i pulled off the fan and clutch and rad shroud today.and in the top main rad hose,on the radiator endwhere the air screw is,there is like a thick grey gooey substance in the hose,just around the sides through that first bend in the hose,but on filler cap end,the hose is clean. can someone tell me what this is.? i was thinking maybe there is mega gunk in the rad,and the grey is just were some of it gets washed out,but not far enough to reach the filler cap spot. can someone out there help me?

 

ha,i know you guys knows this

 

you guys know this,use the force

 

did you possibly switch to dexcool (orange) coolant at some point. is has been reputed to form a sort of sludge under certain conditions when mixed with standard coolant that was not completely flushed out. only thing i can thin off other than blowby acculanting into a sort of gunk like it can in the overflow bottle.

 

im getting a rad and fan clutch tomorow from the junk yard,hopefully i can track down my over heatng prob

 

I'd do a complete Coolant system flush at the time of Installing those used parts.

 

When you don't flush your coolant from time to time this wonderful thing happens. Can't tell ya what it is but I can tell ya if the cars used you might want to look into replacing some hoses if the coolant system wasn't taken care of.

 

Maybe a previous owner put some of that "Seals Radiator Leaks" goop into the system. One of those products is a gray powder that you pour into the cooling system to plug small leaks in the radiator.

 

yeah its weird.cause its only in one end of that hose.i found a leak in the system at the top of the column that holds the filler cap,it was dirty where the hose met the other part and letting fluid through. when i first got the car i flushed it twice,and replaced the thermo.but it always ran about 1/2 way and a little more up the guage,i thought this was ok until i found out that its suposed to stay around 1/4. it runs hot wether im sitting or going 120mph,so i just going to replace the rad and fan and hoses and flush really good,prolly get a oem thermo also

 

How did you perform the flush? Just tossing the hose in the hose in the filler neck and running it until it comes out the bottom of the radiator clear is not good enough. Use the Prestone Flush stuff, it works really well. My 87TII ran hot on me all the time, but after the rad flush with the Prestone stuff, it ran about 1/4 on the gauge.

 

i did a good flush,with the prestone super flush,i drained it from the bottom,filled it with the flush and water,drove it like a mad man,then drained it,then let it cool,then filled it with reg water,and ran it,drained it,let it cool down ,then put in 75 percent water,watter wetter,and the rest antifreeze,not the red stuff either.im pretty sure my problem is from my rad and fan being old and worn,and old tubes,combo of all three,im going through the whole thing to be sure

 

it always runs hot,i heard if its hot when your stopped,ts the fan,if its hot on the highway,its the rad,but its always about half. so im doing both

 

btw. i think the junk yard has an 87 t2,and a newer probably 89 or 90 gxl,are these rads interchangable with an 86 n/a?

 

Did you drain the whole system or just the radiator? Did it boil over when you drove it around with the flush/water mixture?

 

no dont think it did boil,but i didnt drain the whole system either.i heard that you could drain more from the block when you flush.is that drain bolt on the block or do i do it from just unhooking the bottom rad hose.is it suposed to boil with the water/flush mix?