finally got around to changing my leaky radiator last night. This was the coolent that i drain out....





Now i know what oil in the coolant looks like... but this just looks dirty..... thoughts?



and, no, there is no coolant in the oil, was doing an oil change at the same time

 

Rust. Water used instead of 50/50.

 

ick.... that what i get for buying it from a chick... so how screwed am i?

 

Flush it. Does it overheat? If not I wouldn't worry too much except for the condition of the radiator.

 

no, doesnt overheat at all. and i was replacing the radiator when i found this (the only one was leaking from where the plastic meets to the metal)

 

You should be okay. Just keep an eye on it. That's been my experience.

 

Neglect, should never look like that. Good that you are replacing the Radiator.

 

I wonder how much more rust is in there.

 

You should worry about corrosion not only in the radiator but also throughout the entire engine and heater core -- not good. Your engine and all other metal parts in contact with the water are dying a slow death of cancer corrosion.

 

I didn't think of the heater core. Ew. Is there anything to add to the coolant to neutralize the rust? Last time I dealt with anything like this was a Plymouth Horizon.

 

anything i can do other than a full flush?

 

spray a water hose threw the upper rad hose and let it flush out the lower to make sure you got all the crap out.

 

Do you have an engine swap planned for the future?

 

like grujo said..run a water hose into the top radiator hose on full blast until water that comes out lower hose looks like fresh water...heated preferably. I wouldn't have even ran the new radiator bc it's prob gonna need a flush now as well and it was a waste of coolant..but a flush should handle it if not a new water pump, thermostat, and a full flush would put you like new as long as it's not to contaminated.

 

Doom and gloom speech -- Assuming that the color and cloudiness of the liquid is not due to a blown head gasket, then the rust and suspended debris in the water is a sign of irreversible damage by corrosion to the engine, radiator, and heater core. Therefore, the engine will almost surely have a never ending supply of future problems. Cut your losses as soon as possible.

 

Had the same prob on my lsx camaro and it ended it me changing the water pump and while having the water pump off pressure flushing the coolant channels in the block and I pressure washed out all the hoses and flushed the radiator out good and I never had another prob sold the car and the guy who bought it never had a prob so idk guess it depends on how much time you want to spend honda motors are cheaper than ls1s so....

 

i see.... i was planing to drop in a turbo in the next year or 2.... i guess i should be thinking about a swap huh?

 

what i would do is put the old rad back in, and fill it with water and CLR. and run to operating temp. turn off let it cool down and flush it. and do that a few times. then put the new rad in.

 

If you are gonna turbo it then I would flush it and say **** it and when that motor blow then swap it not unless its a oil and coolant fed then I wouldn't run coolant out of that motor through the turbo imo

 

Have you ever replace your water pump and thermostat? I would look into that also.

 

well, i got the car in feb. she said the guy had put a new motor in and when i looked a few months ago, the timeing belt looked fine... so im hoping the person that did the swap changed the water pump to... but i have no way of knowing

 

it could also be that the radiator was leaking so they put that stop leak crap. i found that in my teg. check ur resevoir . if it has brown stuff in the bottom most likely was jus stop-leak

 

unrelated.... kinna...

blew a hose today... i think its a heater hose (the one right below the dissy) and after topping off the coolant and driveing the mile back to school to try and fix it, it all looks neon green again, so it may have just been old...

on a side note... what are the chances i warped the head.... the temp was almost to the H line when i seen it and shut the car off and coasted to the side of the road... it was that hot for no more than 30 sec to a min and was still running fine when i shut it off and did not overheat after that and since has been running fine. checked the oil when i got home (about a 20 mile drive from where i "fixed the hose") and it looked fine on the dip stick. So did i dodge a bullet there or does it take more abuse than that to warp the head.

 

I'd be much more worried about the overheating than the coolant condition. In my experience anything much over normal operating temp is instant death.

As far as the original cloudly coolant, just change it and keep an eye on it.

 

A new motor 99% of the time means a motor out of a junkyard(explaining your rust for the engine sitting) so Flush it I say and bolt ona new thermo and water pump