dirty coolant
 

sumtin funky going on with my coolant seems everytime i look at it its getting dirtier and dirtier. it smells like coolant but looks as if there is oil in there too but wouldnt that turn it completely brown?

anyway how can i flush this badboy? do i just open the rad cap and put a hose in the overflow and wait till it comes out clear out of the rad?

how long does it usually take? is there something i can throw in there to help clean it out without eating away my engine components?

RE: dirty coolant
 

Take it somewhere and have it professionally flushed. Those nmachines do an amazing job. The garden hose way just doesn't get r done.

RE: dirty coolant
 

well i would but last time i checked those 'professional flushes' cost somewhere around $99 and i dont have that kind of money to blow on something i could do myself

what if i use a pressure washer or would that just ruin the internals?

RE: dirty coolant
 

I do a lot of coolant flushes at work, I would definentally reccomend getting one done, your radiator is most likely corroding on the inside and that's why it's looking dirty.

RE: dirty coolant
 

Alrighty then, oil in the coolant means a few things
to check try a couple things, get er warm so the thermo opens, but don't run it forever, put your finger in and see if its oily feeling, if so, oil in the radiator is your problem
on second thought you might not even have to warm it up, oil should float on top of the coolant, so just see if the fluid is oily feeling

if so flush it out, this is a pain in the ass, the oil gets everywhere, it will take many trips to the radiator shop because the oil will be all in the water jackets and what not

if it come back there is a problem
to help find out what your problem is do this

pull your oil drain plug, if coolant flows first (coolant will sink to the bottom, but let the car sit for half a day to let everything settle) then oil then your leak is going both ways this means probably a cracked block or cylinder

if not you might be in luck this whole process sucks the only way to really tell is just one thing at a time, only sucly part is you gotta redo your last attempted fix everytime you try a new one, basically trial and error

I would check your headgaskets first, look at them real close you will see a path way goin from a water jacket to cylinder. If that isn't the problem (most often the headgasket is the problem) this will open up a lot of possibilities.
Good luck let us know what you find

RE: dirty coolant
 

well i dont think its oil and i cant really touch it because its too far down and i dont wanna burn the **** outa my finger if its hot.

i might just mix some coolant and oil together and see what it looks like

ya im a scientist now conducting highly sophisticated experiments :D

RE: dirty coolant
 

china if it it was the headgaskets or cracked block/cylinder wouldnt it run bad? the temp gauge never reaches the middle bar and overall the performance is excellent.

oh and wouldnt i be burning massive amounts of oil? i check the dipstick daily and it never uses any

RE: dirty coolant
 

I'm almost positive that it's not oil, like I said, if it looks dirty (orangish brown color) than just get the right thing done and have your entire system flushed. You'll feel good about it in the long run and I can garuntee that your car will run cooler.

RE: dirty coolant
 

If you've got an auto tranny, it could be the transmission cooler in the radiator. Take the lines off and put some air to it and look in the top and see if you see bubbles. Plus if it is oil or trans fluid you should have a milky gunk on the radiato cap.

RE: dirty coolant
 

i dont have a tranny cooler but it is an AOD