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my experience today with the coolant overflow tank

J

JLR

New member
Just thought I'd share my experience today with the coolant overflow tank. I noticed that it was nearly empty, and the radiator was low. At first I thought about thaoe infernal plastic elbows, but wifey, who is expert at nitpicking (picks the smallest nits :th_tongue2:) and closely examing everything looking for probles and faults (especially if it's my fault . . . .) saw wetness on the overflow-tank-to-radiator hose. The hose had gotten itself up against a belt or pully and had a hole worn into it. I decided it would be easier to remove the tank in order to replace the hose, and upon removing the tank I discovered that there was no way a person could see through it, as there was this god-awful dark goo lining the innards of said tank :th_wtf: . SO I decided to clean it. I rinsed it out with a water hose, and the crap didn't budge :th_scratchhead:. I thought, I'd just let it soak for a while so I pluged it up and filled it with a strong solution of TSP and let it sit for an hour. No joy after checking it, the grunge ate the TSP I reckon. SO I added some lye and let it sit again. Looked in there, and lo & behold, the garbage kicked lye's butt :th_question1: Huh? :th_angry-teeth: This stuff must be toxic waste! :th_crossbones1: I took a dowel rod and covered the end with taped-on foam rubber, and tried to scrub on it. I just smeared it around. :mad: I got some on my hands, and it was nearly black. :th_sick1: Looked and felt like old Moly grease. Took some engine cleaner, and Yay! :rolleyes: engine cleaner cuts it! Man, what could it be?
 


It is Dex-cool sludge. The inside of your motor looks the very same way. You need to do a coolant flush and either properly maintain Dex, or the more popular option: flush and fill with Conventional Green.

Furthermore, if you aren't familiar with the 3800's failure with lower intake gaskets, you might want to look at replacing those along with your other maintenance. How many miles ya workin with?
 
Wow, I thought it was toxic waste all right . . . .:th_radioactive: I've only had the car for a few days. Doing a lot of maintenance on it, so I'll know where everything stands. some previous owner had already put the green to it, so I have the coolant system is cleaner than that tank was. But as tenacious as that DEXsludge is, what sort of coolant flush will touch it?:th_scratchhead: It seems to be vulnerable to petroleum products, as that engine cleaner would go through it whereas strong alkali and detergent would not.
 
Okay, the green coolant probably mixed with the dex-cool and made even more sludge. Previous owner sounds dumb dumb. You have to do a thorough flush to make it effective.

I never had a sludge problem when I flushed, I just used water. But you can buy coolant flush kits at parts houses and run them for a day or two and you can flush over and again with water till it comes out clean.
 
Since your in Ok and we got nice weather for the weekend I would suggest you buy a couple bottles of the flush (I would get 3, but I'm a little OCD about this sort of thing) Drain the cooling system and flush it all out with water so you get all the basic nastiness out that's sitting in the coolant. Pour the flush in, top it off with water and go for a drive. Let it really run through the motor. After driving for a while go home, drain all this, flush with water to get out any residing contaminants and then add bottle #2 of flush and top with water (maybe a gallon of coolant if it is going to be hot over the weekend and you plan to do alot of city driving) and leave it for the weekend. Drive the car as much as possible over the weekend so it has plenty of run time. Sunday drain it and if you got a 3rd bottle or if it isn't completely clean repeat the process and by this point if the insides aren't clean you need to just get a new engine.
:th_jester: j/k j/k By the end of the 2nd or 3rd flushing job you should be able to fill with coolant, make sure you keep it 50/50 mix, and not have anything to worry about. I would bet the previous owner drained it and tried to flush it with water and then just added green coolant. May have not even thought about it and left the old dex in the overflow jug and the sludging just happened in the jug. Never know. Previous owners do all sorts of silly things with their cars lol.

Good Luck, let us know how it works out.
 
I'm pulling the ABS module for a rebuild, so I reckon the car will be parked for a while . . . . .but I'll flush the engine when it's back running again;). I'll also be dropping the transaxle oil pan to replace the filter and fluid. On every vehicle I get, I also add a drain plug to the oil pan too.
 


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