Dirty water in my radiator, what to do? Options

[Ugglan]

Hi,
I need some help with my radiator, the water is pretty dirty. I think I might go to my parents tomorrow and try to flush the system but have anyone else had this problem?

The brown stuf is not hard, rather like soft mud or wet sand. No samll stones or anything.
Any ideas of what it is and why it is there and what to do?








Tanks
//Johan

This post has been edited by Ugglan: May 23, 2009 - 7:25 AM

[Spider77]

Wow, thats pretty bad. Yeah, you def need to flush it, I only wonder what the coolant passages look like. You can try to do it at home, with various radiator flush stuff from an auto store, but in your case, Id start calling around to shops and seeing how much a coolant flush is going to run (block and all)

[enderswift]

yikes, kinda looks like someone poured a bottle of some kind of stop leak stuff in there... those tend to have a similar effect

[Ugglan]

yeah, it's pretty nasty. But it hasn't been that for long, i checked all fluides a month ago or so but still...it's bad. I will flush it with water tomorrow and if it still is bad in the end of next week, i have to check with a shop or something...

I'll try to keep you updated...

[Spider77]

Yeah, if you got something like prestone radiator flush, you need to do that. But as thick as that stuff looks, i would take it to a shop and have them clear it all out. If you flush it with water, run the car w/heater on full for like 10 min, drain, and proceed to repeat the process till it runs clear. You might want to also get a new t-stat while your at it, no telling how much of that crap is all up on it.

[dgbldr]

If you do it yourself, take all the flushed fluid to a recycling center.

Glycol should not be dumped in the sewer or on the ground, it's really nasty on the environment and hard on water treatment plants.

In Sweden, I'm sure you have laws about that.

[domyz]

I would remove the thermostat and clean the block with a pump, clean the entire rad and clean all the hoses(including heater hoses and under dash radiator) this is very very bad, this could creat a hot spot in a cylinder water passage and crack the block. You won't even see it on the temperature gauge.

This post has been edited by domyz: May 23, 2009 - 2:37 PM

[cardshark525]

How old is the radiator? Just from personal experience I am never going to flush a radiator again. Last time I did it just started gushing from clogged holes that were now cleaned out. This may be just me but I would flush the system and then get a new radiator if you can do it yourself.

Just my $0.02

[Ugglan]

Wasn't as bad as it looks. Took the termostat out and it was clean. Flushed the radiator three times, one of them with a cleaner and had the car running between the different times, with both the heat and AC in full use...

The system seems clen now but I will check it next weekend and se how it looks.
Tanks for all ideas and help.
//Johan

[Bitter]

i've seen that before...thats usually from some oil mixing into the coolant and becoming an emulsion of coolant and engine oil. its impossible to clean out totally, pull the block drains and flush the block with a garden hose, backflush the heater core, and replace the radiator.


oh and figure out where the **** came from, does it smell exhausty or engine-ish?

[stl95celica]

same thing happend to me. dad thought it was a cracked block but we did a pressure check and it wasnt so we just flushed it. havent checked it in awhile..... i think im going to right now

[Ugglan]

no oil or someting in it, probably some rust or someting like that from the radiator itself. Flushed the system a week ago and checked it again today and it seems to be clear...think I will check it again next weekend just to be safe.