I am scared. The cooling fluid of my 2000 F-250 is brownish. I am not shure if it is Oil, which would be bad.
Is there a way that I can find out what it is? I'd like to get an opinion of my own before I take it to a repair shop.
Hope you can see something on the picture...
Thanks for any ideas
Thomas

 

I can't tell if the fluid is clear or not with the reflection and glare from the flash.

Use a turkey baser or a tube to suck out a sample and put it in a clear bottle or glass.

 

I took some fluid out, hope these pictures are better.
It smells like the rubber of the hose, no oily smell


The color is more yellow than brown

 

What are you afraid of? Not much information here so I'll ask....what brand of vehicle is this stuff in? an more specifically what engine is it in? and how old is this liquid, if you know? Is it a diesel or a gasoline powered engine? if its gasoline and the coolant is old like say 8 or 10 years old and if you don't have any other known issues with the engine I'd drain it and flush the system, put in the proper amount of coolant/water mix and run the engine a while and see what happens. It could very well just be time for a drain and flush. The yellow could mean its very old Ford Gold coolant, there may be others with the yellow tint but I don't know of any.

I looked back and see the brand of vehicle is a Ford so it very well could be Ford Gold in the radiator.

 

Best to do what Mcrafty1 said. Change the coolant. If your oil level isn't changing at all between changes then you are fine. Start with the cheapest option. A couple of jugs of coolant and your time is the cheapest to start.

 

Thanks Guys, I am feeling safer now.
It's a 5.4 gas engine.
I will put new fluid in and see what happens.
I pull a 5th wheel, so the poor engine has to work quit a bit.
When I checked the oil level, there where 2 quarts missing since the last oil change 2000 miles before, but that should be in the limit, right?

 

Just dirty fluid. Do a complete flush. Disconnect the heater core and flush it separately, careful not too much pressure on the garden hose. Once its all flushed try to get as much of the tap water out as possible with low psi compressed air. Change the Tstat with a motorcraft replacement(only). Change any hoses in question. Refill with the premixed Ford coolant or if your purchasing it straight cut it with distilled water. Dont use tap water. Hydrometer it before totally full and see where it is. Should be -34* for a 50/50 mix. Adjust it accordingly to full. Run it down the road a few miles recheck level. Flush at the recommended intervals to keep the cooling system happy. The stuff wears out and becomes acidic and will start eating at things if let go too long.
2qts low isnt normal. That equates to a qt/1000. Keep an eye on it. How many miles on engine and do you see it smoking at start up or going sown road? What weight oil do you use?

 

Check the PCV valve. You wouldn't be the first modular to burn a quart every few thousand miles if you're really loading it down, but a qt/k is a lot.

This is what oil in Ford Gold coolant looks like:

 

I assume the 99, 6.8 V10 requires the Ford Gold ?
I had new tires , they did a test of all fluids, and my coolant is on the edge of needing replaced .
I can't tell the difference between gold and yellow , so some help would be appreciated.
I have a degree of color blindness, that seems to be getting worse as I get older.

Thanks again.

 

All that is is rust in the system. Take it to the dealer and have them flush the system. It shouldnt cost more than a hundred bucks. It sounds like a bunch of money but it's done right and they had to dispose of the fluid.
If you had oil in the radiator it would be a white milky color.

 

A coolant filter would help.

 

Ford VC-9 and Cummins Filtration Restore+ are popular with the diesel guys to clean out rust and scale, it's easy to do in your driveway if you have a large enough disposal container.

I'd rather flush myself with distilled water than have a shop use city water, some of that stuff is so hard it grows lime scale overnight it seems.