Radiator vomit

[Marcus Merritt]

1994 F150; 6 cylinder; automatic 154k miles: I have a small gasket leak in my water pump but have put off repairing it. Today I had let water level get too low so water temp gauge got over to the right of 'Normal'. I stopped and opened radiator and this brown/rusty water came vomiting out. I was surprised at the color because the clear reservoir to the right of the radiator is a nice, normal green and I top off the radiator with regular antifreeze/water mix. I assume that if the radiator and reservoir connection were working normally the fluid in the reservoir would also be brown. When I top off the radiator, the reservoir remains full but I thought a low radiator would suck fluid from the reservoir, no?

I'm headed out shortly to open up the radiator drain and get as much of the brown crap out of the radiator as possible. Is the radiator/reservoir problem as simple as a new radiator cap??

Thanks.

 

[Marcus Merritt]

An update....took off the coolant reservoir and found the bottom full of solid crud that totally blocked the return hose to and from the radiator. Will finish up reinstalling the reservoir along with a fresh windshield washer pump. I flushed out the radiator with fresh water plus some degreaser. I realize that I need to flush the whole engine not just the coolant in the radiator and will do that this weekend. Anyone have a favorite radiator flush chemical to recommend?

 

[SuperCab]

I've never had more/less luck with any particular flush chemical... Although the kit with the garden hose connector is nice for getting the caustic all out of the system when you're done. As you can tell it sounds like you're system is just full of rust/sediment... Shouldn't be a big deal to get it cleaned out