NatlCtySS

I've had this 1999 Camaro SS for 4 years now. I do all maintenance/ repairs myself. No Mechanic has touched this thing since I have owned it. Runs beautiful.

Here's the odd thing. I decide to take the radiator cap off today for maybe the third time since I've owned it. (the only thing I didn't regularly check) I'm thinking of doing a flush on it......I notice this brown slime all over the inside of the cap. Alot of it. I run my finger along the inside of the radiator.......there is more stuck to the top. Alot of it. It has the consistancy of jell-o. Smooth, not gritty, and it breaks off smoothly as I rub in between my fingers. There are also fine chunks of this stuff on my plastic coolant dipstick.

I have read that this stuff could be rust, automatic transmission fluid (I have an auto) , engine oil, or gasket material.

I checked all of my fluids.....

I am full on engine oil. it looks clean and is not foamy.
I am full on automatic transmission fluid. It does not appear to have water/radiator fluid in it.
It does not appear to be gasket material
I am not having any cooling problems
There does not appear to be much on an aluminum block engine to rust that much.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP? It almost seems like some liquid gasket material, and if I didn't know better, I would say that it was supposed to be there.

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

maybe its grease?

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

its your DEXCOOL coolant. it turns to slime when it breaks down. flush that **** out asap. and refill it with distilled water,water wetter, and green coolant

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

^whats a good ratio for that?

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

As far as the coolent use water wetter and distiled water. There was a large court case with dex cool and how it can cause long term damage to your car when exposed to air. In so cal we really don't have to worry about freezing temps just heat waves. Dex cool does have some stuff that is supposed to help lube the water pump. I know quite a few people that have been running there set ups with water and water wetter with out problems for a while now.
CJ that used to work at CMS gave me this info

98camaro1le

iTrader: (5)

ya my car had the same brown sludge

Danger731

iTrader: (3)

Join the club, crap is nasty, makes you run 10 degrees hotter at times

camarojunky74

iTrader: (14)

you cant go wrong with 50/50, i personally run about 80/20, actually despite what a lot of people think coolant doesnt actually cool at all, its the water that does the cooling, so if you put enough in their to keep the water pump happy and prevent rust then the more water the better.

in my old camaro i just run straight distilled with water wetter and a prestone additive to keep the rust away and water pump lubed, i run absolutely no coolant at all, not even in my 02.

camarojunky74

iTrader: (14)

go buy that super flush stuff follow the directions and do that before you dump the old

2001FireBird

THanks for this info, I saw this crap in mine a few days ago.

So should I even use dexcool anyone? I live up here in norcal so I dont if it'll make a difference from Socal. If not, I'll just use Water Wetter and Distilled water.

NatlCtySS

Thanks for the info., everyone. It's actually a relief to know that it's just the coolant. It makes sense. I guess I'll have to tear apart the whole front end of the Cooling system; Radiator, hoses, water pump, to physically remove the jelly material from wherever I can reach. Since this stuff has seperated from the liquid in the anti-freeze, I don't think the stuff turns to liquid again at operating tempratures, hence other peoples' proclimations that the stuff returns after a flush. Any ideas out there?

carbonfiberbird

iTrader: (4)

Yeah the dexcool SUCK ***, we went through two water pumps cuz of that ****, it just eats it up

Danger731

iTrader: (3)

ive been just putting straight water in mine ....still tryin to get rid of it. even replaced the radiatior (leaked).

GTOSE

iTrader: (1)

dexcool FTMFL.

Flush it out.