Aluminum flakes in coolant

[natenkiki2004]

Hello all, I'm in the process of working on the engine I removed from my Ex. Early in the process I drained the radiator and saw a LOT of shimmering particles in the coolant. Like, cover the bottom of a 5-quart pan amount. They were non magnetic and the only thing I can think they might be is some Bars stop-leak powder. The radiator and thermostat had been replaced by the previous owner but the hoses and water pump are all original. Water pump pulley is firm and has no play.

Is there something else I should be thinking of or is this likely a Bars product?

I will be draining the system again in the future to do a thermostat and lower intake and also to flush the system out. That might be a month or two down the road and I can check for particles again.

 

[Number4]

Sounds like bars leak or AlumAseal to me.

 

[Punjab]

Does it leak coolant anywhere?

 

[natenkiki2004]

Does it leak coolant anywhere?

Yep, lower intake manifold, at the corner, above the power steering pump. I won't be fixing that right now due to budget and since I can take care of that when the engine's back in the Exploder. But I think this leak is pretty recent. I think a lot of the leaks are. The Ex sat for a while and I'm sure things hardened up and then I started driving it daily and things are starting to let go from cycling.

 

[shamal]

Could be a water pump, but think about all that crap getting by the T Stat. My guess it's rad repair gunk, but why after replacing one ! My other thought is the rad itself, perhaps not a good quality one ?

 

[Wolfie_85]

I would go with some sort of stop-leak crap, unless your water pump is going...but most likely, someone tried to patch something up cheaply at some point.

 

[natenkiki2004]

Water pump felt great, no play. A little noisy if anything but it's the first water pump I've had in my hand so who am I to say. I just know there was no play or difficult spinning of the pump. I slapped it back on. If it's the radiator, I'll just hope it dies so I can buy a nice all-aluminum one For now, everything is going back the way it was, just new hoses/gaskets. I wish I would have gotten a picture of this one but there still might be some junk in the bottom of the jugs I drained into.

 

[vq5speed]

I would say it is most likely Radiator stop leak stuff. That stuff works if the leak is small good for a temporary fix until you get a new Radiator.

 

[natenkiki2004]

What gets me though is that the previous owner put a new radiator in it quite a few years ago. The only coolant leak it has now started when I owned the vehicle. Unless there was one somewhere else that got plugged up by the bars, which is possible I guess. The timing cover gasket at the water jackets was pretty crusty, could have been leaking there. I'll write this off for now, thanks for the replies everyone