This motor has only 100 miles on it. I'm changing heater hoses so I drained all the coolant everything is green. So I figured while I was empty in coolant I would pull the stock fan switch out of the block(between 6 and 8 cylinder) to put just a plug in there since I am using an aftermarket fan switch system that's installed on the other side. Long story short the coolant draining out of the head has a reddish color? WTH !!! Can cause that?? My first though was tranny fluid getting in the cooling system from the radiator ( 700r4 with cooling lines to the rad) but wouldn't all the coolant in the system be reddish? WTH?

 

Take the radiator cap off. What color coolant is in the radiator?

 

Like I said..everything else is green. Maybe it is the break in oil for the motor?

Edit: well according to my engine builder "it must be a bad rad letting in some tranny fluid. Get a separate trans cooler, you should have one on there anyway" Quote.

I know I need to do a lot more to get the car right. I guess That's what I get for buying a cheap rad just to get this project fired up....

 

Was it rust from the outside of the block? If your trans coolor was leaking, the fluid in the radiator would look the same.... and it would be foamy.

 

bleed out some fluid elsewhere, and see what it looks like. if it comes out red give us a picture. its easier to diagnose this with a visual. the only thing i could imagine would be rust from the rad, in a pocket somewhere in the block, or orange paint, or some other contaminant. but it should be in all the coolant. so like i said get another sample.

now, i have seen trans fluid cause pinkish foamy coolant... but it would once again be in all of it. not just isolated.

 

they are right. its something in that area causing it other wise the entire coolant system would be reddish. how long did it come out red? maybe taking the coolant switch off broke free rust on its threads from the coolant and that's what you saw.

try flushing the system.

ya unless you didn't run the car at all when you filled it its something in that area, anything getting mixed into the coolant would go though the whole cooling system.

 

Ok.... you wanted pics So in the first pic is a piece of paper that I had a rag laying on. This was the rag I used to plug the hole in the head after taking out the fan switch.



In the second pic is of the pan I used to drain the fluid from the radiator. Notice the redish brown stuff that has settled to the bottom of the pan after several hours. Im wondering if this could be junk from inside the heater core as it sat for 12 years before I restored this car.

 

Indeed interesting bc the 1st pic looks like oil... kinda like trans fuild but thinner, break in oil maybe? The 2nd pic looks more like rust, maybe even sand? Though i dont now how or why there would be sand in it.

On 2nd thought the 2nd pic kinda looks like engine oil slug.

 

Everything is new. That's the kicker. All I can do at this point is put a new rad in and a separate trans cooler and see if I still have a problem.

 

Good luck let us now bc im carious about it