Brown Anti-Freeze!!

How old is the radiator? I know on cars you can flush the engine block.

mark

 

Does it have a coolant filter? I would stop using the tap water and green antifreeze and switch to Catcool premixed antifreeze after a thorough flushing with a garden hose.

 

Have you checked to see if you may have oil or fuel getting into the water? If it is fuel you should be able to smell it. If it is rust you can clean out the system with baking soda or dishwashing detergent, like Cascade. Once you flush the system you should not have any other issues unless fuel or oil is getting into the cooling system.

 

CAT ELC is the only way to go. Never mix tap water with coolant - only use distilled water. That's why for no more than it costs you're just as well to get pre-diluted. I would make sure to flush it really good, I'd probably do that with distilled water too.

 

I have never bought predilluted coolant. I always felt that I was paying a lot of extra money for water. I have no problem adding the correct amount of water. I know some prefer using distilled water in their coolant system, but I have always used tap water and never had a problem. You need to check your water filter and change from time to time. The main problem you need to watch in your coolant is the ph level. That is easily checked by any garage or you can pick up the kit at any dealer and check it yourself.

As far as Cascade, I spoke with a dealer several years ago who used Cascade exclusively to flush systems, especially if oil or fuel is suspected in the system. It is much less expensive than some of the other chemicals you can purchase and works better, according to this dealer.

 

Different tap water from whatever locality has different impurities in it. Some tap water may be ok to mix with coolant and not cause problems while some might not be. Extended life coolant is only $11 a gallon and good for 500,000 miles, distilled water is really cheap. Yeah he'll spend close to $200 maybe a little more doing it that way but it'll be right - that's a $20,000 engine.

 

Did it have the red coolant in it before you added the green! If so, you will get brown, but it will also turn the coolant to goop because the 2 don't mix.