Thread: E.R.P.S. - not convinced

G'day all,

As you all know I love my '94 Defender 300tdi 110 Station Wagon dearly and would quite happily sell my brother if it meant I'd get another 10 years life out of her.

So with this in mind about 7 years ago ago now I purchased an Electronic Rust Prevention System - CounterAct (as it was called then) to be precise.

I went and had it professionally installed at the main distributors place down near Burleigh Heads and had it serviced every year as per the warranty specifications.

Last year I noticed some bubbling on one of the doors and when I had the system in to get serviced I asked about it. After a bit of calling around they realised the age of the vehicle was over 10 years old which meant it was out of their warranty - you see they only warrant vehicles 10 years from date of manufacture.

Sheesh, ok whatever. They did say though that without the system it would probably be a lot worse.

Well today I pulled the trim off the doors so I could rust protect them the old fashioned way - with Lanolin and lots of it. However I wasn't happy with what I found.

The bottoms of the doors are covered in surface rust and there was rust flakes everywhere - especially in one door in particular.

So I'm not particularly sold on the E.R.P.S. systems out there and shall continue to rust proof my vehicle using the tried and true method of coating it liberally in some form of protective oil - be it waxoyl, fish oil, lanolin, whatever. I may even start making a yearly event of it and inviting people over for a 'Rust proof Defender doors' BBQ each year. We shall see.

Oh and to give a brief history of the vehicle she rarely goes near the beach (lucky if it's even once a year) and if she does she gets an absolute thorough bathing afterwards.

We don't live particularly near the sea though for a good 5 years she lived a suburb away from the sea, so that could have had an impact.

Having said that the way they talk it up you could take your car for a swim in the sea every second day and it should work fine. Being parked a suburb or two away shouldn't hurt at all.

Anyways just thought I'd share my experience with everyone. This isn't meant to be defamatory to anyone I am just stating the facts of what has occurred. Maybe this post belongs in the "Reviews" section? If so moderators please move it.

dont confuse these things with the galvanic protection schemes, they dont work above the waterline and are banned in many countries..

in theory the -ve voltage suystems work IF and only IF you have an intact sealant over all the metal and you have enough pads on the vehicle to keep the -ve voltage at the right level. A defender needs at least 10 pads to work properly. erps and / or counteract used to recommend 6, it isnt enough from what i have heard and seen.

if you get a stone chip or a scratch you need to coat it with something or the metal will oxidise.

these mobs usually sell a ptfe based sealant that does this and more. it is very similar to the ptfe coating they put on some aircraft.

unsalted peanut oil sprayed around is also a good thing tho can affect some rubbers.

you can usually tell if the system is working because your paint doesnt oxidise when all is well..

if you have one fitted and your paint is oxidising then it isnt working and / or needs looking at because it doent have enough pads..

at the end of the day the thing to remember is they dont stop rust, they slow it down...