Leaking Brown Coolant?...No Way Can This Be Good...

[TM21fourT3]

Got to my destination yesterday (about 20min from the house), and noticed a puddle under the Explorer...checked the engine, didn't see anything crazy.

Went home later, with no problems....but then got home and noticed it started leaking again after I tuned the key off. It's a brown liquid....then I saw that the spot where you pour in engine coolant there was a similar color brown stain, I opened the cap, and all of the engine coolant is brown....what is this?

I told a friend about it, he guess head gasket....is he right? (Please tell me he's wrong )......

If it is the head gasket, is there a thread about how to replace/fix the issue? I have the Haynes Repair Manual, and couldn't quickly find it in there...

Thanks a lot guys.

Update :

I checked the oil, doesn't seem terrible...could probably use an oil change soon, but I wouldn't say it's that bad.

I drained the coolant out, and it was nasty looking. I also flushed 5 gallons of water through it, and by the very end of the 5 gallons the liquid coming out was about 1/4 dark as the initial liquid. In other words, through 5 gallons it was never coming out clear.

What is the next move?

Update 2 :

Added a pic on pg 2

 

[Currency]

To be from what you said, it is a blown gasket and most likely a head gasket. An intake gasket generally won't have oil mixing in the coolant, just coolant leaking out of the intake.

So check around the heads, but as you said it's the passenger side head since it's near the oil fill cap. Your looking at several hundred dollars to repair this.

The heads will need to be removed and possibly milled if they warped from the heat. You'll need new head bolts. Overall the cost is a little high and sometimes when you replace the heads the bottom end of the engine will be next to go.

Not recommending an entire engine rebuild, but replacement is always faster and cheaper if you can find a replacement engine.

 

[Texan01]

Yup, been there a few times with mine. last time I had it apart, I had the heads milled flat again, but they checked out great otherwise.

I think it ran me about $350 for parts and machine shop work back in October, but I did all the work myself and my shortblock despite having nearly 300,000 miles on it is in excellent shape.

 

[Anime]

Don't be too quick to assume brownish coolant means oil, it could just be rust from the iron block/heads. If it's a deep, dark brown, maybe. You should probably drain it and let it sit, check if there is any rainbow sheen to it or if the oil seperates, or just see if you get oil film on whatever you stick in it.

If it is oil, yeah, head gasket or cracked head. Just buy new heads, don't even bother trying to mill or refurb the originals. Get new rockers while you're at it. Spend the $200/head and $$$ on rockers and gaskets and head bolts and be done with it.

If it's not oil and just filthy brown from never being changed, or being mixed with other types of coolant (like Dex-cool) just change the coolant after flushing/rinsing the system.

 

[DaExplorer]

Did you pull the dipstick and see what the oil looks like? If it looks like chocolate milk you are in trouble. If head gasket and oil is in the coolant then coolant should also be in oil. Not good to run the engine that way. Remove oil cap and look and see.

 

[Jason94sport]

Don't be too quick to assume brownish coolant means oil, it could just be rust from the iron block/heads.

Yep. My coolant is a shade of brown/green. But doesn't leak a drop of coolant. Just oil.

 

[blueoval9erlifer]

i would check my oil and see if it has any water in it. did it start using oil recently?? if not then i would flush the cooling system and put 2 or 3 bottles of waterpump lubricant/anti rust in it. with new antifreeze of course.

 

[TM21fourT3]

I updated the first post with the coolant draining / flushing...

 

[TM21fourT3]

Also...stupid question most likely, but how do you get the engine coolant reservoir empty?!

 

[Anime]

I flushed the system quite a few times with distilled water when I switched over to Zerex G-05 from Prestone (all the new Prestones are really Dex-cool, and eat gaskets), and even after just a few minutes, the water turned brown just from going through the system, even on the very, very last flush. My guess is you can never have a perfectly clean coolant system, the surfaces of the iron, aluminum, rubber, plastic, etc. are all always going to contribute crud to it.

If you stick a cloth or piece of paper in the drained coolant and it comes out with an oil residue, that's a different story. Then yeah, you'd want to change a head gasket or just get new heads entirely.

If there's no indication there is actual oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil, I would just flush the system, refill with good coolant/distilled water in a 50/50 mix, and keep an eye on it. If the reservoir stuff goes to a darker brown real fast, it might be oil. The G-05 I have starts out as a pale yellow/gold color, but gets only slightly darker once it's in the system. If it went brown, I'd know it was oil.

You can drain the reservoir by removing the rubber hose from where the radiator cap is. I stick a antifreeze bottle up in the fenderwell, with the top open, and put it in front of the coil spring, then remove the hose from the radiator, keeping it pinched closed or my thumb over it, then put it in the bottle and let it drain. I also like to pour a little water in the reservoir after it drains to flush the last of the old coolant out, and sometimes I use a clean cloth and wood/metal rod to get around in the reservoir and clean up any crud.

 

[TM21fourT3]

Can someone one just tell me :

what I need to replace to make this run ok again?

Thank you.

 

[corkey]

bet somebody used stop leak in it, or it's just rust from the system,

engine runs good no misfires ?

 

[TM21fourT3]

Before (and while) I discovered the brown coolant, the engine was running perfectly fine. I mean I drove it about 20-25min home from work after finding the brown coolant with no issues.

I haven't started it in the last 3 days because I was told if it is something serious I could blow the engine by running it. So until I learn more I'm leaving it alone.

But to answer the question, no misfires and running good last I checked.

 

[Anime]

I would say just drain all the coolant, run it with some water in it (using the burp procedure so you don't ruin the thermostat) and drain again, or flush the system using the hose method, then refill with 50/50 coolant/water, preferably something like Zerex G-05 or Zerex Original Green.

 

[TM21fourT3]

I'll predict it'll be a stupid question....but how do I get the brown coolant out of the reservoir tank on the right?

 

[swshawaii]

Last paragraph post #10.

 

[TM21fourT3]

Last paragraph.

[QUOTEYou can drain the reservoir by removing the rubber hose from where the radiator cap is. I stick a antifreeze bottle up in the fenderwell, with the top open, and put it in front of the coil spring, then remove the hose from the radiator, keeping it pinched closed or my thumb over it, then put it in the bottle and let it drain. I also like to pour a little water in the reservoir after it drains to flush the last of the old coolant out, and sometimes I use a clean cloth and wood/metal rod to get around in the reservoir and clean up any crud.
]

[/QUOTE]

Nice...thanks

So basically, flush everything, burp it, get some water in it....and let it run and see what happens?

 

[swshawaii]

Run it for 15 minutes watching the temp and check your oil for water.
Sounds like the coolant has never been changed, your Ex will be very

 

[Anime]

So basically, flush everything, burp it, get some water in it....and let it run and see what happens?

You can run it on straight water (which actually cools better than water & coolant), BUT water alone provides NO protection for the metals or overheating/freezing, so if you keep it in there very long, it will cause light rust - and you'll get the same brown stuff.

I'd say run it on water for awhile, which will help clean out the system, then drain the system, add a gallon of coolant, and fill the rest with water, which will give you a 50/50 mix since the system holds about 2 gallons of liquid. If the coolant doesn't turn brownish again, no problems.

The old coolant might just be brown from age and never being changed. Coolant loses effectiveness over time, and eventually doesn't protect the system anymore.

 

[TM21fourT3]

You can run it on straight water (which actually cools better than water & coolant), BUT water alone provides NO protection for the metals or overheating/freezing, so if you keep it in there very long, it will cause light rust - and you'll get the same brown stuff.

I'd say run it on water for awhile, which will help clean out the system, then drain the system, add a gallon of coolant, and fill the rest with water, which will give you a 50/50 mix since the system holds about 2 gallons of liquid. If the coolant doesn't turn brownish again, no problems.

The old coolant might just be brown from age and never being changed. Coolant loses effectiveness over time, and eventually doesn't protect the system anymore.

Got to the point a where I flushed everything....poured in just water....and ran it. While it was running there were a few drips from the very center of the engine, I would say a drip every second. I had it running for about 4min, rev'ed it a few times, no issues at all, seemed like it would drive perfectly fine. After I turned it off though, the major dripping began, still from the center.

I decided not to go ahead with the next step of re-flushing and doing the 1gal/1gal mixture due to the major dripping (still).

What now?