Hey all, I just noticed that I had some nasty dirt or other things floating around in my coolant overflow reservoir. Then I dumped that all out, and there is some brownish dirt caked onto the bottom of the reservoir. Any ideas what this all came from or what it is? It kinda looks like sand or dirt that solidifed onto the bottom or something? How do I get it off? Thanks.

Have a local shop do a coolant flush.

Can I just do that myself? But where did this dirt come from, and my main problem is that it's stuck to the bottom of the overflow reservoir...

I had some green, dirty looking gunk stuck to the bottom of mine too. I just took the hose and sprayed it out, that junk broke up pretty easily. That was shortly after I bought it, I haven't had it happen since.

Ha ha Marcus I had the exact same thing. When I was changing my coolant I took out the resevoir, turned it upside down, and there was like mud on the bottom of that thing that wouldn't move. I believe it's some kind of precipitate from the coolant, with some iron oxides in there (hence that brownish color).

I stuck my hose nozzle in that and squirted it all out. Haven't had any kind of similar sludge since. And I've been paying attention since I first saw that- kinda alarming! I used a good brand of antifreeze w/ all those antirust protective properties, so maybe it was just the mitsubishi antifreeze that does that

You didn't, by chance, use redline water wetter at any point in the car's life, did you? That leaves a residue, typically.
-=B-=

dude that means you gotta clean your stuff out

I flushed the coolant on the MR2 when I first got it OMG it was the worst ever, flushing a MR2 is a nightmare too so much plumbing but anyway the reservoir tank was like you said half way filled up with mud, the coolant was like orange haha. Don't let it get like that.

Most likely just corosion from inside your cooling system, time for a flush and fill.

Is it a cream or tan color and very gooey? This also is what happens when oil mixes with water, it creates this tan colored goo. So it's possibly a sign of a head gasket leak between coolant and oil passages. Are you loosing oil? Need to fill it up on a regular basis?

I doubt it's a headgasket, but thought I'd warn you if you do a flush and fill and the substance returns. But first flush and fill, radiator corrosion and this motor oil/water substance look the same.



15.9 @ 86.7mph
97 Eclipse RS

Injen CAI, 55mm TB, P&P Intake, Crower Stage 2 Cams, Hooker Header, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, Crane Ign Amp, S-AFC

Ahh don't scare me...I'm not loosing any oil from what I can tell.

The stuff is tan looking and looks like a light colored mud like ez said. How urgent is it for me to take care of this? I'm going to be really busy for the next month, so can it wait? Keep in mind I'm in socal where its 60's nowadays. How much would a shop charge to flush and fill? Thanks guys...

I guess we DO all get the same sort of problems around the same time on here. :P Wife and I were cleaning out the insides of our cars last weekend and I just decided to check under the hood while I was out there. Sure enough, coolant res empty except for some brownish sludge at the bottom.
So let's see, I've got oil leaking like a MoFo down the back of my block and I've changed the VC and oil pan gaskets. Every once in a while I get some intermittent smoke from the tail pipe (very rare) and now no coolant. Sounds like the answer to my oil leak is the answer to most people's oil leaks on here. It's not good to know it's the headgasket, but it's good to know.:thumbsup :7

It's normal. Over time it builds up, as the reservour also works as a crap-trap. Just empty it, spray it out, refill it, and put it back on. No sweat.

it is more than likely the breakdown of your rad. hoses... over time they tend to rot away and chip off into the rad. and coolant. Flushing the rad will fix this along with changing your hoses.... the heat ends up breaking down the inside of the flex hose which will slowly eat away from the inside out......

dude, just flush it yourself. get a bottle of radiator flush and read the instructions. IMO you don't have to let it run as long as they state on the bottle. it's really not a thing. me and my wife did this this fall, and you would'nt believe how much cooler the car ran.

>It's normal. Over time it builds up, as the reservour also
>works as a crap-trap. Just empty it, spray it out, refill it,
>and put it back on. No sweat.

Thanks guys, esecially you Dino. I like that attitude. Makes me realize it's no biggie...