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Just had my antifreeze flushed not too long ago, and checked it today and it looks like this. Think it could just be deposits built up, or is my head gasket leaking? The car has never overheated and runs great.
You need to ask the people who serviced your car what lengths they went to, did they pull knock sensor then flush to push out mud and old coolant then reinstall sensor run car with water to capture more junk and flush until clean.
Then you need to ask them if they dumped Bars-Leak in that stuff makes any system look like Crap instantly.
Next a question you already 1/2 answered it runs great but is it eating coolant and when running do you get visible bubbles not associated with normal coolant flow. Also do you have a sweet smelling white cloud exhaust
You need to ask the people who serviced your car what lengths they went to, did they pull knock sensor then flush to push out mud and old coolant then reinstall sensor run car with water to capture more junk and flush until clean.
Then you need to ask them if they dumped Bars-Leak in that stuff makes any system look like Crap instantly.
Next a question you already 1/2 answered it runs great but is it eating coolant and when running do you get visible bubbles not associated with normal coolant flow. Also do you have a sweet smelling white cloud exhaust
It hasn't seemed to be eating any coolant, and the exhaust is normal, should I take the cap off and start the car to see if there are any bubbles?
Is it oily? If you have an automatic your transmission cooler may have failed. Check your trans fluid for loss or milkyness. Since transmissions operate at a much higher pressure than the cooling system you usually don't get much coolant in the fluid, but it can happen.
You can also buy a kit to check for combustion gasses in the coolant to see if the head gasket is leaking.
untill you flush again you can insert a cotton cloth where you see oil and will be absorbed by cotton. other sources of oil can be the intake manifold leak or heater core not flushed ( max temp settings).
more importantly make sure there is no coolant in oil. when the car has been sitting for a day or more water accumulates at the bottom of the pan. if you pull the drain bolt ( don’t start or crank the engine )for a second water would drain first or oil mixed with water.
also before flushing did you find any oil in the coolant?
untill you flush again you can insert a cotton cloth where you see oil and will be absorbed by cotton. other sources of oil can be the intake manifold leak or heater core not flushed ( max temp settings).
more importantly make sure there is no coolant in oil. when the car has been sitting for a day or more water accumulates at the bottom of the pan. if you pull the drain bolt ( don’t start or crank the engine )for a second water would drain first or oil mixed with water.
also before flushing did you find any oil in the coolant?
Before flushing the coolant looked about the same. I've checked the oil many times and it hasn't had any coolant in it.
Is it oily? If you have an automatic your transmission cooler may have failed. Check your trans fluid for loss or milkyness. Since transmissions operate at a much higher pressure than the cooling system you usually don't get much coolant in the fluid, but it can happen.
You can also buy a kit to check for combustion gasses in the coolant to see if the head gasket is leaking.
My trans fluid appears to be okay, I'll probably just buy a kit to check for a head gasket leak, and if nothing is leaking probably get it flushed again.
Yes it did you flush the block? Flushing just the radiator is not going to take care of your issue. The radiators in our cars are aluminum which means that the coolant discoloration has to be from the block
Yes it did you flush the block? Flushing just the radiator is not going to take care of your issue. The radiators in our cars are aluminum which means that the coolant discoloration has to be from the block
I'll have to ask the dealership if they did, though I'm pretty sure they may not have
Just had my antifreeze flushed not too long ago, and checked it today and it looks like this. Think it could just be deposits built up, or is my head gasket leaking? The car has never overheated and runs great.
pressure test the cooling system. I pump it up to 10-12psi and see if it holds the pressure. if it goes down, there's a leak somewhere in the system.
Last edited by mike1111; Dec 27, 2023 at 04:28 PM.
if pressure testing make sure you don’t exceed the pressure you require like the cap pressure. I did such a test and went a little above by mistake and I got leaks everywhere, radiator, manifold…
also synthetic ester core oils can cause leaks of oil very easily.
before my HG failed I had a little bit of oil in the coolant. gasket testes didn’t show anything abnormal. Engine was overheating for some reason. then I cranked the engine with a dead battery that did several turns without firing up and when I put a fresh battery in and cranked it up it instantly started up an white smoke came out from no3 cylinder. I don’t know if the gasket failed or it was caused by hydrolock from too much gasoline. After that the oil immediately became discoloured and creamy so a massive leak. I believe a small gasket leak can go with small leaking of oil without showing on a gasket test or building pressure in the coolant system. How old is your gasket?
When I do a full flush. I get like 13 gallons of distilled and keep running/dumping it throughout the day until it's all clear. Then dump the radiator and fill with straight coolant until I've dumped 1/2 the capacity in. Then check the mixture with one of those coolant testers to make sure it's mixed the right 50/50 amount. I use Zerex G-05 coolant as it's a more modern coolant that doesn't have the Dexcool problems. It also has less silicate, which I've read can cause less wear and tear compared to the original green coolant.
Leaking head gasket? 88 vette
