Black gunk in radiator?

[traveler]

I pulled the radiator in the 00 EB Explorer last friday. When I drained it (broken petcock, had to pull the lower hose and take a shower.. ) it drained mostly black, oily, crud. Wasn't thick like a motor oil but had a slippery feel to it and left that "rainbow" film on the driveway where it missed the bucket.

The oil in the motor is brand new, the previous owner had it changed at a shop where they told her of the leaky radiator whereupon she drove it home and just parked it intending to have it fixed "eventually". Well eventually ended up being 9-10 months later when I bought it. Besides, the times I've seen oil and coolant mix it ends up being a muddy brown color.

So, my question is vague.. any idea what that crud is? Anyone seen such stuff before? How worried should I be? The radiator goes to the radiator shop Monday morning to be cleaned out and repaired.

 

[svt4cam]

The radiator has an internal transmission cooler. Chances are the trans cooler is allowing trans fluid into coolant and possibly coolant into trans fluid. After radiator is repaired I would change trans fluid and filter abd try and flush as much of the old fluid out of the converter and lines as possible.

 

[Turdle]

^^ could be, but my guess is someone tried to fix a leak with some bars leak, some of which is a black gooey mess.
How does the transmission fluid look? This may sound silly, but put a dab of trans fluid off the stick onto your finger and see if it tastes sweet. Don't swallow of course--

 

[traveler]

Actually BOTH of those possibilities had crossed my mind. I was kinda hoping it'd be the tranny fluid. If it is then the radiator guy will catch the leak and repair it, and I was thinking that fresh fluid and filter in the transmission would be a good idea anyway. (Transmissions always get ignored as far as maintenance goes). If its the "Stops Leak" then again, the radiator shop will clean it out and fix the leak the right way. I'll check the transmission fluid when I get back to Independence to put the radiator back in.

one other thing I did notice. When I pulled the tranny lines from the radiator very little (if any) fluid leaked from them.

Jon give me a call when you get a chance.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Make sure to flush the heater core as well. I bet there is some of the black gunk in it too.

 

[Turdle]

Psst. I've bought 2 of these from this seller, they worked-performed great.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-R...es&hash=item27bff1fe2e&vxp=mtr#ht_2406wt_1396

Took about 3 days ship time.

 

[traveler]

I wish I had. The repairs to the radiator will be about 125.00. But the radiator shop has had so many people come in, had the radiator checked out and pressure tested then said thanks and left that the shop now has a base rate policy. 65.00 to do the inspecting and testing which is waived when you actually have them do the repairs. So If I buy a new radiator I'll pay for a new radiator, plus the charge at the shop. So I'm kinda committed. But I'll know next time. I don't mind too much. I like to support local businesses and he does good work with an attention to detail.