Say hello to the Black Mamba!

[Baltothewolf]

I have a question for you guys, I didn't think about checking this 100% until tonight, but when I pulled the radiator cap off, the radiator fluid is an extremely dark brown. I'll take a picture of it but I'm at my second job so I'll post it when I get home, but it doesn't look natural. It could just me being paranoid or the system needing a good flush, but it's pretty brown...

Dunno if this will work but let me know if these images pop up for you guys, top one is what it looks like inside of radiator, bottom will be the overflow tank reservoir thing.

[oldtamiyaphile]

If in doubt, flush it out! I recently had a head go at low miles (caused by the PO ignoring flush intervals), so I'm very strict about keeping coolant fresh. It's cheap and easy to DIY.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

If in doubt, flush it out! I recently had a head go at low miles (caused by the PO ignoring flush intervals), so I'm very strict about keeping coolant fresh. It's cheap and easy to DIY.

Well I'm just going to replace head gasket, valve cover gasket, timing belt, water pump, distributer gasket, spark plugs and wires, alignment, transmission oil, oil and oil filter all at the same time so I don't have to keep going back replacing it all in the next 50k miles when it does go out. I enjoy doing preventive maintenance, not emergency fixes. Lol

Oh, forgot to ask, how many miles between flushes?

[user removed]

The original coolant was that color, maybe not as dark. It could be original or replaced by a stealership with original (doubtful).

I would not replace the head gasket unless there were signs of failure, or the head was being removed for another reason, like bent valves due to a failed timing belt.

I would replace the radiator if it was badly deteriorated externally or would not hold pressure, or the engine was running hot. You can check the radiator with a digital thermostat to see if it shows signs of blockage, also use the manufacturers thermostat if it is not crazy high priced.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Hard to tell from the picture but the coolant tubes look to be partially clogged. With your high temperatures you don't want to risk engine damage due to an inadequate cooling system.

regards
Mech

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Hard to tell from the picture but the coolant tubes look to be partially clogged. With your high temperatures you don't want to risk engine damage due to an inadequate cooling system.

regards
Mech

Hi mech, and thanks for the response, however, the car isn't running hot, even when my little bro climbed a 6% grade for ~2 miles in 1st and 2nd gear (stop and go traffic) he said the needle never went above normal temps. I'll get the system flushed and the timing belt/water pump/distributer gasket replaced only then as we originally talked about then. Any other input or ideas on what else I should do? I was thinking about replacing the rad hoses when they do the flush since they are cheap anyway.

[user removed]

My 97 Ranger has the original rad hoses and radiator. It runs cool and there are no signs of leakage or any other reason to replace at this time. I don't drive it much and had the original timing belt replaced at 133k miles. Original plugs at 125k miles.

When you have the radiator flushed look at the tubes (you can see some in the picture) and see if they look better. A long grade climb in hot weather is a pretty good test of max capacity of your cooling system, probably OK for now but look for the first signs of trouble or you could blow the head gasket and spend alot more money than a $100 replacement radiator. Always watch all the fluids on anew purchase for at least a couple of months and make sure none of them are disappearing.

regards
Mech

[California98Civic]

I don't think that is the right coolant color. I believe you need the green, like my 98 Civic.

[user removed]

I've drained hundreds of gallons of factory fill coolant out of Japanese cars. I know what it looks like. Stop by a Honda dealership and look at the coolant in the recovery bottle on anew car, that should convince you.

regards
Mech

[Fat Charlie]

First, congrats on the ride.
Second, love the name.
Third, thumbs up on making the roadworthiness moves.

But what strikes me most about his car is the idiots in your area:

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

So I found this car on CL and I managed to get it, there was 4 familys there trying to haggle him down under 2k...

The Monty Python crew would have added this bidding war twist to the haggling scene in Life of Brian, but they decided it was too stupid!