Metal goop particles in my cooling system

xXDavidCXx

xXDavidCXx

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I’ve been working on a second round of flushing my cooling system for a few weeks now.

I started with Thermocure, ran it for 3 days and then flushed it out and ran Prestone flush for the days.

For the entire time I’ve owned this Jeep (13 months) whatever coolant or water I put in always comes out black after running the engine to get the air out. Right away black.

I have 18 gallons of water I’ve pored in and all of the water comes out some shad of black.

When I discovered I could use the the block drain plug, thick black goop was plugged up behind the plug.

What’s even odder is the black goop is actually made up of metal that I can collect with a magnet from any open hole in the cooling system. This stuff is everywhere and caused me to toss a perfectly good radiator last year due to it being clogged with this stuff.

What is it, and is there and end to this stuff?

Is my engine dissolving from the inside out?

Oil analysis says coolant in the oil, too.

I feel like maybe another 20 gallons will get it all out 🤷.

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You are not supposed to have pieces of metal in there.
Is it possible that you have too much corrosion, and this is how oil is getting contaminated with coolant.
Does your look fine?
Also, how many cycles of thermocure did you run? Did you drain the block every time?

I ran 2 thermocure cycles, each time drove it for like 3-4 days. Every time drained the block.
It cleaned almost all the rust I had, see pics before and after.

D937EFCF-79C5-401A-BA32-826EBA478A62.jpeg


E0E27C9F-C174-49C7-97B4-B814BB256682.jpeg


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That's rust, I powered mine out with a new rad, flushed the heater core both directions, removed intake and freeze out plugs. used water pressure around the cylinder water jackets until it all came out clean. It mostly settled in the rear section of the engine block.
Been a year now as a DD and the cooling system works like new.
 
TexasTJ2004 said:
You are not supposed to have pieces of metal in there.
Is it possible that you have too much corrosion, and this is how oil is getting contaminated with coolant.
Does your look fine?
Also, how many cycles of thermocure did you run? Did you drain the block every time?

I ran 2 thermocure cycles, each time drove it for like 3-4 days. Every time drained the block.
It cleaned almost all the rust I had, see pics before and after.
Click to expand...

1 cycle with Thermocure, and I drain with the radiator and block every time.
 
Ticks said:
That's rust, I powered mine out with a new rad, flushed the heater core both directions, removed intake and freeze out plugs. used water pressure around the cylinder water jackets until it all came out clean. It mostly settled in the rear section of the engine block.
Been a year now as a DD and the cooling system works like new.
Click to expand...

Sound like I need a deep cleaning.

Problem is I live in an HOA I can’t really pull this off without raising suspicion, with car parts and black water all over the outside of my garage. I’ll have to think how I best use my pressure washer to do this.

On the other hand, if my next oil analysis comes back with more coolant in the oil, I’ll probably at least need a head gasket, and maybe a new head so I will investigate and see how bad the build up is.
 
xXDavidCXx said:
Sound like I need a deep cleaning.

Problem is I live in an HOA I can’t really pull this off without raising suspicion, with car parts and black water all over the outside of my garage. I’ll have to think how I best use my pressure washer to do this.

On the other hand, if my next oil analysis comes back with more coolant in the oil, I’ll probably at least need a head gasket, and maybe a new head so I will investigate and see how bad the build up is.
Click to expand...

Look, I live in a neighborhood with HOA as well. If we assume that both my HOA and your HOA is meet the classic definition of “bunch of very angry Karens”, then I believe that my HOA outkaren yours.
I do have a garage, but cannot spill anything but some drops. Using the option of connecting a hose was not possible for me, because it will create too much spills.

I lifted my TJ on jacks, then put a plastic container from container store under the engine and some paper sheets to catch spills. Then opened the drain plug in the block and drained it from there. Then drained from radiator drain cock into the same container. This way not more that multiple drops went to the floor.
The antifreeze was drained at t he first time, you need to keep it for recycle, as if cannot go into any sewer.
The mix of distilled water and thermocure or Preston is not toxic (stinks and disgusting, but not more toxic that any household chemicals that go down t he drain in the sink.
You follow the above procedure and get your engine as clean as mine, w/o hurting the environment or getting the angry Karens even more angrier that they are usually.
 
xXDavidCXx said:
Sound like I need a deep cleaning.

Problem is I live in an HOA I can’t really pull this off without raising suspicion, with car parts and black water all over the outside of my garage. I’ll have to think how I best use my pressure washer to do this.

On the other hand, if my next oil analysis comes back with more coolant in the oil, I’ll probably at least need a head gasket, and maybe a new head so I will investigate and see how bad the build up is.
Click to expand...

HOA.. blah!!
But if the test does come back with coolant in oil then yes great time to replace all the freeze out plugs side of the engine block. That's probably mostly where the rust is coming from, mine were paper thin.
 
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TexasTJ2004 said:
Look, I live in a neighborhood with HOA as well. If we assume that both my HOA and your HOA is meet the classic definition of “bunch of very angry Karens”, then I believe that my HOA outkaren yours.
I do have a garage, but cannot spill anything but some drops. Using the option of connecting a hose was not possible for me, because it will create too much spills.

I lifted my TJ on jacks, then put a plastic container from container store under the engine and some paper sheets to catch spills. Then opened the drain plug in the block and drained it from there. Then drained from radiator drain cock into the same container. This way not more that multiple drops went to the floor.
The antifreeze was drained at t he first time, you need to keep it for recycle, as if cannot go into any sewer.
The mix of distilled water and thermocure or Preston is not toxic (stinks and disgusting, but not more toxic that any household chemicals that go down t he drain in the sink.
You follow the above procedure and get your engine as clean as mine, w/o hurting the environment or getting the angry Karens even more angrier that they are usually.
Click to expand...

I'm doing exactly this.

So, down the drain, eh. Would you do that even with the metal particles in my case?
 
I didn’t have any solid deposits in mine. There were like some chunks of something that looks like corrosion mixed with dirt, but I ran everything through a filter ( cone with small net), just to verify that there is nothing unexpected. Anything that filter caught was looked into and wasn’t flushed away.
 
Ticks said:
HOA.. blah!!
But if the test does come back with coolant in oil then yes great time to replace all the freeze out plugs side of the engine block. That's probably mostly where the rust is coming from, mine were paper thin.
Click to expand...

How is coolant in the oil related to the freeze plugs?
 
Coolant in the oil is terminal, I'd stop flushing or dealing with the cooling system at all. You need to find the crack or gasket that is bad. The only concern is what is letting coolant and oil mix and I think in most situations that requires removing the head. Don't put too much work into anything but pulling the head, most engines that run coolant toast the bearings in a short time anyway. I'd probably put a mechanical pressure gauge on it and see if it's even worth spending time on pulling the head. Not trying to be super negative about it but that seems to be the road you are on.
 
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pagrey said:
Coolant in the oil is terminal, I'd stop flushing or dealing with the cooling system at all. You need to find the crack or gasket that is bad. The only concern is what is letting coolant and oil mix and I think in most situations that requires removing the head. Don't put too much work into anything but pulling the head, most engines that run coolant toast the bearings in a short time anyway. I'd probably put a mechanical pressure gauge on it and see if it's even worth spending time on pulling the head. Not trying to be super negative about it but that seems to be the road you are on.
Click to expand...

The oil analysis alluded to internal wear with metals in the oil. Just trying to keep this thing alive as long as I can, but sounds like I should just get a new engine.
 
This is the wear I'm talking about.
Ticks said:
If you end up replacing the head gasket you'll have easy access to the plugs since everything will be outof the way. They are likely rotten with all that junk in the coolant anyway
Click to expand...

Turns out my plugs are brass already.
 
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