antifreeze the color of coffee

[cutler]

i recently got this 94 toyota camry,the dealer said they had replaced the radiator with a used radiator and it must have had some rust in it,he said that would give it the color of coffee-the car runs good,doesnt get hot.the oil looks good--do you have any advice to give me on this--i know i need to drain radiator and flush it out with water,and replace antifreeze,i know some car dealers arent too partcular when it comes to replacing parts--is there any other problem that would cause this---thanks in advance---cutler

[virtualkuz]

i would drain the system, fill it up with distilled water, run it 10-15 minutes, drain it again and refill with 50/50 mix. Use the toyota red coolant if you have it or otherwise get the yellow universal coolant from walmart or somewhere else cheap.

[Fever]

You can also run the garden hose into the top and let her flush out the bottom hose until clean. Then flush the the whole system as said.

I've also been told that if there is even a small contamination of the green or yellow antifreeze into the toyota red, it decreases the qualities of the red greatly. If there has been 'regular' antifreeze in the system at all, I wouldn't bother with the higher price red afterwards.

[Tommy]

Just take it to Oil and Lube and have them flush the whole system for you. They'll drain it and then run high pressure water through it to knock out all the crap in there, i think some places use a chemical cleaner in there too. Its pretty cheap, and that way you'll be sure that everything in there is clean and good to go.

[95camguy]

walmart sells a flush that you can buy for like $5. i think you drain the system add the flush and fill with water. the instructions on the prestone stuff i bought said to drive it like that for a few days. i just drove it with the flush in all day then drained. i then refilled with 50/50 mixture using the green antifreeze. it had the red stuff in there originally but i have heard that toyota red can cause headgaskets to blow. i personally have never had a headgasket go and i have owned cars with toyota red and regular green. just buy whatever you can afford the red or green.
just my $.02

[amerikim]

Color of coffee as is with cream? If it is creamy looking there may be some oil in there.

[terrastrife]

there is a dsifference beween red and green... tn search its been covered, and probably the reason red blows gaskets is maybe every goes.. ooo red.. they put it in then ooo... aluminium radiator cap and put that in too when they mod the car... and the new caps pressure limit is too high... or something

[MR2Jedi]

just flush and replace with an antifreeze/correct mix for your weather area. not much more to it than that. unless you are having other engine heat/cooling problems , thats all there is to it. skip the over kill

[95camguy]

Originally Posted by amerikim

Color of coffee as is with cream? If it is creamy looking there may be some oil in there.

yeah that could be true. hopefully not though. Big $$$$

[tntang]

I also have a radiator that was rusted. I drained and filled and there were rust metal in the reservoir and the radiator. I called a Toyota dealer and they say it's not a good idea to power flush a rusted radiator because the pressure could cause the radiator to leak. So I just drained and filled a couple of times. It's been running fine for 2 years. No overheating, leaks, or any more rust metal.

[Your Uncle Moe]

Or you can actually just leave it alone and let it bed. The Gen3's rads are designed so well, that even if it was as thick as coffee and black as tar, your car would still be fine. My coolant is probably the same color as yours and my fan turns on only in the summer time and thats only in stop and go traffic. The car never overheated even once. And I got a V6.

Some people might dissagree with what I just said but hey, that sjust my two Euros.

[Eye8Pussies]

it could also be the antifreeze just breaking down because its been in there for so long

[terrastrife]

10 years without a coolant flush here.. gen3 v6, my coolan is pretty much black, but no probs.. car never overheats