DARK Coolant

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mrm143

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So i went to the local oil change place this morning before work to get it done real quick, and when they took off the coolant cap to check levels, it was BROWN, and THICK, they said it looked like someone poured oil in, instead of coolant..
I have only had this car for a few weeks... Car runs fine, no white smoke, heat is fine. The guys at the oil place looked too, and said it seems fine.

SO.....

They said could just been dirty, original coolant from 1994, someone poured oil in it, etc...

I looked at it, it was thick and syrupy and smelled like oil.
We did a flush, new coolant in looks fine now...

Any ideas BESIDES a headgasket, as the car does run ok, and no tell tale signs of it... Could it really be the original coolant from 94?


PS.. The oil coming out was fine, old and dark, but fine
 
If it was a head gasket you would know it.
Does it over heat?

I would just keep an eye on it.
 
ford nut said:
If it was a head gasket you would know it.
Does it over heat?

I would just keep an eye on it.
Click to expand...


Nope, engine temp around the A in normal all the time
Heat works
No white smoke
Cracked EGR tube, so it does throw 02 codes, but thats about it
Runs like a monster WOT
 
ford nut said:
Cool.
Who knows what was in there.

People are stupid.
Click to expand...

I know but now im nervous...
I mean i think i could tell if it was a head gasket
The heat was so hot the tech couldnt keep his hand on it for very long LOL
 
I think it will be fine.

If it was going to over heat it wouldn't take long.
Go drive the chit out of it, keep a eye on it , then forget about it.
 
ford nut said:
I think it will be fine.

If it was going to over heat it wouldn't take long.
Go drive the chit out of it, keep a eye on it , then forget about it.
Click to expand...



What would 17 year old coolant look like LOL
Or for that matter, 5 year old coolant

Googling came up with something that is called Dex-Cool residue which is from cars made in the 90's and is normal..
Ever heard of it?
 
I had old coolant in a Bronco I bought in Denver.
I found out in the first winter.

It turned into a slushie in the coolant system, plugged everything up.
lucky I found it before bad stuff happened.
When I flushed it out it just looked watered down to me to me.
I have no idea how long it was in there.
Old coolant just wont keep the motor cool.

It will overheat, that is were the problems will start.

You won't have to wait two weeks.... dive it look for overheating, park it watch for leaks under the car.
 
the disturbing part in all of this is that you didn't check this before you owned the car two weeks ago.
 
Is your heater core bypassed? If not, your heater core could be on the verge of going out, and all the sediment is circulating through. Do you still have heat?
 
GMAN said:
Is your heater core bypassed? If not, your heater core could be on the verge of going out, and all the sediment is circulating through. Do you still have heat?
Click to expand...

Heat is PERFECT, too hot LOL
I just came from a car with no heat, and I love it

Im thinking their was absolutly no maintenance done, and the fluid was old... But we will see

Again no leaks, no overheating
 
Wouldnt it be great if we could hook up a garden hose to our coolant crossover caps, and do a power flush?
 
Its more then likely Bars Leak. Check for signs of an old leak on the radiators end caps and around the water pump. I bet it was a quick coolant leak fix.
 
i would agree, you'd see residue in the coolant tank though. Only thing to do now is drive it and see what happens.
 
Yeah but the oil wont mix with the water to make it all brown. Where as Bars usually just looks like weak coffee after its been in the system for a bit.
 
stick a hose in the crossover with a good supply of water running and use a shop vac on the upper rad hose. its like a super reverse flush/suck of the system, gets all kinds of crud that you never see when you "forward" flush the system. i just thought of this last week when i did a water pump on a dodge stratus.

it removed so much crap it made me cringe
 
To your question about Dexcool, this is what I found about it, as I never heard of it,......

Dexcool-type extended life coolants use organic acid technology to inhibit corrosion, and are referred to as OAT based coolants. OAT antifreezes are touted as having longer potential service life than conventional antifreezes because of the fact that the components in the additive package are not chemically consumed as they perform their function of inhibiting corrosion. The chemicals used in the OAT type formulas protect metals from corrosion by forming a thin, molecular coating on them, and because of this, are not as fast acting as conventional inorganic formulas. However, as long as the cooling system is kept sufficiently full and coolant is not lost due to leakage nor diluted by top-off with water or conventional antifreeze, it will continue to function properly. Unfortunately, if the cooling system is not properly maintained, a “red muck” is likely to form and could cause serious cooling system problems.

On conventional antifreeze though, if the Ph breaks down from high mileage use, then the ethylene glycol renders useless and creates and promotes corrosion, such as rust. This is more likely what you saw or was shown at time of service.

If it were me, and wanted to do preventive maintenance for the long haul, I would definitely monitor it for several months as you drive and own it. Even if you put new antifreeze in, the corrosion is still there, and could clog up the water pump, radiator passages, water jackets and heater core.

Do as most say and keep an eye on the condition of the new coolant.
 
SATURN5 said:
Dexcool = devil
Click to expand...

And mopar's HOAT might as well be the same crap. 2009 dodge ram 1500 with 15000 miles on it started over heating on it recently, removed the lower hose from the rad and put the sediment coolant that was in it in a 5 gal bucket, over night it seperated into beach sand looking sediment and almost new looking coolant after looking like the brown death that these new long life coolants are prone to. F that garbage. I ended up having to replace the rad on it due to the same sediment build up issue a month ago. Runs cooler and without issue on 50/50 green.
 
Thanks for the help so far
Looks ok as of now, a little cloudy, prob from left over crap, but its green cloudy, not brown cloudy
Car ran a BIT hotter than normal, but nothing major, M instead of A on the guage, but i also had the AC on in stop and go
I will keep you posted....
 
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