Dirty Anti-freeze

[ToughCountry]

Well i think i have a major problem i THINK..i hope not tho, I was doin something under my hood the other day and glanced over at the coolant container and it was empty, i didnt think much of it except to fill it back up and see what happens, that was yesterday. I looked at it again a few hrs ago and it was dark brown not green, and was still a little emptier then to the the fill line, so i checked my oil to see if there was anything goin on with that but i didnt see any diffrnce in the oil and theres no anti-freeze on the drive or wherever i park so i dont know what the hell is goin on.

Anyone with some ideas?

Jay

 

[ExplorerDMB]

You were probably just a little low on antifreeze. But you may be in need of a coolant flush. Mine is not brown but its a dark green. I plan on changing it soon. I believe a coolant flush is recommended at every 30K miles. Also, the new stuff you put in probably mixed with the old, the container on the side of your engine comparment is basically an "overfill" container. Hope this helps.

-Drew

 

[ToughCountry]

yea i am goin to do a coolant flush first thing after i get home from work 2morrow, thanx alot

 

[ExplorerDMB]

One other thing. Have you been running just water for any period of time? Dark brown can mean you have a rusting problem. Running water with anti freeze will prevent rusting for antifreeze has molecules in it that prevent that from happening. But a coolant system that is rusted out is horrible. We had a truck in the shop on Friday who just used Water and it ruined his whole cooling system and probably won't run right again. But if it's not rusting, you could possibly have a leak, which is why you were low on coolant. If you are doing the flush yourself, just check all your lines and your radiator. If it's dark brown, like you said, the leak should be lower to the ground cause it probably got mixed with some dirt. Good luck. I'll recommend you take it to a shop is after you flush it and put new fluid in that it still turns brown. Also, 50/50 (antifreeze/water combo) is ok, but at the shop we usually use more antifreeze than water. Again, hope this helps.

-Drew

 

[ExplorerDMB]

and one other thing, since you are low you may not have a leak. It's just like many other liquids, they evaporate (especially with all that heat).

 

[ToughCountry]

No ive never put just water in the system, always the 50/50...yea when i flush it ill check it out and see what happens,