Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Yeah definitely not putting it in again. Just waiting on it to cool to flush it.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
i wouldn't flush it, the stop leak could stop working. then its rad time.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
True. What should I do about the flashing low coolant light. Its flashing but than it stays on then starts flashing again.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
the sensor is either dirty or bad. its on the side of the rad, cap side, you'll see the wire leading to it.
take it out, clean it, if it still acts up, change it. this is of course providing your rad is full. yet the light comes on.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Ok ill do that. The rad is completely full and bright green like it should be.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
So you have a 2000 but how many miles? GM recommends flushing your coolant every 60-75k. It costs around $150 and is worth every penny to be honest. I have done it myself on multiple vehicles and it is a dirty, disgusting job. That and a transmission flush/fill I will honestly not do because you get crap all over yourself and it is really disgusting. Sure if you're a mechanic then have at it, but for us regular people the money is worth it.
If you have brown gunk on top of green I would tell the mechanics that and listen carefully to avoid being fleeced. Maybe the water pump is going? Maybe it is circulating corroded coolant around and fresh stuff you put in is staying on top? This would be especially true for the reservoir which has far less cycling of fluid than the radiator.
Anyway I am no expert but I am on my fourth car and I have had my fair share of honest and less than honest mechanics. Take my advice with a dose of delicious salt.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
it has 165k on it. I have no idea when it was flushed last so I ended up flushing it. From what I was seeing the stop leak I had put in it was in the reservoir tank and completely covered the sides of it, it had an oil base but was sticky like honey. So i am thinking it was the cause of the brown junk along with god knows if the tank had ever been flushed prior to me owning it. I need a new sensor though cause the one in it is so gunked up its sad and even after trying to clean it, the low coolant still goes off. So now its just keping an eye on it. I hope its not my water pump I had that replaced not to long ago LOL
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
I still have yet to even do a flush and switch over to the green stuff. Lol
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
lol, when I had bought it it never dawned on me to see if they were using the green stuff or not i just added it in. Though I know I need a need reservoir tank cause good heavens that things is disgusting on the inside
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Our impala's tank is all nasty from someone mixing dex and green coolant. I just soaked it in water with dish soap for a few hours, it broke up a lot of it and is good enough for me. If I really wanted to make it completely clean, I'd use my pressure washer and stick the wand in there and clean it all up. But I don't have it right now, or I would.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JessicaRebel
lol, when I had bought it it never dawned on me to see if they were using the green stuff or not i just added it in. Though I know I need a need reservoir tank cause good heavens that things is disgusting on the inside
hot water and bleach should clean it up, let sit all day long, or over night. filled to the top.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
02NavyBlue
Our impala's tank is all nasty from someone mixing dex and green coolant. I just soaked it in water with dish soap for a few hours, it broke up a lot of it and is good enough for me. If I really wanted to make it completely clean, I'd use my pressure washer and stick the wand in there and clean it all up. But I don't have it right now, or I would.
Yeah this thing is just nasty, you can see it on the sides were the power spray wasn't able to hit it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scottydoggs
hot water and bleach should clean it up, let sit all day long, or over night. filled to the top.
I am going to give this a shot over the weekend. Maybe hit it with the water and soap to before with the power nozzle because I am noticing the junk slowly coming off and getting into the coolant. You can see it just floating about once in a while now.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Do take care with bleach. If there's any trace of ammonia, (maybe from idiot who poured windshield washer into radiator?) ammonia and chlorine reacts to make toxic gas. If you see smoke coming up when you pour bleach, get away.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
genki
Do take care with bleach. If there's any trace of ammonia, (maybe from idiot who poured windshield washer into radiator?) ammonia and chlorine reacts to make toxic gas. If you see smoke coming up when you pour bleach, get away.
oh wow thanks for the heads up! good to know
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
I had this problem on my Chevy Lumina 2000; flashing Low coolant light. My coolant tank (not the radiator) had some residue stuck onto the walls. So what I did was first emptied the tank using a kitchen baster (suction tube) which you can find in a Dollar store and then removed the residue using a cloth and a wire. Make sure that you remove most of the residue. Filled the coolant tank to the Hot Level and then then flashing coolant light is gone. I think what was happening is that when the coolant used to heat, this residue used to block the coolant level sensor. Cleaning the residue in the coolant reservoir solved the problem.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Year old thread guy and our coolant level sensors are on the rad not in the overflow tank.
Sent from the Milky Way
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
I had a similar problem; Low Coolant light was flashing on my Chevy Lumina 2000. My coolant reservoir tank (not the radiator) had sludge/dirt on the inside walls of the tank. So what I did was 1) emptied the reservoir using a kitchen baster (you can get that in a Dollar store), 2) cleaned/removed all the dirt (using a cloth and a bent copper wire); make sure you remove most of the dirt inside the reservoir tank. Voila, the flashing light stopped blinking. So I think what was happening was that when the coolant used to get hot, the dirt from the reservoir tank used to block the Coolant Level sensor making it to blink. That fixed the problem. If this does not fix the problem, then try cleaning the Coolant Level sensor itself which is located on the side of the radiator itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JessicaRebel
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
I had a similar problem; Low Coolant light was flashing on my Chevy Lumina 2000. My coolant reservoir tank (not the radiator) had sludge/dirt on the inside walls of the tank. So what I did was 1) emptied the reservoir using a kitchen baster (you can get that in a Dollar store), 2) cleaned/removed all the dirt (using a cloth and a bent copper wire); make sure you remove most of the dirt inside the reservoir tank. Voila, the flashing light stopped blinking. So I think what was happening was that when the coolant used to get hot, the dirt from the reservoir tank used to block the Coolant Level sensor making it to blink. That fixed the problem. If this does not fix the problem, then try cleaning the Coolant Level sensor itself which is located on the side of the radiator itself.
Re: Coolant reservoir has brown junk in it and low coolant light flashing. what is it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Russosaur
Year old thread guy and our coolant level sensors are on the rad not in the overflow tank.
Sent from the Milky Way
She (see the nail polish below) said 2000 Lumina.. while it's a different car, it's a W
