1999 ford windstar se, coolant flush?

Question

had my friends dad look at my car because it has been sitting for 8 months,he noticed that my coolant was brown and said i should get a coolant flush, so i drained the coolant and then found that there was stop leak in the coolant reservoir. Was wondering if that would have turned the coolant brown? Also is it okay to leave the stop leak in there well flushing the system or should i clean the reservoir out? Also prior to the car sitting for so long i never had any problems with any coolant leaks. I'm not sure the last time the radiator was looked at since the previous owners could not remember or find a bill for the last time it was looked at.

Answer 1

Did you splice in a Peak or Prestone flushing T in the heater core return line and flush the system with a garden hose? If you just drained the radiator you didn't flush the block, cylinder-heads and heater core. The rest of the system is still loaded with brown junk. If the color was that nasty, you actually should run two plastic bottles of Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner in the system for *at least 200 highway miles to scarf the crap out. After cleaning you need to flush till clear again and drain the block and radiator before adding 50 % of the cooling system's capacity with100% antifreeze. Fill the rest with distilled water. Look in the glove-compartment hand book in the specifications pages for the correct formulation of antifteeze to use.



The reason you see granular pieces of radiator sealer in the reservoir, every time the motor heats up 3/4 to one cup of coolant is forced into the reservoir. The sealer that's not being used in the coolant is in suspension so a different 3/4 to one cup of coolant is forced into the reservoir. The granular pieces settles to the bottom of the reservoir every time the motor cools down. Yes you should clean the reservoir out by removing it and fill with hot water and Wisk folllowed by scrubbing the inside with a round stiff household brush.

Answer 2

Well first of all, i doubt the coolant turned brown, i think it was the reservoir, that just turned brown. Anyways i recommend a flush and new fluid. These Windstar's last forever when they are properly maintained.

Answer 3

clean the reservoir out,the stop leak could have turn the antifreeze brown add new antifreeze and hope for the best.