Please diagnose this brown crap in my plumbing.

[sexytoy69]

Hey guys, last week I just finished installing an Evo III turbo. I drained my oil and coolant before the installation. I filled everything back up after the installation. I drove for a week without any coolant or oil leaks. I recently checked my oil level and it's ok. I checked my coolant and I found this brown muddy deposit that looks like poop.

I am also pushing coolant into the overflow. There is no coolant in the upper hose. Right now I'm running 14 PSI because I haven't installed my supporting fuel mods yet. I have done some research, and it's pointing to a problem with the head gasket. Does this sound right to you guys? Or is it the thermostat or radiator cap? Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

[sexytoy69]

Ok,

Here is the latest update:

I flushed my coolant today, and alot of brown junk came out after the green coolant. I don't think it's oil. It's probably just corrosion. I filled it back up and turned the car on. It took about 15 minutes for the water temp to reach 180 degrees. In the meantime, there was white smoke coming out of the exhaust the whole time the car was idling. I turned the car off and noticed water droplets in the exhaust tip and also some water droplets on the ground.

Does this confirm that I have a blown head gasket?

 

[chrisfullwood]

check your oil, look and see if there is a creamy white substance in the oil. also check the oil fill cap, look for any kind of sludge.

if you find creamy white/brown sludge, then 99% sure your headgasket went.

 

[sexytoy69]

check your oil, look and see if there is a creamy white substance in the oil. also check the oil fill cap, look for any kind of sludge.

if you find creamy white/brown sludge, then 99% sure your headgasket went.

I checked the oil. No creamy white substance. No sludge in the oil fill cap either. The oil actually still looks pretty clean from when I installed the new turbo a week ago.

So why is my exhaust blowing white smoke with water droplets in the exhaust tip?

 

[rst95eclipse]

Are you leaned out? You might have a blown headgasket. But there is good news, I also have some of this sediment in my coolant pipe right after the pump. It wasn't nearly as much as yours. But, there is a hint of this crap. That was from a 7 bolt with 130,000 miles on it. I'm pretty sure you have a corrosion problem. Do the test just to make sure.

 

[toybreaker]

So why is my exhaust blowing white smoke with water droplets in the exhaust tip?

Does the exhaust vapor have a sickly sweet, funky smell?

Just running an engine at an idle may not get it warm enough to vaporise all the water in the exhaust system.

Water is a byproduct of combustion. It will collect in the exhaust, in liquid form, during the first few minutes of engine operation. As the engine/exhaust system warms up, this will gradually be evaporated, and come out the tailpipe as water droplets/condensation/vapor.

If it's very cold/humid outside, you can be putting out a noticeable cloud of vapor/condensation for quite awhile before the exhaust system is warm enough to completely dry up.

Please, fully warm the engine up, and then drive the car for a few miles and recheck it.

 

[sexytoy69]

Does the exhaust vapor have a sickly sweet, funky smell?

Just running an engine at an idle may not get it warm enough to vaporise all the water in the exhaust system.

Water is a byproduct of combustion. It will collect in the exhaust, in liquid form, during the first few minutes of engine operation. As the engine/exhaust system warms up, this will gradually be evaporated, and come out the tailpipe as water droplets/condensation/vapor.

If it's very cold/humid outside, you can be putting out a noticeable cloud of vapor/condensation for quite awhile before the exhaust system is warm enough to completely dry up.

Please, fully warm the engine up, and then drive the car for a few miles and recheck it.

The exhaust had a regular exhaust smell. I was also wondering if it was condensation, but I noticed more water droplets than normal. But then again, I really never looked closely at my exhaust tip during warm up. It was raining yesterday in Jersey, but I was in my garage. I was probably just thinking worst case scenario right now.

Anyway, I just ordered a new thermostat and radiator cap from ExtremePSI. It should be here Monday. I will flush the system again and then install the T-stat and cap. I hope that will solve my problem. If not, I will go get tested.

I will keep you guys posted. Thanks.

 

[sexytoy69]

Ok,

Here is the update:

I installed the new OEM thermostat and new OEM radiator cap. So far I haven't pushed any coolant into the overflow. I guess that is good news, but I really haven't driven the car much yet. I only tested it a little bit around town. I'm not beating her up either.

I will post again if I start pushing coolant again or that brown crap comes back. Thanks for all your help so far.

 

[sexytoy69]

Here is another update:

After the installation of the new thermostat and radiator cap, I started to notice coolant leaks. I fixed one leak, then another one would start. I ended up fixing leaks in 3 different locations. I guess the leaks started soon after because I was holding pressure better with the new rad cap.

I fixed all the leaks by changing the old rubber hoses. I have been driving her for about a week now without any leaks nor any coolant being pushed into the overflow. I am very happy, but I'm still noticing alot of white smoke on very cold days (even after 10 minutes of warm up). I just hope that is just condensation. Thank you to all the guys that had input in this thread.

 

[sonicnofadz]

Just remember to keep checking the coolant level to make sure that there is no excessive coolant consumption.

 

[Strm Trpr]

The white smoke/steam is condensation in your exhaust system.
I bet if you get after it on a freeway for a good 5 to 10 mins and you pull over and check you won't see any white smoke/steam.

If your car is parked on level ground over night, go ahead and open the rad cap and check to see if your car is consuming coolant, by the sound of it, your all good.

Sounds like you got her figured out.... Good Job .

 

[GSEclipse620]

I only skimmed the previous posts so I'm only like 75% sure no one has mentioned this. I just started a report for my engine performance class about different types of coolants and dis/advantages to them. Did you use Dexcool or simailar extended life coolant? They use organic acids which, if air got into your system somehow reacts to cause electroloysis. Which basically exponetially multiplies corrosion and the sludge your looking at is gaskets and seals which have been eaten away at.

I just saw that it sounds like you have it worked out, So disregard my post. But now that I know about it(researched it just today) I consider it good stuff to know so I'm leaving it up.