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Brown Coolant.

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Ford Forum >> Ford Cars >> Ford Focus >> Brown Coolant.

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Brown Coolant. - 10/8/2006 7:02:00 PM

danny88

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My friend has recently been having a problem of having a brown coolant. It started happening after he got the thermostat housing replaced due to a leak. After that the coolant turned brown. He did a flush once before after the thermostat housing was replaced. It was fine for a lil while but now it's back again. I'm literally stuck on what is the problem here. I'm positive his radiator is fine. No oil is mixing because no antifreeze is visible in the engine oil. It can't be the transmission fluid because that is separate I believe. Has anyone else experienced this in a focus? There are pics of it here, towards the bottom, http://forums.focaljet.com/team-tech/528251-brown-coolant-back-again-vegeance.html

< Message edited by danny88 -- 10/8/2006 7:05:57 PM >

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/8/2006 7:11:45 PM

01BlueZX3

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That's my friggin car. AHHHHHh, I can't figure out this problem. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks.

(in reply to danny88)

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/8/2006 8:29:15 PM

94 4x4 ranger

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Wow that was bad!!

Are you running straight water?

If you are the water probly has high iron content.

Keep flushing with prestone super flush!

And use at least a 50-50 mix of anti-freez and water.

if you do have high iron I suggest using bottled water

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94 4x4 ranger

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/9/2006 9:40:37 AM

01BlueZX3

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I don't know if the water has high iron content. I let my mechanic do it the first time. Was fine for a couple of days, nice and green. Probably after about a week and a half it turned brown again. My overflow tank is stained brown and I don't think it will ever come off. I guess I'm going to have to try to flush it again and see what happens. I have my fingers crossed.

(in reply to 94 4x4 ranger)

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/9/2006 6:38:31 PM

94 4x4 ranger

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Use prestone super flush.

Mabey two bottles.

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Post #: 5

RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/11/2006 10:52:15 AM

Ramrod48

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if it was good an clean before the thermostat was replaced,,, then someone has put some bad water in there, to cause the start of that rust.

you need to get a good chemical cleaner / flush that will remove that crap from your motor, on your overflow tank , you gonna have to take that off an clean it as well , or it will just start the problem over. ( try using bleach on the stain after its clean )

Just flushing the system out with a garden hose is not going to fix this, I dont care how much water you got,,,,, NAPA has a cooling system flush that will clean it up but its very strong , if your water pump is weak it will need replaced in a few weeks after you use it .

As you said you dont have a over heating problem yet ,, but if you let this go like it is an you soon will have,, An never use straight tap water on these newer cars as theres to many diff types of metal in the motor

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 10/11/2006 10:31:37 PM

01BlueZX3

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Yeah, I think I'm gonna take it to a mechanic or Ford and have them do it. As far as the overheating becoming an issue, I haven't noticed anything yet. As a matter of fact the car is running cooler for some reason. Tonight coming home in a rain storm, about 45 min commute from work to home, the OEM water temp gauge was way below the norm temp. I don't know if that's a sign of things to come... I think I'm just going to find a new reservoir tank when I go into get the flush done. I don't think none of crap is going to come off.

(in reply to Ramrod48)

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RE: Brown Coolant. - 11/12/2006 6:18:06 PM

elementx440

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Did you try flushing the heater core seperately? Possibly the new coolant is getting mixed with all the crud that sits in the heater core (since the thermostat wont open when flushing with cold water)

This weekend I flushed the coolant out on a blazer. I didn't do the heater core seperately. I then noticed no heat and no water flowing to the heater core. I disconnected the core and pumped hose water through both directions as hose pressure, I flushed more than a 10 gallon buckets worth of deep brown crud.

Or you could flush with the thermostat out?

(in reply to 01BlueZX3)

Post #: 8