Low Conductivity Coolant Change Procedure

At 42 ppm, you now have a baseline data point to work with.

 

I wonder if the green is intentionally partly conductive? There was an issue that I heard about decades ago about certain cars having issues with the radiator becoming charged up due to coolant flow, resulting in corrosion. It might have been an urban legend but thought I'd mention it.

 

The key takeaway:

Therefore, an ion exchange resin cartridge containing 20g of Dowex mixed bed resin may take on order 938 days to saturate. In other words, to maintain a low electrical conductivity, a resin cartridge with the dimension and weight specification as that of the resin cartridge used in the experiment, need to be changed every 30 months for the cooling system that was used in the experiment.

I’m sure that such a resin cartridge could be produced as a simple commodity, to be swapped out akin to a refrigerator water filter cartridge…but I’m just a shade tree mechanic.

 

IIRC, one must use a flat screwdriver inserted into “a slot” and then turn the screwdriver 90° (or pry it up (?)) whilst turning the cap counter (?) clockwise. Its a riff on child proof Aspirin bottles, except instead of pushing down on the lid while turning, you have to pry it past a locking tab…I think…

 

Sorry, can’t help you then. I thought I had a tag on the procedure, even with a photo, but Mr. Google won’t let me find it again…

 

I think the interlock is intended to stop someone from adding washer fluid. Sorry I can't help but I hope you succeed. It almost looks like a left hand thread, can't quite make out the arrow.



It looks like you push the tab down and turn clockwise to remove.

 

Thanks. It's interesting that you've obtained a lower resistance from the "non-conductive" coolant. I certainly didn't think of turning the car on for the measurement. Perhaps there's a flow of coolant initiated that changes this delicate measurement. Just checked mine, 9.6 M ohm off, 6.5 on. Temp here about 20°C, accuracy of my meter at this range unknown.

Seems a poor design choice, the latch should be enough to convey the hint that care is needed. I can see a lot of replacement caps needed in the future as mechanics take to it with slip-joint pliers.

 

Decades ago a physicist I worked with was wandering around the building with a new very-expensive industrial Kodak megapixel camera asking people if they knew how to remove its power connecter so he could wire it up. It had what we later learned was a Swiss "Lemo" connector and none of us could figure out how to remove it. The inevitable happened; he just kept working on it with pliers until it in was in several broken pieces. No one thought of calling the manufacturer. It's one of those where you slide the barrel part to unlock the body. If you pull on the body first the barrel won't move.

 

So, essentially, to budget correctly to afford to operate a Kona EV with the blue coolant, one has to set aside one (1) dollar a day, each day, every three years, to cover the expense of R&Ring of this coolant every three years as called for in the maintenance specifications.

This routine maintenance category (of costs) will end up being the third most expensive operating item of this vehicle (behind depreciation and insurance).