Brown Radiator fluid

Hello all,
My Model (1999 - 4.0 - 180,000 miles)

I have a few questions on how to properly flush my system. It seem like every year or so my radiator water turns to mud.

I had the head gasket changed a few years ago, and the mechanic said the head was fine, It also it appears that there is no oil in the coolant, I think since a use tap water mixed with cooolant in the system it must be rusting and turning the water muddy.

It just started spitting brown fluid out of the radiator cap last night after the jeep was turned off in the drive way, but ran at 190 degrees with no overheating problems while driving home on a one hour trip, also I put in a stant thermostat last year so I know that's not the problem.


My questions are if anyone could help.

1) My radiator is going to be 4 years old in a few months should I change it?

2) How do I do a proper flush the gets the water flushed through the whole engine and gets rid of all the brown water?


3) Should I add a radiator corrosion preventive?

Thanks

Radiator, properly cared for should last the lieftime of you Jeep. I suggest adding a hose bib tee into the heater supply line, That will allow you to flush the whole system. When you refill be sure to use at least a 50/50 mix of coolant and water.

Also, never mix Dexcool or one of it's clones with the normal green antifreeze. The mixture will turn brown and end up creating sludge most of the time.

The last time I flushed mine, I disconnected the lower radiator hose and drained the system into a catch bin. The I reconnected that hose, disconnected the upper hose and routed it to a catch bin. Next I filled the radiator with water from the hose and started the Jeep. As it heated up and began spitting hot water out (if you don't want to wait for it to heat up, you can pull the t-stat), I kept a steady stream of water going into the rad from the hose. It only took a few minutes for the water coming out to be completely clear.

Once I was to that point, I pulled the lower hose and completely drained the system. Then I repeated the above using serveral gallons of distilled water.

Lastly, I filled it with a fresh 50/50 mix of AF and distilled water.

I did all this after using one of those radiator flush products.

Thanks gw204 I was going to buy one of the radiator flush kits that lets you connect a garden hose to the inlet hose of the heater core, then I think you run the water with the engine running and heat on and collect the overflow from the top of the Radiator.

But maybe your way is better I will give it a try, I'll make sure I use a flush product first and then finish with distilled water, before adding the antifreeze.

Thanks

gw204 said:

Once I was to that point, I pulled the lower hose and completely drained the system. Then I repeated the above using serveral gallons of distilled water.

Lastly, I filled it with a fresh 50/50 mix of AF and distilled water.

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This part is key, alot of people will tell you that flushing with tap is fine and it probably is, but you will never really get it all out. The way I see it, distilled water is cheap so I always just spring a few bucks and make sure it's done right by flushing with distilled.

No questions asked though, you must fill it with distilled otherwise the minerals in the tap water will put you right back in the same place with that nasty rusty/muddy coolant. Since it is spring and summer coming along, I would just fill it with a 70/30 mix. But thats just my 2 cents