I'm wondering if when I change the zinc on my Beta 38 heat exchanger it is OK to use a dab of some kind of grease or lubricant. I have to screw the brass (?) threads pretty darn tight to prevent leaking, I feel like I am overtightening them. I was thinking of using dielectric grease but I looked it up and it is an insulator which would probably be a bad idea since you want good contact between the zinc and engine block. Of course one would not want to use any kind of teflon tape as that would probably be an even better insulator. Is there something that mechanics use for lubrication here that will not have any resistance to current flow or should I just keep it metal to metal?
I have Beta 43. What I do to prevent leaks while still maintaining good metal to metal contact is to wrap a narrow band (about 1/8th inch) Teflon tape just under the head of the heat exchanger zinc nut. This way there is good metal to metal contact between the threads of the nut and heat exchanger while the teflon tape at the prevents leaks without having to risk over tightening the nut.
