help with sherrys car cooling system

[mrflames]

ok here is whats going on last nov i put a new heater core and water pump when i replaced all this the coolent was a red rusty color and it had some mud looking stuff in it . i was told this was due to a dad heater core. then in july i put a new radator in it ok all is good now. until this week the red rust looking color is back and the car is over heating again. where is this red mud looking crap comeing from. do i need to just try and flaush the system again. the car is a 2001 pontiac v-6
i took out the temrostat it had the red crap around it



can anyboby help with this

[tbisbc350]

are you putting water in it along with coolant? if so is the water you used distilled or tap?

[tbisbc350]

or maybe your old rad has tabs in it and possibly the new one you bought had tabs as'well so its discoloring your coolant, which isn't a bad thing. Or possibly gunk clogged in your hoses causing a heating problem? just throwing ideas out there.

[mrflames]

are you putting water in it along with coolant? if so is the water you used distilled or tap?tap

[CKTA]

Did you ever flush the block when you put the new stuff in/on?

[BHB]

Did it ever have Dex-cool in it???

[mrflames]

yes

[mrflames]

Did it ever have Dex-cool in it???yes

[Brody57]

ok since you have had Dex-cool in it im goin thats your problem. Dex-cool is NOTORIOUS for clumping up like that. I have heard it happen on several occasions.

[oldred95]

Anytime dexcool gets air in the system it likes to turn into mud. Its a light brown/brown slimy looking stuff. Not sure about the rust color, could be a side effect of dexcool mud. I've seen some that looked pretty puke colored. Also if you mix Dexcool and green you get a really nice puke rust color.

Why was the heater core changed? Was it plugged up? Dexcool likes to do that. But as far as whats in there now, it could be the remains of when the system was low at some point and made mud. These engines are bad about building up some dexcool mud around the water ports in the heads and I suppose some of that could be breaking loose.

Have you ever replaced the intake gaskets? A 3.8 uses the same junk plastic gaskets everything since 96 has used and they like to leak. If its that big of a deal you could rip the intake off and clean out as much gunk as you can and replace the gaskets with the metal Felpro gaskets while you're there. Also on the 3.8s with the plastic upper intake they are bad about the plastic intake cracking around the EGR tube. When it does this you get a white cloud of smoke out the tailpipe and once you shut it off it will fill the engine full of water and hydrolock. If you've got a lot of miles on it you may want to go ahead and throw an upper intake on it while you are there. IIRC they are in the 150 dollar range from the aftermarket. After all that is done I would fill it full of straight water and put some cascade in it and go run the snot out of it then drop the water and see how it looks. If a lot of gunk comes out maybe do that again and then put green antifreeze back in it.

[mrflames]

Anytime dexcool gets air in the system it likes to turn into mud. Its a light brown/brown slimy looking stuff. Not sure about the rust color, could be a side effect of dexcool mud. I've seen some that looked pretty puke colored. Also if you mix Dexcool and green you get a really nice puke rust color.

Why was the heater core changed? Was it plugged up? Dexcool likes to do that. But as far as whats in there now, it could be the remains of when the system was low at some point and made mud. These engines are bad about building up some dexcool mud around the water ports in the heads and I suppose some of that could be breaking loose.

Have you ever replaced the intake gaskets? A 3.8 uses the same junk plastic gaskets everything since 96 has used and they like to leak. If its that big of a deal you could rip the intake off and clean out as much gunk as you can and replace the gaskets with the metal Felpro gaskets while you're there. Also on the 3.8s with the plastic upper intake they are bad about the plastic intake cracking around the EGR tube. When it does this you get a white cloud of smoke out the tailpipe and once you shut it off it will fill the engine full of water and hydrolock. If you've got a lot of miles on it you may want to go ahead and throw an upper intake on it while you are there. IIRC they are in the 150 dollar range from the aftermarket. After all that is done I would fill it full of straight water and put some cascade in it and go run the snot out of it then drop the water and see how it looks. If a lot of gunk comes out maybe do that again and then put green antifreeze back in it.the heater core was plug and had a small leak. the motor was just replaced about 3 yrs ago its got around 30 thousand on it i will try and flash it out again and see what happens and as far as i know there is nothing coming out of the tail pipe

[tbisbc350]

Yea using tap water doesn't help when using dex-cool or any coolant... next time use distilled.

[duece325]

it cost a little money, but when dex cool turns to crap, my mechanic flushes the whole entire system and replaces it regular green antifreeze.....have never had a problem switching either

[bclax1408]

take that dexcool crap and throw it out the window. use a bottle of tha system flush stuff and a garden hose, run it for like 20 minutes, then drain it all out, flush with a garden hose again to get the rest out. then just replace it with green antifreeze and distilled water.

[CKTA]

DexCool is NOT the problem. :deadhorse:

[85k5]

being that i used to work at a oil change shop ive seen plenty of GM's with dex cool....and almost all of them get clumpy like that and cause problems