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Car Rust Neg vs. Pos Chassis

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Robert Dorset

Jan 1, 1970
0
Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive
chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from
rust.

Is this true? Can anyone there confirm?

Robert Dorset
 
P

PeterD

Jan 1, 1970
0
Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive
chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from
rust.

Is this true? Can anyone there confirm?

Robert Dorset

Yes, it is true. But the reason was not so much the positive ground,
but the fact that those cars ran so poorly and were broken down so
much that they never got out to be exposed to rust causing
conditions...
 
H

Howard Eisenhauer

Jan 1, 1970
0
The phone company does + earths for that reason.

How it got carried into cars, I dont't know.

Steve

Actually it was to reduce corrosion at the subs's back in the day when
they used ground returns for the voice lines, easier to replace a
ground rod at the office than at all the subs. Also corrosion is
different from oxidation which is what rust is, cathodic systems
(going back to the OP's urban legend re. + ground) can suppress
corrosion in something emersed in an electrolyte (i.e. salt water) but
they won't stop rust.

H.
 
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George Jefferson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Robert Dorset said:
Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive
chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from
rust.

Is this true? Can anyone there confirm?

Robert Dorset

I don't know but every time I get out of my new car I get zapped. Never
happened before. Maybe the friction driving creates static electricity and
this could potentially create rust? Oxidation has to be somewhere in the
equation though and static electricity much less when the humidity is high.
 
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Artemus

Jan 1, 1970
0
George Jefferson said:
I don't know but every time I get out of my new car I get zapped. Never
happened before. Maybe the friction driving creates static electricity and
this could potentially create rust? Oxidation has to be somewhere in the
equation though and static electricity much less when the humidity is high.
The static charge is caused by you sliding in/out over the seat not the motion
of the car thru the air or over the road.
2 fixes: hold on to some metal part of the car before sliding on the seat; and
spray the seat (lightly) with an anti-static fabric softener sold for laundry use.
Art
 
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George Jefferson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Artemus said:
The static charge is caused by you sliding in/out over the seat not the
motion
of the car thru the air or over the road.
2 fixes: hold on to some metal part of the car before sliding on the
seat; and
spray the seat (lightly) with an anti-static fabric softener sold for
laundry use.
Art

That makes sense as that is something that drastically changed(type of seat
and height/position). Strange I have never had it happen in any other
vehicle. Since I get shocked even if I drive short distances it seems to
make sense that it probably isn't the driving.
 
C

Capt. Cave Man

Jan 1, 1970
0
That makes sense as that is something that drastically changed(type of seat
and height/position). Strange I have never had it happen in any other
vehicle. Since I get shocked even if I drive short distances it seems to
make sense that it probably isn't the driving.


It amounts to what the seat fabric is comprised of. Sheesh, this stuff
is elementary school basic level stuff. You charge up unless you get
grounded. When you touch ground, you get shocked because the ground you
touched was a fast discharge point.

The charge is from the trib-electric effect from you rubbing against
the seat, while being isolated from ground. You gain charge..
 
L

legg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive
chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from
rust.

Is this true? Can anyone there confirm?

Robert Dorset

You may be thinking of differing types of galvanic corrosion or
selective leaching and the effect of various cathodic protection
methods.

The effect can be aggravated by temperature gradients and aqueous
solutions produced in and around the internal combustion engine; for
example; in the mounting joists using poorly selected materials, or in
a widely-braced water cooling system.

As electrical contact to the frame will be made in many places using
dissimilar metals (both not being steel or iron or aluminium), you
could expect a galvanic potential to develop that might be over-ridden
at times, by the correct polarity of normal operating current flow, or
regularly, by the introduction of a sacrificial anode.

As the effect is going to be localized, it will probably be identified
at the early stages of any product's life, and suitable methods of
avoiding it adopted. The automobile is not a product in the early
stages of development, but I can imagine each generation of designers
demanding to know 'why I can't do that'.....

RL
 
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