Orange-ish coolant, remove head to inspect?

[dongoesby]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m148/Dongoesby/DSC02926.jpg?t=1243546394

Situation: s14 SR motor on a stand. Removed radiator, coolant came out pretty rusty. Then, removed turbo lines, concentrated orange liquid came out (really heavy orange). And lastly, removed water neck, a lot of rusty build up inside but easily washed off.

Suggestions: what would cause such rust build up in side the engine, headgasket? or the previous owner never change coolant?
Should I remove the head and take out the front chain/oil-pump cover and inspect?

Currently went of cash for this swap. Should I just fire it up and change coolant and frequently until I fix it when I save enough for a engine build?

[aNskY]

somebody probably ran dex-cool.

just flush it, you will be fine

[Shadowhunter]

I would get a flush at a shop using one of their pressurized coolant flushing machines. If the coolant has rust and crap floating around in it it should get just about all of it out. They use a cleaning agent first and then use equal pressure to flow new coolant into the system. Old coolant or dexcool as above poster said may cause you to be seeing that as well.

[Drft_S14]

I agree the previous owner just probly used dex-cool, dex-cool + rust = really orange. If ur gna take off the head, just blow high pressure air on the water jackets, you should be fine, goodluck !

[zugoi]

Rust build up, just flush your cooling system and fill with right amount of coolant.

[dongoesby]

thanks guys, that would give me a big relief. and that machine flush sounds like what i'm going to do.

[landins13]

yeah flush it and you should be good. if it continues theyre a coolant system additives that remove rust and help to prevent it from happening again

[rocksteady_racer]

I just did this in my car. My radiator and motor was mad rusty on the inside. So I got some dexcool (which is probably what that is) and it turned all my rust orange. So what you do is (I read this in my chiltons manual) since they used that stuff: drain your radiator completely (drain cock at bottom) get your garden hose and put it in the radiator cap, keep your drain cock open all the way, also turn your heater on full blast(inside the car), and fill the radiator up with the garden hose while it's leaking out the bottom ( you want the radiator to stay full while the engine is running but you want the run off to come out the bottom). Now run your car like that for a while until the water at the botttom comes out clear. Then drain it completely again, close the drain cock, and fill it with 50/50 and your engine should be all clean. That's what I did to mine and it was coated with rust (orange like that).

[dongoesby]

good lord, at first when i heard "garden hose", i thought you are telling me to flush it with tap water lol.

but yea, thanks, that is an awesome tip! :)

[Wake]

first of all, the first 2 people that told you its dex-cool were right, thats excactly what it is. Dont freak out, do exactly what rocksteady told you and when you refill it use redline water wetter instead of 50/50 coolant that way you coolant will be more clear next time you flush it and youll be able to tell exactly how much is rust and how much was dex. you can tell fine with yellow collant but this will make it a bit easier. and next time you flush it if theres still rust looking coloration use bars leak (brand) radiator flush or something similar to control the ecd (electro chemical discharge) from building back up. I hope you replaced your water punp after you took the original off.

[S14DB]

I would get a flush at a shop using one of their pressurized coolant flushing machines. If the coolant has rust and crap floating around in it it should get just about all of it out. They use a cleaning agent first and then use equal pressure to flow new coolant into the system. Old coolant or dexcool as above poster said may cause you to be seeing that as well.
Yeah those pulse flushing systems are impressive. Takes the scale right off the cylinder walls.

[rocksteady_racer]

The only reason I wouldn't recommend that crazy pressure thing at a shop first is because Pep boys and the shops around here cost 200$ and up for that. So I'd try my way first so you don't spend too much money on it for no reason.

[s13 @ fullboost]

who the hell would put dex cool in a sr? that's retarded and it gunk's up after awhile and become dex mud.

[aNskY]

who the hell would put dex cool in a sr? that's retarded and it gunk's up after awhile and become dex mud.

an ignant who saw the $15/g jug of coolant and thought, the pricier the better :nono:

[S14DB]

The only reason I wouldn't recommend that crazy pressure thing at a shop first is because Pep boys and the shops around here cost 200$ and up for that. So I'd try my way first so you don't spend too much money on it for no reason.Our cooling systems are designed to take 24psi in a pressure test. These don't get near that. They pulse the fluid through the system to flake parts off. If you blow a line it would have failed the pressure test anyways.

Cost is not that bad for a full coolant service. It is as good or better then dissembling the block and then hot tanking it. You would have to get an ultrasonic to pulse the scale off as well.

an ignant who saw the $15/g jug of coolant and thought, the pricier the better :nono:

Maybe some G-05. But Dex-cool is cheaper than that. Probably saw the extended life bullshit on the can.

This must have been filled a couple years back when real dex-cool was on the shelves. With shit like that happening all the coolant manufactures sell dex-cool compatible coolants. They have additives that are compatible but, they are glycol based.

[Def]

Previous owner of my SR in Japan used Dex Cool. Crap is nasty and took forever to get out doing the occasional coolant flush.