I know I'm long winded so here goes. Coolant was leaking so added water until the water pump can be replaced. When removing the rad cap, noticed little chunks of stuff stuck to cap and can see it in the radiator. Was worried about getting it all flushed out by just draining, so I put in a flush kit. I put it on the hose that runs from the fire wall to the top of engine next to valve cover. Hope this was correct. Anyway, with drain valve open and rad cap off, I hooked up a garden hose and ran the engine to flush that nasty stuff out. Put in radiator cleaner, filled up with water, drove around for 20 minutes, flush again with garden hose. This time filled up with reg. water only, drove around for 20 min. Drain from drain valve. Replaced water pump. Remove and clean t-stat. Using antifreeze mixed 50/50 with distilled water filled through t-stat opening until it came out drain valve. Close drain valve. Continue filling thruogh t-stat opening until came out flush adaptor on heater hose. Close flush adaptor. Put t-stat back in. Complete filling through radiator. Drive around 20 min. Top off radiator again.

Questions are;

Was the flush kit put on correct hose?
Was it a good idea to put on a flush kit?
Any idea what the gunk was?

p.s. Coolant was replaced 2 years ago from local shop on an unrelated repair. I requested they use distilled water and antifreeze. Don't think they did. I wonder if this is what happens when regular water is mixed?

 

i used regular tap water the first time i changed my coolant.....we don't have problems with hard water here in Alabama though.....i use fleetcharge coolant & i don't think it specifically calls for distilled water.....truthfully, i really don't think it matters, but it's recommended.....

tap water isn't going to cause you to get gunk in your coolant.....i have heard of some folks getting oil in their coolant and it's not from a blown head gasket or cracked block.....maybe somebody with a little more experience with the problem will post.....

 

at the shop we use a two bottle radiator cleaner and sealant from wynns that seems to work very good might want to try that

 

Here in CA they put stuff in the city water. I also happen to have irrigation water from the county. They tell us not to drink it so I wont put it in my truck. The gunk is difficult to describe. Kind of like what you get when you blow your nose only the color is grey similar to the color of wet lint. I seem to have flushed it out ok or at least I hope there won't be any long lasting effects. The backflush kit really made it easy to flush. I also need to check my oil in case thats the problem.

 

Water pumps use a spring loaded "packing" material that usually feels fibrous and greasy. Sort of like plumbers putty mixed with fiberglass insulation. Usually you never see it. I have seen it get into cooling systems on hot seizes when the cooling system failed completely under heavy load (kaboom) and the stuff wound up in the coolant. I thought it was goo from a blown head gasket at first.

After realizing what it was I was surprised I hadn't seen it before. I smashed the water pump on the hydraulic press to have a look at the stuff before determining the head gasket wasn't blown. This *might* be the stuff you are seeing.

BTW hard water isn't the only reason to use distilled. Where I live, our water is acidic, and I have seen it eat a hole ALL THE WAY though the head of a Toyota 4cyl.

 

White/gray snot like gunk sounds like oil to me.....just saying.

 

Ok, if there is oil in the coolant, does that mean there should be coolant in the oil? Can the water pump leak oil in the coolant. Checked oil and shows no sign of coolant on dip stick. Sure hope I didn't hurt my baby. I really like this truck.

 

Turbodiesel oil pressure runs pretty high, and comes up quickly. Quicker, and higher than the pressure in the cooling system. The only time the coolant would travel backwards into the pressure side of the oil system would be after a hot shutdown, and this brief (compared to a long drive) time might make contamination going the other way minimal.

Sixlug is probably right. Depends on the consistency. Usually the oil gets hydrogenated when they mix, and it looks like chocolate milkshake, but a little thicker. The goo I was referring to is MUCH thicker... Like plumbers putty.

Might be headgasket time? Hope not.

 

A good place to see if coolant is getting in your oil is the bottom of the fill cap, it gets a white/brown/gray sludge on it. A little bit isn't abnormal if you make a lot of short trips, though.

If its in the pan its usually at the bottom because its a little denser than oil, it may show up during an oil change.

If there is a lot it'll be obvious, on the dipstick, under the valve cover etc.

The water pump isn't connected to the oiling system, its bearings are usually packed with grease and sealed.

Re your question about using distilled water rather than tap water: I use distilled when adding to my coolant system as it is free of any elements which may interact with the various metals in the block and cause corrosion/electrolysis in the system. An easy practice to follow.