Chunky Coolant?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 184
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
Chunky Coolant? Hi, I hope this is in the right forum. I just turned 18 and have had my firebird since June. I was checking my fluids today and the engine coolant stick had red chunky goop all over it. It looked like wet red clay. I'm assuming that isn't supposed to be that way...What should I do to clean it out? There is a label on the air lid saying I should only replace the coolant with the same kind that came from the factory (can't remember the name), thoughts?
Sounds like your bird is well past due for a coolant flush.
You could simply pull the Battery and then remove the Combination Battery Tray/Coolant Overflow Reservoir. Once its out of the car, flush it with fresh water from a garden hose until you don't have any more "red wet clay" stuff coming out of it.
This would eliminate the crud you're seeing on the Reservoir Dipstick.
If this were my car, I would do this, as well as, drain and remove the Radiator so it could be flushed.
After doing this, put everything back together and GM will tell you to refill the system with a 50/50 Mix of DEXCOOL and Distilled Water. This is what I would do, but there are others who don't like the Orange Dexcool and prefer to switch over to the Traditional Green Antifreeze. To each their own.
Just know that if you decide you want to switch, you will need to completely flush out all of the old Dexcool from the entire Cooling System before adding any Green. The two types of antifreeze should not be mixed.
There are Coolant Flush Kits you can purchase at most Automotive Parts Stores that will allow you to flush the entire Coolant system. I've seen this done on a couple pickups and it requires cutting one of the Heater Hoses and splicing in a garden hose hook up fitting. Can't say I'd wanna do that to one of the hoses on my car, but if you're willing, the kits do a good job of flushing the system.
Hope this helps. Good luck, man.
You could simply pull the Battery and then remove the Combination Battery Tray/Coolant Overflow Reservoir. Once its out of the car, flush it with fresh water from a garden hose until you don't have any more "red wet clay" stuff coming out of it.
This would eliminate the crud you're seeing on the Reservoir Dipstick.
If this were my car, I would do this, as well as, drain and remove the Radiator so it could be flushed.
After doing this, put everything back together and GM will tell you to refill the system with a 50/50 Mix of DEXCOOL and Distilled Water. This is what I would do, but there are others who don't like the Orange Dexcool and prefer to switch over to the Traditional Green Antifreeze. To each their own.
Just know that if you decide you want to switch, you will need to completely flush out all of the old Dexcool from the entire Cooling System before adding any Green. The two types of antifreeze should not be mixed.
There are Coolant Flush Kits you can purchase at most Automotive Parts Stores that will allow you to flush the entire Coolant system. I've seen this done on a couple pickups and it requires cutting one of the Heater Hoses and splicing in a garden hose hook up fitting. Can't say I'd wanna do that to one of the hoses on my car, but if you're willing, the kits do a good job of flushing the system.
Hope this helps. Good luck, man.
Mine is the same way. IT IS NORMAL according to 3 different mechanics at Capitol Pontiac here in VA. Two of the mechanics owned and raced these cars and said thats just what they do. Will it hurt anything, no. Will it happen in a few months again after you flush, YES. I asked if I should do a flush and they said it is not necessary. Just Pontiac's mechanics 2 cents.......
He said it looks like wet red clay. Red clay isn't red its orange so I seriously doubt he has a leak. Like I said pontiac said this is normal, i thought it was oil mixing in my antifreeze but they checked everything.
^ YEah, Dex is orange. But come to think of it oil and water don't mix so I'm not sure how it would combine, but the trans fluid could prolly color the coolant.
But a leak in the coolant system will cause Dex to gel up.
But a leak in the coolant system will cause Dex to gel up.
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It will also jell if you mix coolants of a different type. Best thing to do is empty it completely and pressure test the entire unit. If it passes flush the rest of thevsystem and fill with a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. Then if you ever have to add any (like a hose goes) use the same to top it off. Depending on the area you live replace every two years. Yes it will in most cases last much longer but it is better to do it sooner than later.
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no. What's corroding the aluminum block?
The "battery effect" where you effectively electroplate copper with the aluminum in the block or oxidation?
Because both are pretty much BS and the only way you'd get the battery effect is if you somewhere actually had copper coming into contact with the coolant and your coolant was almost entirely plain water. Otherwise the resistive properties of anti-freeze would put a stop to it. And assuming a worst case scenario, water wetter would be a million times better than dex-cool for making the coolant way more resistive than necessary.
All dexcool is there for is to reduce maintenance costs. Has nothing to do with aluminum or iron or copper. Unfortunately it sucks. Class action lawsuits, pictures, and everyone who thinks coating their coolant system in orange gunk is a bad idea haven't apparently been enough to get it off the market.
The "battery effect" where you effectively electroplate copper with the aluminum in the block or oxidation?
Because both are pretty much BS and the only way you'd get the battery effect is if you somewhere actually had copper coming into contact with the coolant and your coolant was almost entirely plain water. Otherwise the resistive properties of anti-freeze would put a stop to it. And assuming a worst case scenario, water wetter would be a million times better than dex-cool for making the coolant way more resistive than necessary.
All dexcool is there for is to reduce maintenance costs. Has nothing to do with aluminum or iron or copper. Unfortunately it sucks. Class action lawsuits, pictures, and everyone who thinks coating their coolant system in orange gunk is a bad idea haven't apparently been enough to get it off the market.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 184
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
lol jk. I've only had the car since June. I bought it from a vette dealership. They gave it a tune up before I took it off the lot, so they might have mixed the coolants.
Mine was like that when i bought it, after research i chose to flush it and put the green **** in. Yours should be fine but either way your gunna want to replace whats in there with something new 
search "dexcool cap" on google. Look at the images. That's generally how your entire coolant system looks when you use dexcool. It's retarded that GM wasn't forced to stop using it when they were sued.
I was a tech at a chevy dealer for awile and every customers car that had dex-cool in it was offered a switch to traditional 50/50 green for half the price due to all the problems they had with it. Dex-cool is the devils cool-aid.