xjallseasons

I went to vato zone and bought a new rad cap and found my over flow line was clogged. I drained the water out from last night and put in the Irontite and more water and still got the brown water but now it was more red (b/c of the irontite).
When I bought the one bottle 2 came from Amazon, so I put the other bottle in and got the same result. I then flushed it 2 more times and got the same result, brown water not so gunky. I have since filled it up again and ran it for 15 minutes. I am waiting for it to cool down. This next flush and drain will be 9 times that I have flushed the radiator with the same result. How many times should I continue doing this? Could I have a different problem?

318SixPack

Sounds like you just have loads of crud all through the system, especially the block. Far as I know, that iron block is the only source for all that rusty looking crud. Supposed to keep flushing until you get clear water coming out.

I have a related Q for the others here: When I replace my radiator and thermostat this weekend, when I flush my system, if everything runs clear water after getting the coolant out is using an engine flush going to help anything at all? I have some Royal Purple flush that I plan to use.

xjallseasons

Number 10 flush yielded no difference in color of water. Tomorrow I will do number 11 and maybe 12.

Red1992XJ

Sad to say, sometimes the previous owners just don't take care of vehicles. Just keep flushing. Maybe try letting it run for a little while longer between flushes, to try to loosen up as much gunk as you can.

xjallseasons

I went out this morning for the 11th flush. I pulled the petcock and what seemed like clear water only turned into the same color it has been, brown rusty colored. At least what seemed to be clear in the beginning is a start to it possibly getting clearer. I refilled and started it again, ran it for 15 minutes and now waiting for it to cool. What does the rust do to an engine block? Will I be able to flush it all away? If I pull the freeze plugs, will that help?

318SixPack

I *think* iron oxide rust acts as an insulator, not sure how bad though. The rust running through the cooling system is not doing any of the other parts any good either, especially the water pump.

Have you tried running it for a few hours with a coolant flush product that says it is ok to do that? For example, Royal Purple flush says it is fine to run for days before removing it with distilled water, but Prestone recommends removing much earlier.

Red1992XJ

Pulling the freeze plugs will allow you to drain the entire block, but by flushing it that way, it can get messy. Might I recommend running it longer than 15 minutes, and if possible, try varying the idle to mimic driving. Or actually drive it around the neighborhood. Maybe by varying the flow of coolant, more will get dislodged and allow you to get more out with less flushes.

Are you in Arizona, and is it warm enough that it wont freeze for awhile? You wouldn't want to leave water in the block that could freeze.

xjallseasons

Yes I am in AZ, Gilbert near Phoenix and we havent had a freeze yet. Probably not until January but its been a few years since we had a hard freeze.

I drove it to the store yesterday and let it cool. So much for the water coming out looking like its getting clearer and clearer. I drove it hard and the water was dark brown with chunks of rust. I will look into the Royal Purple flush and let it run a while. Hopefully that will help and I can move on to my next project - unibody frame rails, 1 ton steering, exhaust manifold replacement, external oil cooler, headliner and door panel replacement, 4.56 gears... the list goes on.

TCP64

I know you're frustrated but be patient and keep flushing. It will come out clear soon, and when it does, your engine and radiator will be better for it.

5-Speed

When I flushed the system on my 01, I could not for the life of me get it clean. That was until..... I bypassed the heater core as a test. The heater core had so much junk in it that it kept contaminating the entire system. I tried flushing the heater core by itself many times and it did not get any better. So after a quick heater core swap, finally had clear water. Its pretty easy to just pop off both the lines that go into the heater core and hook up a hose to them (back flush it too). If the water comes out dirty, I am betting thats the issue.

318SixPack

Hold it right there. What kind of witchcraft is it that you possess?

xjallseasons

Yea its not the heater core as I reverse flushed it and it came out clean. My issue is in the block. When I replaced my water pump the first and only time so far, but I saw all this brown, peanut butter consistency paste gunk behind the pump. I did what I could to remove as much as possible, but I guess I didnt do a good enough job. Thanks for the help though.

xjallseasons

Yea, I know there's no such thing as a quick heater core swap.

xjallseasons

I bought the Prestone flush that says you can run it between 3 and 6 hours, so I will do that this weekend and hopefully get great results.

5-Speed

I'm on dad time. So that means any project that takes less than 2 weeks is a quick project haha. Sometimes it takes me 2 days to do an oil change...