Grey sludge in brand new radiator - what does it mean.

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sazzlefrats

sazzlefrats

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I'm thinking this is probably a very bad sign. I bought my Dart 6 months ago, but because of a newborn, I sort of put it aside and haven't toyed with it since I got all the mechanicals hooked up.

I took her out of the garage yesterday and got her idleing and let it go for 20minutes. My brand new aluminum radiator boiled over and and this sludge is coming out. I've never seen anything quite like it.

I killed the motor which was idling just fine, it does bog when you stamp the gas pedal (a problem I was hoping to work on).

Anyhow when I could I took off the radiator cap, there was this greyish sludge all over it, it was super smooth to the touch. The motor didn't appear to radiating much heat (temp gauge does not appear to work). There was a slight amount of red in the sludge which I guess is rust. The motor has unknown miles on it. I'm pretty sure its a 360, worst case is its a 318.

Other than pulling the motor apart, cause I think its a head gasket, what else can I do to figure it out.
 
You have oil mixing with the coolant.
First guess off the top would be head gaskets.
 
do a leak down test. That will give you a better idea what is going on in the motor
 
Do a leak down test as was suggested.
I actually had a similar situation and all because the engine sat for years and ran only once is a while. What I did was brought my car in to an oil change place which had a flush machine and had it flushed over and over until it was clean. Hasn't any problems since as the garbage is gone
 
That's what I would do. Are you usint the transmission cooler in the radiator? It would be ashame if you followed the advice replacing head gaskets if all the problem is is the cooler is compromised. You're doing it right. Concentrate on proper diagnosis.
 
Its a 4spd, there is no transmission cooler and the heater core is blocked off, also this is a brand new radiator. The original one was loaded with sediment and had numberous pin holes everywhere. I have driven the vehicle once around the block since I owned it, so I have no information on the health of the drive train.
 
I gotchya. Well.....It's still totally worth diagnosing. You never know. Rust is red too. I caint explain the oily residue. Is it possible it was something in the radiator when you got it? Lastly....I know there is no cooler, but just because something is new, doesn't make it good.
 
Maybe it is garbage still left from the old radiator that was still in the engine and possible crap they put in it to seal the leaks. As said before flush several times and then go from there.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Maybe it is garbage still left from the old radiator that was still in the engine and possible crap they put in it to seal the leaks. As said before flush several times and then go from there.
Click to expand...

Not just an old fart but a smart fart. I hadn't thought of the left over sealin stuff. That's a great thought.
 
"Boiling over" CAN be a sign of combustion leakage either gasket, or cracked head/ block/ etc

Look for wet / coolant on any of the plugs

Do a compression test

"Rig" your air hose to your compression tester/ cylinder adapter so you can inject air, listen and look for exit in the radiator

After that I would drain and thoroughly flush it, maybe two, three times

Obviously, also look for coolant in the oil

Last, call around to rad shops, etc to find someone with the old chemical "block check" This is a tool which sucks a little coolant in, and reacts with a chemical which turns color in the presence of combustion products
 
Plugs are a little hard to get to. I checked the oil, its very dark, looks like it should have been changed a long while ago, but its translucent with absolutely NO milkyness...
I'll try to pull the plugs tomorrow morning before work, if they are dry I should be okay?!?

I don't have any testing tools at home and this project isn't mobile, so if I appear to be ignoring good advice its not that, its that I can not act upon it.
 
Haha... the spark plugs are nestled against the inner fenders and the headers... trust me even though its lifted the plugs are still a pain in the butt! Plus its in the garage... just trust me on this... not tonight :)
 
The oil being clean doesn't mean there isn't a oil leak into the cooling system.
It's a lot easier for oil to push into the cooling system than the other way around.

Just a note.

By all means, flush the heck out of it.
Can't hurt, and it might take care of the problem.
 
Yep. Don't buy trouble. Use water in the rad, temporarily, until you get this sorted out. That way, if "it develops" a coolant to oil leak, you won't have antifreese in the oil.
 
67Dart273 said:
Yep. Don't buy trouble. Use water in the rad, temporarily, until you get this sorted out. That way, if "it develops" a coolant to oil leak, you won't have antifreese in the oil.
Click to expand...

The baby was up from 3am to 7am... that changed my morning plans to "get some any sleep even 1hr!"

I will get home a bit late tonight (the dart is facing the wrong way in the garage to work on it, may its time to turn her around). I will have to do this tomorrow morning.

I don't need a drain pan, but I have 5 gallon buckets and she sits 2 feet off the ground :p
 
Can you tell where the motor has been worked on ? Like a new water pump, intake, other
 
RedFish said:
Can you tell where the motor has been worked on ? Like a new water pump, intake, other
Click to expand...


Honestly I have no idea. The previous owner put on a 4bbl stock intake and carb from another motor, but it looks as old as everything else on the motor. The only truly new stuff on the motor is the radiator I had a friend mechanic put in, but I'm pretty sure that the engine wasn't flushed. Even my new remanufactured brake master cylinder is leaking out the back, and come to think of it so is the freaking power steering. And of course I noticed last night that of course the gauges don't work I can see the oil and temp sending units.. but no wires anywhere to hook them up.

Does this make it a basket case?
 
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