Coolant gone a dirty colour?

LadyE

Hi All,

Last week my timing belt broke, took with it 7 valves..so I had to get a new timing belt, 7 valves, the boxy thing the valves sit in (sorry, not technical ) and a head gasket.

When I picked the car up, the mechanic told me to check for changes in the coolant, I think he said because of changes in the engine it could cause the coolant to change?

Anyway, I checked the coolant and the previous blue coolant is now a murky dirty brown colour?

Would I be able to flush this out with water, or should I get a professional to drain it?

Als, would the change in the coolant cause the car to be slow to start (start on second try) and cut out after Ive got the "bite"..its not every time, but frequent enough.

Cheers

LadyE

Shoould prob say its an 02 Peaugot 206!

PCPhoto

wild guess your oil pump is leaking and oil is getting into the coolant.

EDIT: Bring it back to guy that did the head gasket and get him to do it (the coolant)

LadyE

ahhhh balls.

Could I flush it out first and see if it changes again..mechanic is a good bit away:(

Lord Nikon

It's common that it will turn a murkey colour. The head gasket itself is a seal that seperates the water/coolant and the oil in the engine. If the garage replaced the gasket correctly and did a "good job", he would have done a simple flush of the cooling system.

The fact that your car needed a gasket changed would prove that coolant and oil were mixing, and would cause the coolant to go murkey, but it's safe to assume that a flush would not remove ALL crap from the system, and that is why the coolant is that colour.

I would suggest bringing it back to the garage for another flush, until the coolant is a nice colour you are happy with, ie: not murkey. But be prepared to pay for it.

DublinDilbert

neuromancer wrote: »

The fact that your car needed a gasket changed would prove that coolant and oil were mixing,

The head was taken off the car as the timing belt broke and needed 7 valves replaced.

LadyE wrote: »

Anyway, I checked the coolant and the previous blue coolant is now a murky dirty brown colour?

Would I be able to flush this out with water, or should I get a professional to drain it?

It may just be the colour of the coolant that was used, mixing with a bit of the old coolant still in the system. Although if its a brownish color some rad-weld was possibly thrown in....

I would take it back to the place that done the work on it and let them have a quick check....

Lord Nikon

Why would the mechanic tell him to check for changes in the coolant?

LadyE

OK the coolant is murky..not brown brown, more dirty cream..but it was bright blue.

I topped it up with more blue and havent checked it since.

Would this have something to do with the car not starting first time/cutting out?

DublinDilbert

neuromancer wrote: »

Why would the mechanic tell him to check for changes in the coolant?

i would say the mechanic said to keep an eye on the coolant level. When you do a job like this you disturb so many connections, you always risk a leak when its put back together....