So I checked my coolant today and its brown, my initial thought was that I had a bad head gasket or a cracked head, but wouldnt the car over heat? The car runs at normal temperature. Although ocasionally when the car comes to a stop it shuts off. I heard that when you mix different types of collant together it can change the color. Could that be the case? Any other ideas?

 

same is happening to my accord. let me know what is wrong with yours z28matt, i need to get mine fixed as well

 

If the coolant isn't changed often enough, it will get impurities in it and turn brown, rusty brown, etc. That could be what's going on with yours.

Where does the coolant look brown? In the overflow tank?

 

If it's not like sludge or slimy brown then it is probably mixed (Red + Green) coolant or rusty/old coolant.

 

on mine the brown coolant is brown in the radiator and in the overflow tank. what happens if it is slimy or sludgy brown? just wondering, i haven't checked if mine is like that but my car turns off periodically as well so im wondering if has anything to do with it.

 

If it is thick and slimy or sludgy that could be oil getting in there. Usually it will be separated, chunky and sitting on top of the coolant though.

 

if itz rusty and watery,flush it twice and see what happens. slimey mud lookin is worse itz mainly water and oil, when this happens on hondas itz usualy the head gasket.

 

yeah my mechanic told me its either the head gasket or a cracked head

 

would that cause the car to shut off randomly though?

 

Personally any time I have seen a blown head gasket make a car stop running. It was blown enough that there was a blanket of white smoke coming out the tail pipe. There was more coolant than fuel in the combustion chamber so the cars stalled.

Is your check engine light coming on?

 

No check engine light, and no smoke on the car too. It ran fine besides that it would shut off every once in a while

 

X2 same thing with me

 

I would suggest looking at testing the PGM-FI main relay. Specially if your car is shutting off sporadically with no CEL. A shop manual is a must to trouble shoot ghost problems like this.

 

how would i go about testing the PGM-FI main relay?

 

At minimum get your coolant flushed asap.
Mixing of Orange and Green will turn into a gel-like substance clogging your coolant passages.

 

x2 on the coolant flush!



When your car shuts off will it start right back up again?

Are there any constants when your car quits. Is it hot, cold, while driving, after you stop?

 

it starts right back up. it stops only when the motors cold and when its cold outside. and its when im slowing down from like 50 to a stop and it dies at like 5 or so

 

What year, model, and mileage?

Sounds like you may need to run the idle learn procedure and also may have a bad main relay as well.

 

99 accord 130k

 

LEV or ULEV emissions?

 

not sure, i think lev

 

If it's not a ULEV, then chances are low that the head gasket is bad unless it was overheated severely. Probably just has old/mixed/coagulated coolant. Do a cooling system flush with regular green coolant as others have recommended.

 

Do the coolant flush. Maybe two for good measure lol. It just sounds like some rust is getting in there to me like everyone else said.

 

OP if you need a shop manual pm me with your email and i will send you a pdf copy. i would host it and post it up here but i'm pretty sure thats against rules. (i remember something about no pages from haynes/chiltons being posted and i assume the same applies here.)

 

You have the PDF file for the 6th gen Accord? That is the one that I am missing.