Well, I should be getting my new coolant bottle from the dealership any day now...

But before I put it in, I want to re-vamp the cooling system. When I got the car, the factory fill antifreeze had a dirty color to it. I used the everwear machine at firestone, to change the coolant for some fresh green glycol.

Now, 1 year later, and not even 20k miles, the coolant is getting that dirty opaque color again. Also, when I put in the Ragu sauce jar as my temproary overflow bottle, it was perfectly clean. Now, there is already this rusty grime building up inside the jar, after a week. Every time I take off the radietor cap too, there has been that brown scum on the inside of the cap.

--------------------

What I want to do is flush the cooling system myself now. Like, drian all the coolant, and refill with the garden hose. And use some prestone flush, or baking soda, and run it a day or 2 to loosen anything. Then backflush it with the garden hose again. I might replace the upper and lower hoses too, since those are still factory (albeit still good condition).

I was considering replacing the water pump too. It is factory with 63k miles on it now. It doesent leak yet, but isnt it getting close to that milage where it starts?

Also, both autozone and Napa, have 2 different pumps listed for my car. One is a regualar duty pump, and one is a "severe duty" pump. They look a little different but similar.

So, I guess my question is, if I do replace the pump, which one do I need? The regular duty, or the HD one?

 

I would probibly leave the pump alone but if you want to change it the standard duty one should be fine. If you flush out the coolant and the dirty look comes back I would not worry about it.

 

sounds like freeze plugs are rusting .. i changed mine and the dirty color went away..