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Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:06 pm
by SubaruNation
Ok, so i want to throw this out to the community.

I literally just changed my head gaskets about 4 months ago, and now in my metal overflow tank I've got some weird brown/gray goop... which leads me to wonder what is wrong with my current coolant setup in that i could have possibly blown another headgasket.


ok so symptoms:
I drained my coolant and it was pretty gross, def not green until after the liquids settled in a large container on top of each other. my metal tank and overflow tank were both covered in the stuff. I purchased a new radiator (KoYo) after fixing the headgasketsm so there wouldn't be any goop in that but there could be some in my heater-core correct? I also just replaced my thermostat during this whole ordeal.

Car is so far not getting hot in the readout on the cluster... constantly sits right before half like always.

But basically, I've got goop..

Any ideas? maybe i messed up on a line somewhere and am merging coolant and oil (hope not) but it just has me wondering. brand new metal headgaskets should not blow this fask on a mere 13lbs of boost.

Please post up your thoughts, i'd love to hear what you think.

thanks,

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:45 am
by lucas
thats what i would think maybe the head gaskets blew up again, back when i worked in a shop i saw a guy suck the head gasket off a jaguar with the vacuum machine. Or maybe its just some kind of filmy crap that was on the new radiator when you bought it, a bi-product of its manufacture?

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:29 pm
by SubaruNation
Its a Koyo aluminium rad, so I don't think there was gunk on the new radiator. Maybe still in the heater core or hoses or something... Either way.im going to cycle water through it today a million times to try and clear it up . hopefully that helps :|

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 9:46 pm
by Legacy777
Zach,

Did you flush the system good after putting on the new radiator? Did the cooling fluid get progressively worse/nasty over time, or did you just notice it one day?

When my headgasket went my coolant didn't look nasty, so I'd almost guess that it is crud in the engine.

What kind of antifreeze are you using and what mixture of antifreeze and water is it?

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 6:38 am
by SubaruNation
Hey Josh!

So i haven't checked it post - spirited driving but i flushed it out using the gardening hose technique . Was very clean after using more flush and letting it run for 15 min and pressuring it out with the hose. So I Think I'm all good, verify in the manana .

Either way not a cool feeling thinking I blew another one..
Im using napa antifreeze in the blue container (1gal) and a jug of gas station steam-collected water 1gal) which should be minus all the minerals and such.

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 5:52 pm
by Legacy777
Well that's good it looked pretty clean.

Have things been continuing to run well since the flush?

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:00 am
by SubaruNation
I need to check again but it should be clean, and I noticed that cylinders one and two get hot first, and seemingly a lot hotter also.

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:12 pm
by Legacy777
How are you determing cylinders 1 & 2 get hot first and a lot hotter?

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:28 pm
by SubaruNation
Ancient hand hover over engine technique, i have a laser thermo too

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:33 pm
by Legacy777
How much warmer are you seeing that side of the block?

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 3:08 am
by SubaruNation
Cylinders 1 and 2 are fifty degrees hotter at operating temp

Re: Coolant weirdness, thoughts needed :S

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:33 pm
by Legacy777
Hmmm.....only thing I can think of off the top of my head is an obstruction in the cooling system. What I'd probably try is removing the radiator and water pump and then use a hose to back flush water through the engine to see if you can dislodge whatever is in there.