WTH is on my engine, please help, pics..

[mob]

thanks guys, my engine temp has been low ive been keeping an eye on it when my low coolant light came on and it stays low, i have a question in the last month my coolant light has come on 3 times and every time i p ut 3 bottles of water in it. I always thought it was cause i just put water in there, is that why? Would that stop if i put coolant in, where is it going is it like boiling the water or something

 

[vristang]

Its definately rust thats causing the brown color. It happens when your water/antifreeze ratio is more on the the water side. It causes your radiator to rust hence the brown color. Your radiator is more than likely rusted and plugged. Keep your eye on your engine temp. gage to see if you start to over heat in the future. If so replace that sucker before you damage your engine. Thats why it is so important to keep your water/antifreeze ratio around 50 50. You can get a cheap replacement for like 80-100 bucks at advanced auto or autozone. Or do the upgrade to 3 core while your in there for an extra 80. good luck man

I used a three core from a 93 cobra. Works great, even for the 408w.

Rust is from Iron. Aren't the stock radiators copper?
I'd still say the discoloration is either from a head gasket/egr leak or corrosion of the block and heads. Replace/Flush the fluid and see what happens.

 

[hondakiller44]

trust me most likely the rust is from the radiator. I had the same experience with two of my mustangs. Each time I replaced the radiator and it fixed the problem. He can try flushing the radiator but if there is substancial rust damage the rust will only return when he refills the radiator. Fix the leak and try the flush. Check your coolant after you refill for awhile to make sure the discoloration does not return. If it does then you know the radiator is garbage. If it was his head failing he would be burning antifreeze and getting white smoke coming out of his exhaust. Also check your dipstick and radiator for a manase type substance which would indicate oil and coolant mixing together if so it may be your heads.

again good luck

 

[Modular2v]

usually flushing a sytem that nasty is going to cause leaks because it is going to break up all the build up cloggin the leaking spots lol....if i were u i would just go ahead and replace the waterpump and thermostat then do the colant flush

 

[vristang]

trust me most likely the rust is from the radiator. I had the same experience with two of my mustangs. Each time I replaced the radiator and it fixed the problem. He can try flushing the radiator but if there is substancial rust damage the rust will only return when he refills the radiator. Fix the leak and try the flush. Check your coolant after you refill for awhile to make sure the discoloration does not return. If it does then you know the radiator is garbage. If it was his head failing he would be burning antifreeze and getting white smoke coming out of his exhaust. Also check your dipstick and radiator for a manase type substance which would indicate oil and coolant mixing together if so it may be your heads.

again good luck

Iron produces rust, copper produces copper oxides (which are green like the statue of liberty). But what do I know I have had like 20 beers at this point. Then again I do test structual materials for aerospace applications.

Who cares, Beer is cool.

Yaaaaaahoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have seen coolant get into the exhaust with no backward mixing. IE there was no oil in the coolant and no white smoke in the exhaust.

I think you have soime cooling issues, and all I can do is throw out some ideas.

Hope it isn't as bad as I have suggested. but if it is at least it won't catch you off guard.
jason

Beer is cool
Yaaaaaaahoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

 

[5.0fox]

vrisstang what company do you work for? my father is also in the aircraft field and works in renton.

 

[woodyy24]

thats really the worst colored coolant ive ever seen.

 

[jeffs89gt]

its probly from the rad. a few weeks b4 i bought my car the rad had exploded on the guy, and it looked like that, but everywhere

 

[QDRHRSE]

The rust comes from the block. An engine block is iron. A radiator cannot "rust".

It seems to me that there is a pin hole leak in one of the egr hoses, as previously mentioned, and that it squirts under load. Thats why you have a brown spot on your hood. Otherwise the coolant would leak downward. The only way to find it is to fill the car with water, get it hot, and check the hoses with car running. You might even want to give the car a little throttle to create a little pressure in the system. It's no big deal.

 

[90_Red_LX]

The rust comes from the block. An engine block is iron. A radiator cannot "rust".

It seems to me that there is a pin hole leak in one of the egr hoses, as previously mentioned, and that it squirts under load. Thats why you have a brown spot on your hood. Otherwise the coolant would leak downward. The only way to find it is to fill the car with water, get it hot, and check the hoses with car running. You might even want to give the car a little throttle to create a little pressure in the system. It's no big deal.

^^ Listen to this guy. Get the car up to operating temp and put a load on it. I'd flush the whole system and then consider putting new hoses on it if they haven't been replaced lately.

 

[oz]

If it were me I'd find the leak first, fix it, and then worry about the color of the coolant provided there was not a serious problem involved.
If indeed the coolant was changed in the last few months, there is no reason for it to be that brown - even with well water. That is what it looks like when oil gets into the water and is well mixed. It turns into a thick light brown slurry. What does that brown stuff smell like? Oil? Coolant? Both?
I agree that it looks like the heater hose fitting might be leaking but make sure you do not have oil in the water or water in the oil first. If it's losing water (3 bottles at a time) and you drove a long way there's a chance you overheated it and either cracked a head or blew out a head gasket.

 

[vristang]

vrisstang what company do you work for? my father is also in the aircraft field and works in renton.

I work for the Lazy-B in Seattle. What's your old man do?


I don't know that the water pump generates that kind of pressure on its own. Combustion gasses can pressurize the cooling system though. I won't mention blown head gaskets anymore though, because I don't want to jinx you.

Let us know what happens.

 

[mob]

hmm well im pretty confused. Let me say my symtpoms one more time so we can even it down.

I drove my car a good amount today i had comunity service, so id say about 20 miles. Car never passed the 2nd line so it stayed cool. Dosent overheat. AND there is no leak... I think it had a sudden outburst, maybe like you said under load cause like i said, i accidentally hit first driving slowly cause i was pretty much sleeping but it only reved to like 5k before i hit the clutch again. I was pretty sure the radiator was new too, ill have to ask my dad if he changed that. And i might be burning antifreeze, like i said, ive gone through 9 water bottles in a month, and everytime i filled it up i could see the water in there was brown but didnt make much of it. Im gonna ask how much it is to get a radiator flush. So once its flushed and after a while the color comes back you guys say get a new radiator? I already said the thermostat is new, im not sure if the water pump is new but i think it is, ill have to check my reciepts. My car seems perfect besides the fact that my lower intake has about an inch thick layer of dried brown antifreeze that i cant reach and my resivour water is brown. I already clean what i reach

 

[txstang84]

just use only distilled water...

 

[1EVIL88VERT]

 

[mob]

what does distilled mean.. sorry im dumb, is bottle water bad? Next time the coolant light comes on ill put 50/50 antifreeze in it. My dad said that when they rebuilt the motor the radiator was changed because of the brown water, i guess that means it came back. He isnt sure though we have to see the reciepts, if the radiator is new and the water is brown does that mean head gasket? Could it be the block?

 

[UnderPressureGT]

you can buy distilled water in your local food store.. its where the bottled water would be, or possibally near the cloth starch/irons.. it comes in a gallon water bottle...

 

[jerryD]

Distilled water is water that has been boiled and then recondensed (that is, the water vapor is turned back into liquid water on a cold surface). Dissolved contaminants like salts are left behind in the boiling pot as the water vapor rises away.

 

[5.0fox]

I work for the Lazy-B in Seattle. What's your old man do?


I don't know that the water pump generates that kind of pressure on its own. Combustion gasses can pressurize the cooling system though. I won't mention blown head gaskets anymore though, because I don't want to jinx you.

Let us know what happens.

my dad works for compass aerospace. he is a parts inspector/ cnc machinist. he deals with 90% boeing parts.

 

[Maryland Stang]

Actually it looks like something organic (small cat, squirrel etc) got caught in the belt. He started the car up, chewed up the animal, threw blood all over the place and left the mess behind. It's been known to happen.