gunky coolant

[notsonic]

first, whats the typical maintnence interval for flushing your coolant?

anyway, on to my problem.

a little over a year ago i replaced my water pump. i probably had all kinds of coolants in there. green, dexcool, the mixes with both stuff. it was pretty gunky. i flushed the engine and radiator till nothing but clean water came out.

i decided to check my fluids the other day since i realized i hadn't in a long time. the coolant dipstick has all caked on gunk and you can see some **** in the radiator too. i think that when i filled it, i used only the mixes with both, and water.

should i flush it again and just use the green stuff?


i should mention that since flushing and replacing my water pump the engine has run a lot cooler. still does but im afraid it might not if the gunk continues to build.


95 3.4l v6, auto.

[cam98aro]

Re: gunky coolant

depends on your year, but im pretty sure dexcool is 5 year 100k miles

and yes, you need to flush it, you CANNOT use dexcool and the green stuff mixed together, unless it is one of those "mix with any color" kinds.

i see that you have a 95' IIRC they started using dexcool in 96'.

i flushed the dexcool out of my car and used the green stuff and everything is fine

since you mixed them, it is hard to tell if you have a headgasket problem, or it is gunky because they both were mixed

i would flush it out, and use the green stuff then check up on it every once in a while to see if it goes back to gunk.. if it does you are looking at a new headgasket

[zpwn06]

Re: gunky coolant

mine was gunky because I had green and orange. Flushed it, replaced with only orange and now its fine. By the way though, it took about three flushes to get all the gunk out, over the span of a month.

[notsonic]

Re: gunky coolant

no i didnt mix them the second time. instead of using dexcool or the green stuff, i just used the kind that you can mix with both, and some water.

ill prolly flush it and use the green stuff.

[techsan23]

Re: gunky coolant

I would recommend a lifetime antifreeze such as peak global or prestone any color. They are a yellowish color. They are designed to mix with any AF. A 50/50 mix will dissipate heat faster than straight AF. I would either use a premix or mix your own using distilled water. You can also use an additive like water wetter to help cooling. I just replaced my overflow res. so I wouldnt have to clean it out.