Thread: coolant issues

So I had to replace my L36 a few months back. Had a shop swap it out. Runs great. After about a month the company I bought the engine from sent me 2 cooling system conditioner pills. Now my coolant looks dirty and despite my 180* tstat, she reaches 201* .The other day my dic said coolant level low./popped the Hood and overflow tank is at full hot. Get home and let her cool down, open the radiator and its a little low. Any ideas?

Flush the coolant out those pills probably clogged something up. Or your LIM gasket is leaking.

Im with that guy.

Flush the cooling system and bleed all the air out.

Having a 180º thermo wont stop the coolant from reaching 200+, if you idle in traffice the temps always rise and even going down the freeway it can still be in the 190's.

It was 104* yesterday yeah I'll flush it. Its 0325 and only 80* and never went higher than 181*

Exterior temp is likely why your temp was up. I see your in Colorado and likely in some climbing territory where the engine is going to work hard in that kind of heat. I'd flush it out, maybe replace the stat in case it got gunky then motor on.

Hahaha I do take her in the mountains on dirt roads. Check my pics on Facebook my name is Ryan volleberg the dirty engine pic is the old engine.

it's ok, I can usually figure out what's up just by reading the post.

Originally Posted by motorking

Hi,
i am the technical manager at Prestone. I agree with the guys, you should do a thorough flush. Remove the thermostat and replace the housing. Fill the system with water and a flushing agent, run the car for an hour, flush it, refill with water and run again for 10 minutes, drain and replace the t-stat, fill with 50/50 long life coolant.
If it's really brown you either have air in the system (carefully bleed it when refilling) or you have the onset of electrolysis. Check every single ground cable on the car, making sure they are tight, clean and secure. You can check for electrolysis by using a voltmeter on the millivolt scale, stick the ground on the battery, positive in the coolant with engine running. It should be less than 2.5 millivolts, if higher, the system is eating itself from the inside and needs carefull flushing.

Call me skeptical if you want to, but this is the internet. There're plenty of 12 y/o kids who think they're god's gift. Can you cite some credible sources? This is really good information, what with the definite DMM values being listed, but I want to see confirmation.

Check me out if you like, I have thousands of technical posts on the internet. 35 tech videos here youtube.com/cadzillals6.
ASE Master Tech for 35 years, information is straight from chemists in Prestone labs. My shops facebook page is motorking automotive. Your cooling system is like a battery, when the PH level becomes acidic and the mineral content is high, it will generate electricity just like a battery. The spec given is general, OE manuals expect you to maintain the cooling system so they do not cover electrolysis. Happy to answer any cooling system question.