Re: 2004 Accord coupe: Proper charging voltage

"Tegger" <tegger@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Xns99BE1E1CEEFCCtegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BTW - is accord build with zinc-plated/galvanized steel?

I think so.

Is there any place we could check it to know for sure?

But zinc eventually "wears out" when its anodic protection is used up.

Understood. Nothing will last forever.
We are comparing here steel protected only with paint
to the steel protected with sacrificial layer of zinc
and the paint. The second will last significantly longer.
And no electronic gizmo is needed for this purpose.

Rust is a process that involves electrons flowing out of iron (in the steel). The electronic rust-proofing systems use that as their basis for justification. Somehow, causing elelctron flow to occur in the electrolyte is supposed to interfere with electron flow out of the iron.

I'm no chemist, but I can't see how electronic rust-proofing could possibly work. The car's body already has lots of electrons flowing through it. It's the ground for the car's 12V electrical system, remember?

A wire that carries electricity will rust just the same as one that does not carry electricity, provided that wire is made of a corrodable substance (like iron or copper). Electrons in the electrolyte do not protect metal from corrosion.

Corrosion happens on the borders of two metals, including mixtures
of metals (like steel). I am talking about micro borders in crystal
structure of the metal. No metal is pure and will have mixture of
different metalc causing forming micro-cells for electricity to flow.

The only way to prevent corrosion is to prevent oxygen and steel from meeting in the first place. That means zinc primer with paint, or chemical-
based rustproofing.

If a car panels are mad of galvanized steel - paint works as
a rust/oxidation protection of the zinc layer... Rust will
act on the zinc layer first, if paint layer is comprimised.
Zinc layer will then prevent corrosion of the steel with
the sacrificial anode principle. Rain/snow will connect
the steel-zinc contact and will cause zinc to rust first.

.

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