foam in radiator (1 Viewer)

[RavenTai]

LOL yes I think it is time, I do not know what the hell that is, almost looks like you are fermenting something in there, does it smell bad?

that brown color can be from any number of cooling system problems from mixing of coolant to oil to iron corrosion, but i cannot think of anything that would cause foam? looks like a rather stiff foam at that like there is some solids in it, like the consistency of alge.

I guess clean it all out and see what happens after that, see if it reforms, with clean coolant in there you should be able to do the bubble test. watch out for false positives it will burp bubbles in bits and spots shortly after the system is filled and the air pockets make their way out,

I would go short with the next coolant flush, maybe 6 months or so if everything else checks out OK, there will likely be remnants of this funk even after this coolant exchange.

 

[Webster]

That's it!

I forgot when the coolant was low last weekend all I had was a 12 pack of beer with me so I dumped that in instead of water. Makes a nice head though.

Not!

 

[LX_TREME]

What the ... is dat you poured MUD inside

 

[fzj80kidpen]

Holy exorcism Webster,
I wonder if this is the result of:
Green and red mix
ATF and antifreeze
Algae and water
Good and evil
Peanut butter and seafoam
Man o man flush away and away and away.
You should send a sample to blackstone just out of curiosity

 

[Webster]

Well it literally started to create this bizarre funk 2 miles after I stopped at Schucks and bought some green Prestone. I added the Prestone to the overflow bottle and then drove home. That night I noticed this crud under my truck coming out of the overflow bottle.

So I am crossing my finger and hoping it is the red/green mixing.

However since I am a new owner I am not 100% sure what the PO was running in the radiator. Maybe it was beer.

Would like to send some to Blackstone but alas it is all flushed out and down a drain somewhere by now.

 

[Romer]

Will I would think the cause and effect is pretty strong with the mixing. Maybe the PO had another type of coolant and was running some additive as well. Lets cross our fingers and hope thats all.

It was posted earlier, but make sure you tell the radiator guys to turn on the rear heater during the flush.

Might be worth it to have them flush it twice?

So you going with Green or Toyota Red?

 

[Webster]

Well,

I spent some seriouse time perusing the posts on red versus green and couldn't decide baed on what I read. However since I had to get this flushed today I am at the mercy of the radiator shop and they are putting in green. My local Toyota dealer couldn't get me for several days. I'll see how it goes. When I get this crud out and no serious issues pop up I think I will flush again per the posts I've read here. Don't know if what color I'll use then.

 

[e9999]

ooooh nooooo, it's the dreaded Alien acid sludge... It usually takes only 5 minutes to dissolve Headgasket material. After a few hours, the head looks like swiss cheese...
How long have you had it in there, now?


the good thing is that the package usually comes with a young Sigourney Weaver...









oh, you don't have prank-prone friends, do you?

 

[Tools R Us]

Some of the old school "miracle fix in a bottle" additives were soap based and some old school "techs" liked to add soap to the cooling system as a lubricant and cleaner. The bottom line is who knows what's in your system, whatever it is didn't like the new coolant you put in it. I would do the flush, flush, flush, fill with water and then see what you have. With that brew in there it's hard to tell what's up.

Some of that "stuff" can be hard to get completely out of the system, I would start with a water flush to remove most of it, fill with tap water and drive it for a few days. Then if needed use a bottle of cooling system flush, when you get the system clean it will be much easier to find what's going on.

Is there water in the oil or trans fluid? If you suspect an internal oil leak most of the time you can force water into the oil with a cooling system tester, with the truck cold pump up the cooling system and allow it to sit under pressure for a couple of hours, if there is an internal oil leak the oil in that system will turn milky.

 

[Webster]

The mechanic said he saw no sign of fluid in either the enginer or tranny oil.

I will check myself this weekend.

 

[Heffenoche]

I would also suggest an oil analysis to rule out any possible HG problems.

 

[450 Cruiser]

Here is an interesting photo.

This is just a little bit of what shot out that cap.

Apparently it was all over the shop's walls, roof and the mechanic.

Under my hood is covered with the stuff.

The good new is he said "didn't taste like any oil"

Pop Rocks. There's no other explanation.

 

[santiagol]

Since you just bought this truck, I can see the PO wanting to eliminate some minor radiator leak with a "miracle cure" gunk that simply did not get along with Prestone. The fact that your overflow bottle went low also points in this direction. Look out for leaks after you flush and refill.

How did it look before you topped off the overflow?

 

[semlin]

wow, no idea what that stuff is.

i suggest you pop the rad cap every morning for a while and check the rad level as well as the overflow tank level. I lost my h/g through a pinhole leak in a rad hose and a bad rad cap. it never showed in the overflow that i was boiling dry.

i also suggest you get your coolant system pressure tested and have them check the rad cap too.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

The sludge you get when oil and coolant mix looks like that. That's about as much as I have ever seen! I hope for your sake it is an additive, but I'm going to say HG until proven wrong. That is really nasty, thanks for the pic.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Yeesh, that picture's gotta stay around where we can use it to scare newbies with. No matter what issue a newbie asks about, this one should repeatedly appear as the end result. For instance, if they mention their aftermarket trailer hitch wiring keeps popping fuses we should trot it out as what happened to one former member when he just kept replacing fuses, etc.

So, that no lookee to good. I'm gonna have to gong this one as either a practical joke (orange fizzy candy in the rad from your buddies) or there is exhaust gas getting into your coolant. Pull the spark plugs and see if one's different. Look at the bottom of the oil cap - see any light colored deposits??

Hope your flushers are indeed flushing with the temps set to hot on the dash, and also pulling your block drain...

DougM

 

[Heffenoche]

Yeesh, that picture's gotta stay around where we can use it to scare newbies with. No matter what issue a newbie asks about, this one should repeatedly appear as the end result. For instance, if they mention their aftermarket trailer hitch wiring keeps popping fuses we should trot it out as what happened to one former member when he just kept replacing fuses, etc.
DougM

Yea, I had foam like that when my muffler bearings went bad and I put off fixing them.

 

[LandCrusher'70]

Oh dude, bad news. That's looks like Birf Flu to me.

 

[tarbe]

If we can believe Dr. Fritz in the linked article, there is something else in that brew besides antifreeze and water.

http://www.aftermarketbusiness.com/aftermarketbusiness/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=159744

 

[CJF]

Update??