I know this is the wrong forum but this is where I hang out and y'all have always been helpful to me.

Anyway here's the problem. My son has a 2000 Ranger 3.0L V6 he left me when he had to move back up to Las Vegas. I was out checking it out today and pulled the radiator cap, man what a mess. It looks like reddish mud in there and the overflow tank. It's not milky like oil in there it's more like mud. It's caked up on the bottom of the cap and inside the filler neck and the coolant looks the same.

So the questions are, what's the best way to clean it all out and any ideas what would cause it?

 

Any chance it had some kind of head gasket leak and somebody used that useless fix it stuff? 3.0's are notorious for head gasket issues at higher mileage, and many times people will use that supposed sealant stuff to try and fix it. That sealant stuff usually ends up sealing and sticking to everything else except for the actual leak.

Does it look like this?

 

Don't really know if it ever had a head gasket problem, we picked it up used 3 or 4 years ago. I know we haven't done a head gasket but what happen before we got it I couldn't say.

When I bought it the coolant was kind of nasty looking so I did a flush and it looked good until I gave it to my son a years or so later. It wasn't real muddy looking like it is now just looked dirty when I flushed it.

It kind of looks like your pic but more of a darker color.

 

The flash shined into the tube, so it made the stuff look lighter than it was. It was more of a burnt sienna color, you know, that crayon color barely anybody actually uses.

I'd be willing to bet some kind of stop leak stuff was thrown in there. It doesn't matter if you drain the radiator until clear water comes out. As soon as you introduce new coolant into the system, it will just re-contaminate.

And if your 3.0 takes the same orange Ford coolant my 3.0 takes, it won't take long before it turns much darker.

Only way to clear most of that junk out is to flush the system at least 5 times, and even then, you'll still probably end up with gunk. The only way to fully get rid of it is to disassemble the entire motor, and then have it acid dipped to clean it out.

 

Like Shaun said. Somewhat simple to fix, just takes time.
Do us a favor, swipe a little bit on some metal and see how it dries. And put a little in the cup and let the water evaporate.

Here in the county we have hard water. Tastes fine, no need for a filter, but if you only clean toilets once a month a red ring will develop. When I bought my truck the PO was extolling the benefits of the mix it yourself coolant. Since the truck had no thermo I'm willing to bet it was ALL water. And since he was an idiot probably our mediocre tap water. I had rust scale in my coolant that looked a bit more like the photo below. It was more watery, less viscous than what Shaun posted. When the water evaporated out of the bucket I was left with extremely fine rust granules- almost like sand.

I drained it, then flushed with pressurized water back and forth several times, maybe 5 each. Finally had clean water both directions and sealed it back up. After a month of driving I have a little dirt in the coolant, looks like someone sprinkled pepper on the top of the liquid. I should flush again, but it's much better.

Get us a couple pictures.

 

My old 300 didn't have a thermostat either, and had plenty of rust to go around. Head gasket was almost completely plugged up from the stop leak stuff, and from the rust.

I wish there was a TV commercial that would warn people about using tap water for coolant.

But then car manufacturers and auto technicians wouldn't make any money, so of course that will never happen.

 

I can see why ya'lls vehicles never had thermostats. They were probably wrecked from all that rust.

My radiator and fluid looks great on the inside. No rust here. Maybe my PO knew what he was doing as far as radiator fluid, but I think that's where it stopped.

 

Automatic transmission cooler leaking into the radiator?

 

You're right about thermostats. I saw the one he had removed (and btw broken the housing in the process) and it had collapsed because one of the arms rusted away.

I wasn't surprised in the least when I pulled the valve cover and there wasn't a gasket.

 

When I first pulled the thermostat housing off of my 300, I was able to see right into the cylinder head. I had a feeling something was missing, but I couldn't place it. A few minutes later I was going through my parts bin, and I found an old thermostat from one of my dad's cars. Right then and there I realized what was missing from my 300.

 

Haha. We should swap butchered truck stories over brews. If it wasn't for the sub 100k miles and this kid owning it less than 6mos I bet my block would be holding a glass table top.

One of my dizzy weight shafts was gone. Didn't find it either, just gone.

 

We could swap stories for hours.

My rear tail light harness was cut right down the middle.

 

Not to sound ignorant here, but why not use sink water mixed in with coolant? Why is it bad?

What I've heard radiator fluid is actually corrosive to the cylinder walls, and it will eat away at the block. I've been told its a very good idea to add the universal solvent to the radiator fluid to make it less harmful

 

Minerals and "hardness." I wouldn't necessarily say it's "bad" as it depends on your local water quality.

Ever notice any white buildup on the shower head or water faucet filters? Or red rings in the toilet (once a month???) like Dave described?

I try to use only distilled water for mixing with coolant.

 

Ahh... I see now, that makes sense. Thanks!