When I initially got my Ranger, the cooling system was very dirty, like a muddy color. Over several months of flushing and what not using chemicals to help it along, I eventually got to a point where it was clean enough to refill with actual green 50/50 coolant.

Fast forward to, roughly six months since that fill, and I'm not exactly happy with what I'm seeing. The picture isn't great at all, and I'll take another better picture if requested, but the coolant is a very dark green and completely opaque. Sort of like the green you'd find on a leaf. I've attached a sample of a comparable color.



I realize it's not going to stay that nice neon green forever, but it seems dirty to me. Am I worrying too much or is it fine?

 

Let a little of that coolant sit in a clear glass container overnight, see what settles out, and the color change in coolant.

Solids in the solution make it the darker color.

These solids do settle out inside rad, heater core and engine when it sits, which is what plugs things up over time.
Flushing gets alot of it out but not all, because over time you get layers and layers of it inside engine.

I wouldn't worry about it, if you change coolant every two years it should be fine.
Buying pre-mix 50/50 or using distilled water keeps the PH high which helps prevent more solids being made.

 

I'll give the glass a try. Interested to see what happens.

 

Plus one for using distilled water coolant mixture. if you haven't already used distilled water

 

That should have read "I wouldn't worry about it", lol, I changed it.

Yes, PH is very important for anti-corrosion in the cooling system, 10PH is about where it should be.
Tap water varies from area to area, and it generally has minerals in it and minerals are "salts" and that lowers the PH in the coolant.

Boiling water doesn't remove "salts" in fact is concentrates them, lol, the pure water is the steam that comes off the boiling water.

Distilling water is capturing that steam in a collector/condenser which then drips out pure water with no mineral content.

Like making moonshine without the mash, lol.

 

When I put that coolant in, I used hose water to dilute the concentrate. Starting to think that wasn't the best idea. Of all the things to obsess over, for some reason i've chosen the cooling system.

If a large amount settles out, say from opaque to completely clear or close to it, I may end up flushing what I have in out and putting in a storebought 50/50 mix. I have 'filtered' it a couple times using a paper towel as the filter itself and it did filter out a small amount of particulate but nothing really to write home about.

 

Just took a sample. In the first picture it looks decent but when held up to the sun....







Looks pretty nasty to me.

 

Save for the next St Patric's day :)

 

hah, yeah I could, couldn't I?

 

Where's the fun in that?