MountainSAR994
New Member
- Joined
- August 28, 2017
- Messages
- 4
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- City, State
- ID
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1993 Ford Explorer XL
I'm aghast at the prospect of needing to trash a perfectly good cooling system and re-rebuild after only two years of operation.
I have had the pleasure of driving a 93 Explorer for two and a half years. The previous owner neglected the cooling system, so the coolant it had was rust soup. Two months of flushing once every two days with distilled water and occasionally Prestone flush solution yielded nothing. I changed over to 50/50 green antifreeze at the onset of winter temperatures, and that apparently killed the radiator. I conceded and rebuilt the entire system: new radiator, water pump, thermostat, new heater core, and new hoses.
That was two years ago. The system has run with pristine, green antifreeze ever since. I've replaced the water pump once in that time. I was not surprised, as it was a remanufactured part. I recently drove round trip to Nevada from Idaho and covered over 800 miles. During that trip, my engine threatened to overheat - the cause was silicone gasket material blocking the air bleed valve in the thermostat. I ended up replacing the thermostat in Nevada, myself. The coolant was a horrible brown, and several flushes first with tap, and finishing with distilled water did not change the condition of the water, it was perpetually rust brown.
I drove home and started flushing. I initially used my garden hose to purge the radiator with the hoses detached, then ran the system with tap water up to temperature, then drained and used one flush of distilled water to purge the system of tap water, then added distilled water and Prestone flush solution to be run in the system for several days.
I've been doing this for a month. I've drained two loads of distilled water out of my system just today and they are equally brown. I've even pulled the upper and lower hoses and scrubbed the insides to remove residual brown and I've scrubbed out the overflow reservoir, to no effect. This is an endless tide of brown and there is no end in sight.
I have never had anyone here speak of flushing more than once or twice, yet I am in over 20 or 30 flushes and I have made no progress, and this is a system that was perfectly clean two months ago and was new out of the box two years ago. I would understand a 20 year old system could be this bad, or a neglected one, but mine was pristine.
When the system heats up, the water in the radiator, at the cap, changes from clean to brown within seconds after the thermostat starts to open. This isn't accumulation of rust over weeks, it's something in the water becoming agitated instantly, and re-accumulating in the presence of Prestone radiator flush and distilled water.
My only theory on this was the extended trip and the high temperature caused rust in the cast iron block to break free, but that should have gone away more than a dozen flushes ago. I've read into head gasket failure symptoms and they're just not present, there is no water contamination of the oil, no oil contamination in the water, and no white steam out of the exhaust.
I'm running out of ideas. Everything I've read so far is inapplicable, especially someone's comment on mixing or burning coolant - impossible because I'm running straight water and flush solvent. Every response seems to address a system that has never been flushed, or a system with an ancient cooling system, neither of which is applicable.
Has anyone else faced an endless tide of brown water coming out of a new cooling system and figured out what it is and how it finally gets resolved?
I have had the pleasure of driving a 93 Explorer for two and a half years. The previous owner neglected the cooling system, so the coolant it had was rust soup. Two months of flushing once every two days with distilled water and occasionally Prestone flush solution yielded nothing. I changed over to 50/50 green antifreeze at the onset of winter temperatures, and that apparently killed the radiator. I conceded and rebuilt the entire system: new radiator, water pump, thermostat, new heater core, and new hoses.
That was two years ago. The system has run with pristine, green antifreeze ever since. I've replaced the water pump once in that time. I was not surprised, as it was a remanufactured part. I recently drove round trip to Nevada from Idaho and covered over 800 miles. During that trip, my engine threatened to overheat - the cause was silicone gasket material blocking the air bleed valve in the thermostat. I ended up replacing the thermostat in Nevada, myself. The coolant was a horrible brown, and several flushes first with tap, and finishing with distilled water did not change the condition of the water, it was perpetually rust brown.
I drove home and started flushing. I initially used my garden hose to purge the radiator with the hoses detached, then ran the system with tap water up to temperature, then drained and used one flush of distilled water to purge the system of tap water, then added distilled water and Prestone flush solution to be run in the system for several days.
I've been doing this for a month. I've drained two loads of distilled water out of my system just today and they are equally brown. I've even pulled the upper and lower hoses and scrubbed the insides to remove residual brown and I've scrubbed out the overflow reservoir, to no effect. This is an endless tide of brown and there is no end in sight.
I have never had anyone here speak of flushing more than once or twice, yet I am in over 20 or 30 flushes and I have made no progress, and this is a system that was perfectly clean two months ago and was new out of the box two years ago. I would understand a 20 year old system could be this bad, or a neglected one, but mine was pristine.
When the system heats up, the water in the radiator, at the cap, changes from clean to brown within seconds after the thermostat starts to open. This isn't accumulation of rust over weeks, it's something in the water becoming agitated instantly, and re-accumulating in the presence of Prestone radiator flush and distilled water.
My only theory on this was the extended trip and the high temperature caused rust in the cast iron block to break free, but that should have gone away more than a dozen flushes ago. I've read into head gasket failure symptoms and they're just not present, there is no water contamination of the oil, no oil contamination in the water, and no white steam out of the exhaust.
I'm running out of ideas. Everything I've read so far is inapplicable, especially someone's comment on mixing or burning coolant - impossible because I'm running straight water and flush solvent. Every response seems to address a system that has never been flushed, or a system with an ancient cooling system, neither of which is applicable.
Has anyone else faced an endless tide of brown water coming out of a new cooling system and figured out what it is and how it finally gets resolved?