I was messing around today and noticed that my coolant looks like somone took a nice big S in it. What could this mean?
Thanks!

 

that someone opened up your cooling system and took a huge crap in it..

thats all i can tell you with the information you gave. tell us more! are you using Regular coolant or dexcool approved coolant? is this looking in the radiator or the overflow? how long has it been since u have flushed it or replaced any components? did you do anything else besides look at it? like drain any out etc?

 

Alright here it goes:
I just bought this car, so i am unsure about what is in it, and this is my first time looking... and i saw it in the overflow. That is all i have really checked out. I have never flushed it, and from what i know it could have been years ago... I just reread this and realized that non of this is much help. maybe i'll flush it and see what happens then

 

dont use tap water with the 50/50 mix. get distilled water and mix it.

 

Why is distilled better?

 

First, if the coolant has not been flushed or is rusty the prestone type kit that you hook up to a garden hose won't cut it. Prestone makes a chemical flush that works very well, just follow the directions. Once that is done and everything is closed up ALWAYS use a sealing tablet(can get from any GM dealer)or in lieu of that use the powered Bars Leak at the auto store, it the same as the tablet just in a powered form. I use an old milk container and put a half gallon of water(you don't need distilled)and mix the leak inhibitor with the water then put that in the rad and then add water and coolant to get the 50/50 mix. If you don't do that I'll guarantee you'll be putting in a new water pump in short order. You may want to rethink flushing the system, if it's that bad a flush may open up a can of worms that you may not want ot deal with. Rust and scale tend to plug up little problems with the rad, pump and heater core. If the car is a keeper and you want do do it right and weather permitting clean the system out and consider going to the newer Dexcool or similiar extended life coolant. You can have no more than 10% of the old stuff in the system to get the benefits but in the long run it's worth it.

 

what if it been flush out and it still looks like that

 

thats what happened to me, and i had tires plus change it, they ran like 10 gallons of coolant through the system and it wouldn't come clean, so i still have ****ty looking antifreeze, i have a new engine so im just going to leave it until i get the new engine in, but many people prescribed that chemical flush to me and i suggest you try it too

 

ive always heard one of the reasons u can get rust in your coolant is when its mostly water, i suggest the same thing these guys are saying, chemical flush followed by new 50/50

 

and when you don't regularly service your coolant system! not saying that was the problem in this case but it very well coul dof been. but since he just got the car who knows what the history was.

 

i just got the car so i dont know if they took care of it

 

I got my firebird and it looked like a sh*t brown color. I flushed it out about 8 times with water to try and get it all out, but nothing worked. Didn't really think much of it during the summer. Then i added a 70-30 mix of 70 anti-freeze and 30 water, and it turned preety green. The problem was that the car was running on just water instead of anti-freeze, thats were all the rust came from in my car. Try flushing it, adding anti-freeze, and then running it for a while. Check again, and it should be green. (Worked for me) be sure to buy the green kind not the new orange kind, because that is for new cars.

 

ok i'll try that what if i just put in ant. and no water do u think that will hurt it

 

if you run strait antifreeze, no water, you will overheat the engine, or it will freeze....................you need a water/antifreeze mix

 

You can run Dexcool or any extended life coolant in lieu of the coventional green type. The trick is to get the most life from the newer type is getting as much of the old stuff out as you can. Texaco who invented it suggest first a chemical flush, a refill with water then a second flush. If you do that you will get the full benefit of the extended interval between coolant changes.

 

Can you explain the purpose of the sealing tablet and why it is necessary refilling the engine? I'm doing it this summer too and would like to know.
Thanks

 

All GM and most other brands use a sealing tablet at manufacture. Basically it is the powered Bar's leak in tablet form. A chemical or good reverse flush removes the agent from the system. The most common thing to happen is the water pump will fail shortly after a flush is done especially if it has some time on it. Using a sealer will help to prevent this and also will seal up any tiny leaks that may occur from casting porosity. GM part number is 3634621, runs about 4 bucks at the dealer or you can use the powered Bar's leak, about $1.99 at any auto store.