Cooling system full of sludge

[thommo]

Went to check coolant oil etc and came across this...

Dipstick shows oil to look dark needing to be changed but no other signs of contamination. Coolant on the other hand... WTF !!? PS. its ford xr6turbo engine.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/thommo/engine1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/thommo/engine2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/thommo/engine3.jpg

Threw hose into the radiator pipe to see if could flush it out but not much happened


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/thommo/engine4.jpg

[Tard Of War]

just flush and flush and flush with hose (with car runnning at idle with heaters cranked) until clear and i could organise you some toyota red coolant which is very good shit..

[thommo]

What the hell is it though that's the problem. Now radiator and turbo etc all be full of this shit

[Ryan]

could be oil going through your water jacket but not yet got to your cyclinders
or water and oil mixing in your turbo ( guessing they are water and oil cooled ) ?

head gasket could be rooted on the water jacket side
head could be cracked
block could be cracked

recommend not driving it at all till you have sourced the problem ( obvious reasons)

[Tard Of War]

yea as captain canks says most likely headgasket issues. unsure of any other common faults in the falcons

[thommo]

Yer it's parked up only other thing I can't think of is if it's gearbox related and it's cooled thru radiator etc

[Tard Of War]

unsure mate its possible but worth asking someone on here with ford knowledge, im sure theres a few of them

[kurbn]

oil water mix!! something has let go

I dont think it would be the transmission fluid merging with the coolant, its too much of a light brown.

More likely going to be as Head or Head gasket issue

[thommo]

Sounds like sad times either way haha

[mitchy]

if its auto, check the auto dipstick and see what it's like.

most auto's are cooled through the rad, and heard of alot of the cooling pipes popping with shift kits ramping up the line pressures, etc.

[Tard Of War]

I'd suggest the chemiweld treatment if it were a vs daily shiter but yes unhappy times indeed

[thommo]

I'd check the tranny but i'm sure the zf boxes are a sealed unit :S

[ovaxitd]

looks like your auto cooler in your radiator has let go... it doesnt look brown like engine oil to me... best bet is check the tranny fluid. 3.0 nissan patrol are natorious for doing this... be lucky if your auto aint fucked...

[YOUR MATE]

Thats how my VT looked when the trans cooler started mixing with the coolant. Like chunky choc milk.

[thommo]

Hmm shot radiator maybe, funny thing is car runs fine and has never shown getting hot. Hope other things aren't screwed too like coolant lines and turbo

[ovaxitd]

you need to do a cooling system flush several times getting it nice and warm to geth it out. you will need to clean out all your hoses/ lines and replace/ recon your radiator...

[kurbn]

I'd suggest the chemiweld treatment if it were a vs daily shiter but yes unhappy times indeed

that stuff is foul, best way to block your radiator

I would of thought if it was auto trans fluid, it would of been darker than that :S
engine oil usually makes it go that light milky colour, suppose it depends on the oil

[Tard Of War]

that stuff is foul, best way to block your radiator

I would of thought if it was auto trans fluid, it would of been darker than that :S
engine oil usually makes it go that light milky colour, suppose it depends on the oil

I'd never use it on my own car, fuck that shit

[Passage GT]

my brothers manual clubby as the same problem, milky shit in coolant but oil in sump is clean
gotta get heads taken off for a looksee

[DrNick]

did you mix red and green coolant?

[beefcake]

its 100% your trans cooler let go, the auto oil is pumping into the cooling system, next it will be back flushing into your auto, you will need to buy a new radiator, possibly all of the cooling system hoses, as the oil will make them soft and swell, you will also have to do a auto trans flush and filter change, you will most probably go through 20/30 litres of auto trans oil to flush it if the water has got into your box.

If its left for too long your auto will shit itself and all of the cooling system hoses will split.

Ps its going to be a absolute bitch to clean out all of the oil from the engine, best bet is to use a water based degreaser and flush it quite a few times through, but it will never come out in one hit, it takes months of cleaning as little bits of oil will pop out of pockets in the engines cooling system.

Last summer i think i did at least 4 or 5 of those ef onwards falcons, all the same thing

[thommo]

Yer fk chemi weld haha only on a $1000 shitter u put that in. I'll have
to see Monday got someone coming to sus it out

[thommo]

Dr Nick no I haven't mixed them. I figure the replacing
and cleaning of hoses is going to be the worst part!

[matty12]

BA Falcon???Those auto trans coolers are always shitting themselves in those.Buy a new rad with a stainless steel oil cooler in it,thatll fix the problem.

[thommo]

It's a bf so not sure if the same but i'll definately be getting a cooler that is separate to the radiator next time, saves any of these potential dramas in the future

[beefcake]

And ive had it happen twice to a customer, in less than a year, we had to get a new gearbox for him under warranty , unlucky/ lucky him , and i agree a external cooler would be a good fix once an for all .

Ford really got it wrong with the internal coolers for some reason ?

[matty12]

from memory the bf had s engine cooler mounted to the engine block?? Never seen one of those go.

According to a service manager i sell to at a Ford dealership, bypass the factory cooler and the trans wont be covered by warranty.Whats the lesser of to evils??

[joshg123]

If water has touched your box it will give up the ghost, maybe not right now but the ticking time bomb has been set. If your lucky it hasnt, but if youve been driving like that for a little while i wouldnt be suprised.

As said in many threads, BA are notorious for doing this. Fit a EXTERNAL trans cooler rather than reassembling it as is. Purchase a manual radiator (if availible) or a good quality Adrad replacement. Stay away from the veales/SSS radiators that are well priced, but i have had a bad run with them.

External cooler kits can be had from Brian or Rod at Driveline on frobisher road in osborne park

You will need to run degreaser through your motor with water, the oil attacks every single rubber hose and turns it to jelly. Run bucket loads of degreaser and water through untill not 1 hint of the stuff returns. Then replace every hose possible, all your rad return hoses, heater hoses etc etc. Keep a very close eye on sludge returning to the res after putting it back together.

In regards to what mitchy said, these things already run high line pressures from factory. So if your line pressures have been upped for a harder shift then the poor cooler didnt really stand a chance.

[thommo]

yer i think the bf run a strange trans cooler.

cleaning this out and replacing the hoses is gonna be fkd !

and no the line pressures havent been changed its just stock vehicle

[matty12]

i use a product called mangold,it time consuming to use as it has to be run and flushed 3 times but does a awsome job.

[thommo]

How long does it have be runthru for?

[Tre-Cool]

if its a bf, i would get this fixed under warranty. as it;s been said water in trannie = ticking bomb.

[thommo]

It's an 06 it's out of warranty

[matty12]

run for 20 mins without thermostat,dump flushe and repeat 2 more times.

Use it all the time but you also have to flush the bulk to start.

[XF Falcon]

If you have the 6speed auto ZF then your tranny fluid doesn't actually go into the radiator. On the passenger side of the block near the bottom there is a small heat exchanger unit that has in/out lines containing radiator coolant and in/out lines for the transmission oil. I haven't heard of them ever giving way and contaminating the water/oil, however on the 4 speed auto's this is a very common problem.

[Azrian]

What everyone else said.

If its a six speed auto and you engine oil is clear its your auto oil cooler. They are renowned to do this to some of them The cooler is a water/oil exchanger.

If it is this then it means your gearbox is fucked aswell as your exhanger, torque converter, radiato and the engine needs a major flushing. Give Rob at Monsta Torque a call. He'll help you out.

[thommo]

Yep we've come to that conclusion gerrin is taking it to rob this even !

thanks fellas