Brown sludge in coolant?

[lakers1125]

I recently had my 1988 ford ranger overheat on the highway... Today i was checking the coolant level and it was completely dry and as I was filling it with 50/50 this nasty smell came up and brown sludge came out and it kinda smelt like gear oil. Any idea what it could be? and also why it would be dry? There are no coolant leaks on the ground.

 

[adsm08]

I smell cracked heads.

 

[black_demon69]

I smell cracked heads.

second that

 

[jhammel85]

Third...Sorry...

 

[Kowboy]

With no objections, all agreed, the motion is passed.

 

[pcollins]

Pull out the dipstick as well and see what the oil looks like.

 

[simpler=better]

Somewhat on topic, if you never lose any coolant but it's always brown with sludge in the tank (even after a flush) what would you do?

 

[Mark_88]

Somewhat on topic, if you never lose any coolant but it's always brown with sludge in the tank (even after a flush) what would you do?

Flush again with something stronger...what did you use to flush it with the first time? Plain water doesn't necessarily break down years of gunge and you need to use something designed to do that...if you already did then I would suspect it is collecting in the heater core...so back flush that...meaning run the water through in the reverse of how it comes in usually...if not sure, just flush it both ways a couple of times.

 

[snake]

Run some simple green through that bitch it often times will break down oil in a cooling system.

 

[Full Throttle]

Also if auto tranny the radiator could have cracked and leaking trannny fluid into radiator.

 

[88SXT]

If your oil looks like chocolate milk or your coolant has brown sludge and or and irridecent rainbows floating in it. You almost definately have a blown head gasket and or cracked/warped heads. Either that or your mechanic cant tell the difference between a radiator and an oil cap

 

[kimcrwbr1]

The best way to eliminate the brown sludge is remove the water pump and thermostat housing and use high pressure water to flush the block out. Backflush the radiator and heater core and the fill both with half bleach half water and let sit overnight. Then flush the both ways a few times and install all new hoses and water pump and thermostat. Fill it with water only and check for leaks using a pressure tester on the radiator cap. If it passes the pressure test fill with coolant at the proper ratio. The brown crap could be rust or someone used alot of bars leak either way it settles in the low spots in the block and has little babies. The only way to get it out other than a hot tank is to pull the water pump and blast the block good until only clear water comes out.