Oaky, about 3-4 months ago, I noticed that my coolant overflow tank was filled with this thick orange sludge. I cleaned it, and flushed the system (which also had alot of that sludge in it.). But now, it's back.

Does anyone know what is causing this? Even with the sludge, my temperature gauge seems to read normal, but I don't want that crap to screw up the water pump, so I'm trying to find the cause.


Thanks

 

Did the car ever see Dex-cool? It is known to sludge up when mixed with the traditional green or yellow coolant.

 

I think maybe so....I put some BS in there about 2 years ago and didn't look at it until about 3-4 months ago when I saw the sludge, but the coolant I bought said it was safe to mix with any kind, and when I did the flush, I only put regular coolant back in. And the sludge returned....do I have to keep flushing it to get it all out, or is there something else I need to do?

 

keep flushing it out. dexcool is the cooling system killer. if it didn't sludge up too much you should be able to salvage the system and flush everything out.

 

Is there a specific type of coolant Maximas use? or as long as its the green stuff its good?

 

you can use any green coolant off the shelf (prestone and etc)...just flush it out once a year or once every other year.

the better stuff comes from OEM..the nissan OEM green coolant and the toyota OEM pink/red coolant are very good.

always flush out all the old stuff before you switch to a difference coolant.

whatever you do...stay away from the dexcool.

 

what Dan said


Dexcool is pretty much a GM thing IIRC

Flush the system out very well. It'll probably take a few times (for systems that need a lot of attention I keep flushing with water until only clear water comes out when I'm draining it. Then I add coolant until I get the correct percentage (double check after a few days too).

There is a chance it could just be rust but in that case you'll want to flush the system out well. Normally you want to flush the cooling system annually, it's the most neglected system on most cars. You can generally get away with biennially without a problem aswell, it's up to you.

 

It's crap even for GM cars. My gf's SC1 blinked the coolant light on her after some big interstate hills that scare whittle 4 bangers

I checked her coolant and it smelled like burnt seaweed that someone pissed on to put out the fire. I said it was good to go and havent flushed it yet...


Saturn FTMFL

 

Just an FYI... Gm is currently in the middle of a HUGE class-action lawsuit because of their DEX-COOL crap. They put it in everything made after about 1995 and told everyone that it would be 100,000 miles before it needed changed.. Now 8 years later (now that every one of those cars is out of warranty), people are having huge cooling issues on their cars, often requiring engine replacement..

Had they done a suggested service interval of, say 40,000 miles, these things would have been caught much earlier and possibly saved GM millions.



Back to the point.. Jayson, unhook your heater core and radiator, and pull the block plugs out. remove the thermostat as well. stick a water hose in every coolant orifice you've just made and turn it on "PUT OUT THE FIRE!!!" for a few minutes.. flush it one direction for a minute or two, then pull it out and flush it the other direction.. do that for about nine hours, then let the whole thing drain out..

reinstall the plugs and reconnect hoses, then use one of those Prestone super flush kits as per the directions on the bottle. that should get rid of whatever sludge is left in the system, then drain again and refill with 50/50 using a quality green coolant. (I always use Prestone and have never had a problem on any of my 4 cars).

 

I hope your heator core survives this ordeal.

 

Thanks Matt...did you happen to see my post about the clutch probelm?

 

I thought that the orange coolant was just for aluminum blocks.......you should stick to the color your car originally has, never ever mix

 

And flush your GM as often as you would after eating at Wendys