What happens when anti-freeze gets old

[Tippey764]

Does it turn into brown dust/dirt?


The f20a dohc i bought was clearly sitting for many years

I noticed that the coolant looks like it has brown dust/dirt in it

I was thinking it was maybe from anti-freeze sitting in the block degrading for years.

No the coolant is not milky. Its not a BHG.

I just want to get it all cleaned up so i can put anti-freeze in it for the winter ( it has water right now )

[Leung]

i don't know about the green or yellowish anti freeze but i know the orange stuff found in GM cars do, well at least it did in my brother's Pontiac Gran Am.

How would you even clean that out of an engine without completely taking it apart?

[h22sparkle]

I have orange coolant in my srt 4 but heres the thing we use a special kind of coolant which operates at a slightly high temperature to keep the system cooler than most coolants with slightly different additives really not good for aluminum blocks which tend to dissipate heat a little faster.

If its unusually brown then flush the system and replace it with the same coolant the manufacturer reccommends after you confirm it. Sometimes you may have to flush the system for sludge that sits at the bottom for months years.

[Tippey764]

i don't know about the green or yellowish anti freeze but i know the orange stuff found in GM cars do, well at least it did in my brother's Pontiac Gran Am.

How would you even clean that out of an engine without completely taking it apart?

Lots of flushes?

Its slowly started going away

I notice though it gets in the seal on the radiator cap and causes it to leak so i have to clean it out. Theres a nasty brown stain on my radiator from the cap

the cap is brand new

[accordztech]

non oem antifreeze has a life of 2 years. Oem antifreeze (blue) has a 5 year service life. If your antifreeze has been in your car for more than 2 years then its time for a change regardless of color. If its not yellow, or green or a color other than brown it should be changed.

Electrolysis is something that starts happening when it gets older, but the rust inhibitors that are in coolant/antifreeze is depleted.

for REALLY neglected systems, drain and fill...or if your city sewer allows it, take out the thermostat and bolt the housing back up. disconnect the upper radiator hose from the radiator...Then run a hose through the radiator with no nozzle and the heater valve open....This will flush the crap out of the system.

Put the old thermostat back in for now....Then I get some flush from the autostore. Put it in as stated per instructions. They said run it for only 10 minutes or so. I let it run for a while driving around maybe about 20 miles or so. Then I let the car cool down and flush it out again. The water should look ugly as hell.

Then I just put water and drive around for a while again...maybe a day. Then do a drain and get all the water possible out of the engine...Then put my 50/50 mixture of new coolant in. If im really anal about still having a little water in the system, ill drain and fill in a few months. But usually I dont at all.

Since you took the thermostat out put in a new OEM one...and a NEW OEM cap. Dont use those aftermarket POS caps. They dont last a year.a\

For just maintanence, I usually just drain the coolant and fill it with 50/50.

[Tippey764]

non oem antifreeze has a life of 2 years. Oem antifreeze (blue) has a 5 year service life. If your antifreeze has been in your car for more than 2 years then its time for a change regardless of color. If its not yellow, or green or a color other than brown it should be changed.

Electrolysis is something that starts happening when it gets older, but the rust inhibitors that are in coolant/antifreeze is depleted.

for REALLY neglected systems, drain and fill...or if your city sewer allows it, take out the thermostat and bolt the housing back up. disconnect the upper radiator hose from the radiator...Then run a hose through the radiator with no nozzle and the heater valve open....This will flush the crap out of the system.

Put the old thermostat back in for now....Then I get some flush from the autostore. Put it in as stated per instructions. They said run it for only 10 minutes or so. I let it run for a while driving around maybe about 20 miles or so. Then I let the car cool down and flush it out again. The water should look ugly as hell.

Then I just put water and drive around for a while again...maybe a day. Then do a drain and get all the water possible out of the engine...Then put my 50/50 mixture of new coolant in. If im really anal about still having a little water in the system, ill drain and fill in a few months. But usually I dont at all.

Since you took the thermostat out put in a new OEM one...and a NEW OEM cap. Dont use those aftermarket POS caps. They dont last a year.a\

For just maintanence, I usually just drain the coolant and fill it with 50/50.

Well the thing is the dirt is in the engine block not the radiator. Well its in the radiator now but the radiator was never neglected. I figure when they pulled this motor from whatever car in japan they didn't drain the fluids and it sat around on a shelf for a few years with all the fluids in it.

I'm actually pretty sure its an after market cap

I found it at the junkyard in my travels and it looked brand new so i just took it. My old cap was a 13psi cap which is too low of a rating for our cars anyways ( they're rated for 14-18psi if i remember correctly )

[Juicebox00]

Quick tip to know whether to change your anti-freeze or not. dip you finger in it and touch it to your tongue. If it tastes sweet, it's good. If it tastes sour its time to change it.

[mtnbikaah]

Quick tip to know whether to change your anti-freeze or not. dip you finger in it and touch it to your tongue. If it tastes sweet, it's good. If it tastes sour its time to change it.

don't do that too often.. anti-freeze is poisonous.

[cuate01221]

Quick tip to know whether to change your anti-freeze or not. dip you finger in it and touch it to your tongue. If it tastes sweet, it's good. If it tastes sour its time to change it.

You can't be serious about this? Thats like saying "Quick tip about rat poison, eat a box and if you almost die, it's still good."

As for the brown look, wouldn't that be rust from it sitting in the block so long? I don't know for sure but isn't antifreeze corrosive?

[S Swap]

don't do that too often.. anti-freeze is poisonous.

You can't be serious about this? Thats like saying "Quick tip about rat poison, eat a box and if you almost die, it's still good."

As for the brown look, wouldn't that be rust from it sitting in the block so long? I don't know for sure but isn't antifreeze corrosive?

Tasting fluids is an old school way to diagnose leaks. Taste the mystery fluid, and you can see what's leaking. I suppose the same could apply to testing the fluids.
Don't drink them, but a taste should be alright.

[Tippey764]

You can't be serious about this? Thats like saying "Quick tip about rat poison, eat a box and if you almost die, it's still good."

As for the brown look, wouldn't that be rust from it sitting in the block so long? I don't know for sure but isn't antifreeze corrosive?

Well i just don't really see the aluminum block rusting lol.

[JBradley500]

kind of off topic but i was doing some reading because i had a very small amount of antifreeze spill around my dog (120 lb rottweiler) and i never did see if he drank it or not... but i looked it up and it would take something like 2 cups of antifreeze to kill a dog that size. i wouldn't go out of my way to drink it but i don't think you would ever die from putting a drop on your tongue for whatever reason lol

[Tippey764]

I actually did taste it before ( the pink stuff ) because i wanted to see if it was sweet or not

It was not. it is in the top 5 of most horrible things i've ever tasted.

[JBradley500]

I actually did taste it before ( the pink stuff ) because i wanted to see if it was sweet or not

It was not. it is in the top 5 of most horrible things i've ever tasted.

id almost be afraid to see what the other 4 things on that list would be

[quaidum]

I actually did taste it before ( the pink stuff ) because i wanted to see if it was sweet or not

It was not. it is in the top 5 of most horrible things i've ever tasted.