That is what I am thinking. Some of the black grit I've found in the coolant may be the old head gasket from when I paid a mechanic to R/R the head. The Jeep had a weird severe misfiring problem that turned out to be low compression from faulty exhaust valves. I believe it was isolated to 2000-2001 model years when Jeep changed the valve springs for emissions....
The rust may have formed when the engine was apart when the mechanic worked on it. I was in no hurry and he had it apart for about 4 months. The other unusual thing about this Jeep is that the original owner purchased it from the dealer with a skunky expansion tank. He bought it late in the model year and it was one of the last ones they made. He also told me, IIRC, that it was best to leave it near empty to prevent it from overflowing. Since I've replaced the thermostat and flushed it out, it doesn't seem to have that problem anymore. On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM, Rich Thomas < richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote: > Air causes the rusting, so maybe if the whole thing is not absolutely full > of coolant then whatever is left exposed will rust. That would most likely > be at the top. > > --R > > > On 6/2/12 2:45 PM, Brian Toscano wrote: > >> I considered that, but here's the kicker... Only the lower hose has the >> spring and if I try to clean it, it returns to black which seems to be the >> way it came from the factory. I don't think the spring itself is rusting >> - >> it seems to be a surface that rust collects, but that's it. I didn't try >> to remove the spring because I didn't want to distort it. I think >> changing >> the lower hose would eliminate some build up in the part of the spring I >> could not clean. As an example, if I pull on the spring and rinse water >> through the house, It takes a few seconds for the water to be perfectly >> clear again. Maybe the rust came from the head, not the block? Both are >> cast iron. >> >> >> On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Rich Thomas< >> richthomas79TD300@**constructivity.net<richthomas79td...@constructivity.net>> >> wrote: >> >> Maybe those springs? >>> >>> --R >>> >>> >>> On 6/2/12 1:51 PM, Brian Toscano wrote: >>> >>> Last night I drained the coolant from the drain plug on the radiator. >>>> What >>>> came out first was bright green. After a little bit, it turns rusty >>>> brown, >>>> and then turned to dirty coolant. This was just draining. Likewise, >>>> what >>>> is in the expansion tank is typically rust colored and when I poured >>>> clean >>>> water into the heater core, what came out was rust colored. What I >>>> removed >>>> the water pump what I saw was dirty coolant, but the inside of the >>>> engine >>>> (outside of the cylinder wall for #1) looks perfectly fine and >>>> rust-free. >>>> It makes me think the coolant does separate as it cools. >>>> >>>> The water pump itself looks fine also. A gasket leak developed on the >>>> top >>>> of the pump after I did the first round of flushing. >>>> >>>> What has the most crap buildup are the heater hoses. The supply and >>>> return to the heater core have a rust buildup inside. The lower >>>> radiator >>>> hose has a large spring in it almost the entire length and that spring >>>> holds a ton of crap. It makes me wonder where all this rust comes from >>>> if >>>> the inside of the engine looks fine. >>>> >>>> On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 8:39 AM, Brian Toscano<brian.toscano@gmail.**** >>>> com<brian.tosc...@gmail.com> >>>> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>> I considered that the dark radiator has an effect on the coolant. The >>>> >>>>> bright green when in the radiator is almost clear in a coolant tester. >>>>> However, what's in the expansion tank is darker. The original problem >>>>> has >>>>> been fixed. The flushing I did definitely helped. I'm not expecting >>>>> 100% >>>>> perfectly new looking coolant in 11 year old engine with cast iron >>>>> block >>>>> and head. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 9:26 PM, Max<meadedil...@bellsouth.net> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Remove a sample from the radiator and another from expansion tank to >>>>> >>>>>> compare side by side; it's awfully hard to judge color inside a dark >>>>>> radiator. >>>>>> >>>>>> Did you fix the original problem? >>>>>> >>>>>> I think your flushing method failed. >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Max Dillon >>>>>> Charleston SC >>>>>> '95 E300, '87 300TD >>>>>> _______________________ >>>>>> >>>>>> ______________________________****_________ >>>>>> >>>>>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>>>>> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>>>>> To search list archives >>>>>> http://www.okiebenz.com/****archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/> >>>>>> <http://www.okiebenz.**com/archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> >>>>>> > >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>>>>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/****mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**** >>>>>> okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com> >>>>>> <http://mail.**okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/**mercedes_okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >>>>>> > >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> ______________________________****_________ >>>>> >>>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>>> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>>> To search list archives >>>> http://www.okiebenz.com/****archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/> >>>> <http://www.okiebenz.**com/archive/ <http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/>> >>>> >>>> >>>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/****mailman/listinfo/mercedes_****okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com> >>>> <http://mail.**okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/**mercedes_okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >>>> > >>>> >>>> >>>> ______________________________****_________ >>> >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>> To search list archives >>> http://www.okiebenz.com/****archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/> >>> <http://www.okiebenz.**com/archive/ <http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/>> >>> >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/****mailman/listinfo/mercedes_****okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com> >>> <http://mail.**okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/**mercedes_okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >>> > >>> >>> ______________________________**_________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> To search list archives >> http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >> >> > ______________________________**_________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives > http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
