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Maintenance & Repair Cooling Systems -- Problems & Solutions (Radiator, Fan, etc)
561 messages, Last post on Nov 12, 2009 at 1:37 PM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 04, 2005 11:34 am) You might remember me from the tranny forum with a k car that had a bad tranny. I junked it, and found a '98 Explorer for cost! through my brother's friend in the car biz. Anyway, the coolant in the reserve tank was brown and foamy. I assumed the rest of it was as well, so I flushed it in front of my parent's house (and left a decent sized stain in the street in the process - when my bucket didn't catch all of it). Much to my surprise - the coolant in the radiator was green. It was consuming a lot of coolant too, and I could smell coolant while driving. My temp is slightly cooler than the middle of the gauge, and both my heat and A/C are working. I added some stopleak in the radiator to alleviate the smell assuming there was a pinhole leak somewhere. It seemed to stop the coolant smell and maybe the use of so much coolant, but I am not sure yet. It could be too early to tell. I have new coolant in there now after the drain and fill last night. Although, I never drained the brown stuff out of the reserve, and it used it since I only poured 1 gallon mix in the radiator after the flush, and it takes 1 3/4. I refilled the reserve, and drove to work this morning (16mi ride). I looked in the reserve and spots of brown again. The oil dipstick looks OK - a little high - but looks like oil nevertheless. The tranny dipstick looks good, and appears to just have tranny oil on it. There's no white smoke...should I just ignore it?
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Replying to: dodgekbad (Jun 02, 2005 8:14 am) As for possible oil in the radiator, you could have a leak in that part of the radiator that helps cool your transmission fluid. You could also have your cooling system pressure tested for leaks. This can often spot not only leaks but head gasket issues perhaps. But yeah, just keep an eye on things. Can you see inside the radiator. Does it look plugged up or are the outside fins corroded and breaking off?
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jun 03, 2005 4:40 pm) It's too late for flushing that reserve. I didn't put enough coolant in the radiator after draining it, so it just took the brown stuff from the reserve. I had to refill it. Even with the new stuff, it looks like little, oil deposits, are in the coolant. It could be the stop leak I put in however. That was brown in color also. I looked in the radiator with the cap off, before I flushed it. It was pretty dark in there, so I could not really see if anything was plugged up. Although what is strange when I first flushed it - cold coolant started coming out of it, but then it paused. A little while later, a new wave a very hot coolant just started pouring out of the thing, leading me to believe something could have been clogged up in there. It looks like draining the coolant was NOT wasteful at all, like my family said. I feel relieved to get that first step out of the way. I am tempted to just ignore it however. The smell is gone, and the reserve coolant is relatively clean now. Plus I don't have temp problems. The tranny fluid is red as ever on the stick, so if it were mixing, wouldn't be red/greenish on the stick? I am starting to think it was the stop leak that didn't circulate. As for the fins on the rad, they look relatively good compared to most I've seen. Thanks
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Replying to: dodgekbad (Jun 04, 2005 5:56 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jun 04, 2005 7:35 am) Oh, and reserve bottle coolant is brown again. I had the A/C on today too and still, it runs just below the middle on the temp gauge. Thanks |
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 04, 2005 11:34 am)
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Replying to: lildoers (Jun 05, 2005 6:17 am) RE: THERMOSTAT -- you pretty much have to take it out to check it, and if it isn't expensive, it's a GREAT idea to just replace it, since you have all that goop in there. Stopleak is kind of a desperate measure, so you shouldn't overdo it.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jun 05, 2005 7:08 am) I think that Stop Leak did the trick (despite being brown in color) because it doesn't seem to use any coolant now. Also it doesn't smell either. And judging from when I drained it last - I am willing to bet the coolant is green in the radiator - just the reserve bottle coolant is brown. I've used a compression tester on a 2 stroke dirt bike before. Is it as EZ for an SUV as unscrewing a spark plug; putting in the gauge; and starting the engine 6 times for each plug? That'll tell me if the rings are good, No? But where can I get the specs? Or maybe pressure testing that coolant systems sounds like a good idea? Maybe it's that water pump not pumping the stuff around. But how much is that? I just upgraded from an '88 k to a '98 Explorer (albeit for cost) but it broke the bank in a way. Plus I am a tightwad who has some junior mechanic skills, and hates mechanics. Thanks Mr Shift. Nick |
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Replying to: dodgekbad (Jun 07, 2005 8:37 am) I suggested the thermostat because you said coolant was pushing out the reservoir or radiator. If the thermostat got partially stuck, there would be poor water circulation and you'd get a fast overheat and coolant blowing out. And besides, thermostats don't like stop leak very much. It is after all, clogging all small openings, as it is supposed to do. Stop leak isn't smart, it doesn't know which openings are good and which aren't good.
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