ahardb0dy Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hello, back in April of this year I flushed my cooling system with a radiator flush, drained radiator and engine block, following directions on the flush container. I flushed the system 3 times and than re-filled with the pre mixed antifreeze. I also cleaned out the overflow bottle the best I could. I noticed about a week or so ago the inside of the radiator cap was covered with what looked like rust, I cleaned the metal surfaces with a wire brush rinsed it off and put it back on. Water was little low so I added some water. Today I checked the water and it was low so I added regular water as I did not have any antifreeze available, inside of the radiator cap had brown crap on it as well. I let the car run until it warmed up and noticed what looked like brown sludge with bubbles coming out of the top of the radiator. The engine oil was a little low but no sign of water in it at all and no antifreeze under the vehicle. I flushed the block and radiator a few times and refilled it with water, I know not good but no antifreeze available today. Question is what the hell is this brown sludge looking crap coming out of my radiator ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Are you filling it with well water by chance? I use well water in mine and tend to have to flush all of my vehicles every other year or so. I think next time I'm going to use drinking water from 1gal. bottles from the grocery store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Towncivilian Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Use distilled or demineralized water only in a cooling system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 I don't have a well myself but it does come from a well treated with chlorine and is filtered by me to remove sediments. I'll have to flush it again soon and use antifreeze. It had antifreeze in it so don't know where the brown sludge looking stuff is coming from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreus009 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Is the sludge oily to the touch? Once upon a time had a car that the transmission cooler part of the radiator had a crack/leak that let the transmission fluid into the water area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 car is a manual trans, no trans oil cooler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreus009 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 (edited) Well that rules out that theory . I assume you don't think its just rust? Edited September 11, 2012 by andreus009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 i don't know, I flushed the whole system out pretty good back in April, I haven't driven the car much since the AC isn't working and I have been driving the pathfinder. I'll keep an eye on it until I can flush it again and replace the water with antifreeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Sounds like a cracked head. My saturn did the same thing. If you could post pics of the brown stuff. I use well water and i've never had a problem and I do have hard water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 (edited) Ok, got new question. My car has 3 temperature senders, 2 stock and one is a mechanical Autometer water temp sender for the gauge. One sender controls just the stock water temp gauge in the cluster, one (thermo switch) is in the cover of the thermostat housing and controls the electric fan. This part I replaced in April with a new one. I've noticed while driving the temp stays normal, about 180 on the autometer gauge, aprox 1/4 on the stock gauge, when I get into traffic the Autometer starts creeping up towards 200, the stock gauge doesn't seem to move. I did a test when I got home yesterday and just sat in the car to see if the cooling fan would come on, it finally did when the stock gauge was almost at the half way mark, the Autometer gauge was right around 210. The temp on the Autometer gauge would never go that high before, the highest it normally goes is just above 200 and that is mid summer high 90's out. More info, the autometer gauge sender is in the water outlet coming off the engine block, I drilled and tapped a hole since the JDM engines have one stock like this). the fan thermo switch as I said is in the thermostat housing cover and the stock gauge sender appears to be in the head near the water outlet, thermostat was just replaced in April and is factory 170 degree So I would think the mechanical Autometer gauge is probably more accurate than the stock electric gauge and being it is reading water temps coming right out of the block compared to the fan thermo switch at the thermostat housing (after flowing thru the radiator), I would expect the Autometer gauge to be seeing higher temps than the thermo switch. I was thinking maybe the water pump is on it's way out but I did notice when the water temp started to get over 200 a quick push on the gas pedal and the temp starts coming down so that indicates to me the water pump is pumping. Being that I have this rust looking water in my system what do you think is the possibility that the fan thermo switch has a coating of this stuff on it and it is raising the temp at which the fan should normally come on? Tomorrow I plan on pulling the stock gauge sender to test it and clean it, possibly replace it with an extra one I have from the pathfinder, I think they are the same. Also want to pull the thermo switch to check it What do you think? Edited September 15, 2012 by ahardb0dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 So tonight I pulled the thermo switch, the gauge sender (same as the pathfinder) and the Sender for the Autometer gauge, I cleaned them all except while cleaning the one for the stock gauge the plastic broke off the metal part so I cleaned and tested the extra one I had from the original pathfinder engine and used that one instead. I put everything back together, topped off the water, bled out any air and monitored the gauges. The electric fan came on at 208 on the Autometer gauge and the stock gauge was just under the halfway point. Tomorrow if I can get a infrared thermometer I want to test the temp at the water outlet compared to where the stock gauge sender is. I also found the stock gauge sender is mounted right next to the thermostat housing, not near the water outlet like I thought it was. Depending on what the temp is near the thermostat housing I may try to get a new thermo switch, the FSM says the fan should come on at 185 degrees. so if the thermometer says the temp near the thermo switch is close to 185 degrees than I guess everything is ok, if the temp near the thermoswitch is higher than 185 the thermo switch may be bad. I knew the original thermo switch was bad as the fan would not come on at all. Also noticed when the electric cooling fan does come on the rpm's drop and one time the engine did stall, it idles right at 850 with the fans off. But when I turn the AC on which turns BOTH electric fans on the RPM's will increase to just over 1000. Now I need to figure out why the RPM's do not rise when just the electric cooling fan comes on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 That could be a problem from the alternator. Electric fans pull a HUGE load when they first kick on. As for the brown junk, it could just be residual rust'ish type stuff from the car being ran with straight water for any period in its life, but I might take a gander that water and oil are mixing. I wouldn't say it's bad and that the water getting in to the block is enough to make the oil milky, but that's the residue that's ending up on the oil filler cap and the radiator cap. And it would certainly explain the funky temperature readings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 (edited) I dont recall him saying there was anything on the oil cap, just the rad. The rpms are gonna increase when you turn the ac on because the compressure is turning then. When just the fan it self comes on it shouldnt idlefaster since its not that much of a draw. You should notice it goe down and then back up since the fan does draw more current when it first kicks on. Brown like this? Edited September 19, 2012 by nismothunder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Or like this milky chocolate shake drink. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 (edited) No, not brown like that, I guess it's just rusty. The oil looks just like oil, Don't think it's an alternator problem, I swapped out the stock 70 amp for a 110 amp from a maxima. Also I don't have the belt on for the AC compressor right now. I know the rpm's are designed to raise when the AC comes on. I'm talking to a sentra veteran on another forum who says he went thru the exact same problem as I am now, he said his turned out to be debris in the output side where the wax element goes. Thanks for the responses and if see the brown in the radiator again I'll get a pic. Right now I have to get a new heater hose before I can do anything else. Edited September 20, 2012 by ahardb0dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 (edited) Bought a new water pump from Beck Arnley, it was delivered today, removed the old water pump and thermostat housing, Cleaned the thermostat housing real good and flowed the hose through all the hose openings to make sure there is good flow. I think I'm going to bolt the new water pump to the thermostat housing first, let it dry good than bolt the whole assembly to the engine. The old water pump impeller didn't look too bad it looks different than the new one. Here are some pics of the old and new water pump: Edited October 9, 2012 by ahardb0dy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Last time I had rusty issue like that I replaced the water pump and it cleared it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Does the impeller on the new pump look like it may be a better design than the old one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Sometimes the coolant will separate on its own into jelly and water. This is why you want to replace the coolant more often. If you don't, that jelly will clog your radiator and possibly other things. You can try to dissolve it with more coolant and will get a more brown coolant. Perfectly normal. Just look at what happens inside your overflow bottle over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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