This issue keeps coming up - - why not just install a coolant filter
as used on commercial and industrial engines, they contain a
sacrificial anode (magnesium, I think). Can't hurt, might give a
feeling of reassurance to those who imagine their coolant passages,
radiators, etc., rotting away mile by mile. :^)

Gary

>
> Date:    Thu, 6 May 2010 06:08:21 -0700
> From:    Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: stainless steel coolant pipes
>
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 4:35 AM, Andrew Grebneff <goose1047@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 11:25 PM, Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> > OK, let's think about this in a logical manner.  The original 1.9l
>> Vanagons
>> > had plain steel pipes.  The piston liners inside the engine are cast
>> > iron
>> > with steel studs holding the heads on.  Any way you look at it the van
>> > is
>> a
>> > multi-metal soup.
>> >
>>
>> ...hence the head-corrosion problem?
>>
>> I guess it doesn't really make any difference which antifreeze you use, so
>> long as you actually use the stuff.
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>> Andrew Grebneff
>>
>
> That is exactly why the heads do leak on this era German water-pumper
> engines..  Heat+ dissimilar metals+a conductive solution to connect it all
> together=a recipe for corrosion.  The 993 Porsche motors have the same
> problems as a WBX.  Change away with your antifreeze/coolant mix...your
> motor is still attacking itself.still it is probably the best thing to keep
> the fresh coolant in there.
>
>   I wonder if anyone has ever experimented with installing  sacrificial
> anodes like are used in the marine world?  A couple of small bits of zinc
> somewhere accessible in the coolant circulation system might mitigate the
> corrosion problems you WBX owners encounter in the head area?
>
>   Don Hanson
>
> ------------------------------