How many times has it been flushed in the last 19 years? I suspect it hasn't been.
Antifreeze will eat aluminum over time, the results look a lot like what you have. Notice the deuteration of the T stat housing? A flush and refill about every 7-8 years seems to help in that situation. Gene
Thanks guys, that is some helpful info.
The t-stat neck was surprising crusty - I scraped a lot of mineral deposit salt-like crystals off it all the way around the neck, even filed, rough sanded and scotchbrighted it clean, then gooped it with non-hardening gasket seal and reinstalled the hose which was in good shape.
Yeah, the last time I flushed anything, it was a backflush like 4 years ago because the heater core wasn't giving off any heat - plugged up with crud. The backflush got the heater core crud out immediately, and the heat worked fine after that. I am sure I just used plain old garden hose water, and our water here is hard enough to warrant a water softener for the house.. so minerals.
I don't recall having done anything else with the radiator or block.
So, I'll go ahead and start fresh - flush it out with garden hose water, then see what I can eject with compressed air, and refill it with properly mixed Prestone and distilled water.
I have an aluminum engine car and the manual says to drain, flush and replace coolant every 5 years. I'll adopt that interval.
Cheers,
- Art
