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[Jay]

Came up on the computer "Coolant Level" so i goes the garage to top it up with a bit of water for the time being, opened it and brown water came flooding out... heart sinks... automatically thought HG!! Then I remembered reading on here that oil in coolant is usually oil cooler... anyone know whats wrong with it its running spot on, at 90 on the temp gauge smells a bit "hot" but no more than normal i wouldnt say!

[STMO123]

Dont panic Jay. It may not be that serious. Post a few more details and try to describe EXACTLY the train of events and symptoms. Someone in the know will be able to point you in the right direction.

[Jay]

hmm well i checked the dipstick for mayo and there was none, nor on the oil filler cap, no sign of water in the oil at all. In the Coolant its thin brown water no mayo at all. Car isnt overheating at all, doesnt seem like theres a problem... just the colour of the water is brown!!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Its a common misconcenption that oil in the water is headgasket......water in the oil or cylinders yes....but oil in the water...no.

It is most likely oil cooler which actualy isnt a bad job to do, particularly if done before it gets bad (doesn't clog the system to much then).

You say the coolant is brown, is it a creamy consistency...if its just brown then it could be a bot of rust (wrong antifreeze mix)

[TheBoy]

As Mark says, if its just brown water, then flush it through a couple of times with a proper antifreeze mix.

If you seem to have 'globules' of oil suspended in water, or the water is 'thick' then this sounds more like oil cooler. If so, don't run it, and fix it soon (running it or leaving it will cause all the rubber hoses to fail).

[Jay]

no its not thick at all its more like dirty water, its as thin as normal water and its a solid brown colour (like a tan colour you get on leather shoes!) no "globules" of oil and that.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Dirty coolant then I suspect.....needs flushing through and changing for some nice fresh stuff with a 50:50 antifreeze mix.

[STMO123]

There...told you not to panic

[TheBoy]

Dirty coolant then I suspect.....needs flushing through and changing for some nice fresh stuff with a 50:50 antifreeze mix.

Remember each drain from rad tap only empties 1/2, so worth running hose through it, and/or doing a few times over next few days....

[JamesV6CDX]

My v6 had mega manky coolant before I flushed it, the water was really brown and dirty.

I just flushed it a few times.

[Markjay]

...at any rate, even if it's not the HG nor the oil cooler, if you are loosing coolant then this needs to be investigated - there are other usual suspects apart from these two, e.g. HBV, etc....

[TheBoy]

Remember, poor or old coolant will have a detrimental effect on HG, so change it soon...