Brown sludge in coolant.
 

Some kind of thick slimy brown sludge is getting into my coolant and building up very slowly in my overflow tank. With the radiator cap off you can see some of it floating around in the coolant. I noticed this a week ago and I drained it and flushed it with the prestone radiator flush. Now, a few days later it's coming back very slowly again. Is it oil? Or something else? 3 weeks ago I did a mini-me vtec head swap. My motor runs fine with no cels. The oil in the dipstick and under the oil cap both look very clean.

Re: Brown sludge in coolant. (chowmien)
 

Rust. Need to do a professional flush and add a rust inhibitor when they fill it up again. Most anti-freezes have it in them already but it's around $3.50 for the powder stuff you just add to the fluid.

I'm a dumb-a**. Work if i read the whole thing.


Modified by toadolson at 8:39 PM 12/29/2004

head gasket?

Re: (SkipMic2006)
 

sounds like oil is possibly getting into the coolant. did you change the head gasket when you did a mini-me?

Re: (AzntaggeR)
 

headgasket, I got 5 on it https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif

I've done hg's on cars where the entire overflow looked like a milkshake, and so did ALL of the hoses and the radiator https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif

Headgasket.

Signature.

Re: (Dr. D-Series)
 

Yeah I put a brand new oem y8 headgasket in there when I did the mini-me. Is it going to hurt if I don't change the headgasket right away?

Re: (chowmien)
 

well, depends on if you're overheating or not, and whether or not you're getting coolant in the oil.

If coolant is getting in the oil, you run the risk of damaging bearings.

Also, letting that sludge go throughout your cooling system, is bound to clog up and ruin hoses.

Re: (Evs-One)
 

Rats. I'm not overheating at all. I'd hate to take apart the motor again, but I guess it's gonna have to be done.

But why would the headgasket go 3 weeks after it was put in?

Re: (chowmien)
 

did you put it on upside down by chance? Were the mating surfaces clean enough to eat on? Proper torque sequence/correct head bolts? etc etc

Re: (Evs-One)
 

I had a mechanic do it for me, he is an ex-honda dealership mechanic. He better not have put it upside down. Yes both surfaces were cleaned before putting together the motor. He tightened the headbolts from the middle on to the outside then torqued them afterwards to somewhere around 50ft/lb

Re: (chowmien)
 

bump for you

Re: (spoonef)
 

Are you shooting out lots of white smoke?

most likely its a head gasket check teh oil if it looks like chocolate milk in the crankcase then it prob is

Re: (rippineg)
 

It's actually because you touch yourself at night.

Re: (Archidictus)
 

from someone who has blown headgaskets in a mr2, supra, bmw, and now my civic last night https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emsad.gif it's a blown head gasket...rust doesn't just "pop up"
^^^ maybe that's why i blow all of mine! haha

Re: (green00EX)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by green00EX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you shooting out lots of white smoke?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope not at all. I'll try and get the headgasket replaced then. Hopefully that's all the problem is.