Brown Slime in radiator

[SuperMario92]

What make and model car? What's OEM coolant? "Brown stuff" could also be Dexcool when it is exposed to air.
Bar's Leak is a good stuff. Subaru requires adding it to their cars, during coolant changeover. Subaru boxer engines are prone to headgasket leaks. It is a shredded tree root.
Do you have any coolant in the oil? Look for milky residue. You can also pick up an oil analysis kit from Amazon for under $20 and send oil for analysis. They will be able to tell if there are traces coolant in the oil. One of the labs in in Atlanta, so you should get results fast.
Leaking transmission radiator is another possibility. Check tranny for high fluid and signs of coolant, same as oil.

Replacing coolant with fresh staff will not "flush out" the plug, if Bar's Leak was added. If in doubt, add some more, but go by the bottle recommendations, do not dump the whole thing in. Do not use All Makes/All models coolant. It is a Dexcool clone and should not be used in non-Dexcool cars. 2EHA acid it uses is nothing to play with. BTW, draining radiator will replace only 50% of the coolant in the car, so you will need to do it 3 times to get most of the old stuff out. I normally drain the radiator, fill up with distilled water, run the engine untill it is hot, with heat on to work the heater core and do it free times. drain, fill up with straight coolant (50% of the system capacity), run to mix, same as above and test the concentration with hydrometer and coolant level overall. If you are at 50/50 mix, but low level, mix up a 60/40 top off bottle and use it to fill to level.

The oil looks like it could use a change soon but, it's not milky. What is Dexcool? I might try this Bar's Leak stuff in my car too might help my low compression. lol might not. Any way, thanks man. I'll do it now knowing it won't flush the plug out if I change the coolant.

 

[harrycalahan]

The oil looks like it could use a change soon but, it's not milky. What is Dexcool? I might try this Bar's Leak stuff in my car too might help my low compression. lol might not. Any way, thanks man. I'll do it now knowing it won't flush the plug out if I change the coolant.

Dexcool is GM's proprietary coolant.

 

[potenza]

Dexcool is GM's proprietary coolant.

10 years ago

 

[Jeddak]

10 years ago

Aren't they still using it? I have not heard of GM switching to a HOAT coolant, but I have not had a recent GM vehicle. If ingredients list has 2EHA, it is a Dexcool, no matter what the bottle says. It responsible for thousands LIM gaskets leaks and trashed engines over the years.

 

[Jeddak]

The oil looks like it could use a change soon but, it's not milky. What is Dexcool? I might try this Bar's Leak stuff in my car too might help my low compression. lol might not. Any way, thanks man. I'll do it now knowing it won't flush the plug out if I change the coolant.

Keep an eye on it and keep the bottle of Bar's leak handy. It will not harm the engine if you leave Bar's leak in long term. Talk to pros at BITOG's coolant section or search threads there. You will learn more than you ever wanted to know about coolant there. Again what make and model car? It will help to narrow down the chemistry of the OEM coolant. Replacement coolant needs to match it. There are very few truly universal coolants on the market, and if all coolant is not flushed out completely, mixing 2 different chemistries can cause real bad sludge in the radiator. Remember to do a radiator drain/refill every 2 years, or complete coolant replacement every 5 years/50k miles.

 

[rimfireguy]

Aren't they still using it? I have not heard of GM switching to a HOAT coolant, but I have not had a recent GM vehicle. If ingredients list has 2EHA, it is a Dexcool, no matter what the bottle says. It responsible for thousands LIM gaskets leaks and trashed engines over the years.

I can attest to the lim gasket leak happend on my 2500 it's a pain in the ass to fix and IMHO fix it right none of this bandaid bs you will feel better about it in the end

 

[YOTESHOOTER]

If you flush, and run water through it, before you refill it and put the new anti-freeze in the radiator, you probably will want to replace the water pump, because when you flush the system if there is any build up on the impeller shaft or around the shaft seal, you will get to do this again. Very costly..

Only a suggestion..............

 

[Jeddak]

Water pump might have been done along with the T-belt. I have mine done at the same time.