But yea, something that I'd LOVE, is an attachment that I could hook between the hose, and the sprinkler, that would premix car wash soap, and essentially "wash" the undercarriage with the soapy water

Not just rinse it with cold water......

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Orbit-Metal-Fixed-Spot-Sprinkler/16777989 is the one that I use.....only mine is older, and it's Yellow