A little background...back in December I had the truck overheat. I flushed the radiator and it came out rusty. It overheated again. I took it to the mechanic and it turns out there was so much rust in the coolant, the water pump was bad, the radiator was half full of rust, and it had blown a head gasket. $2,500 later the truck is like new. The mechanic said he has seen lots of Rangers that just rust like that and I need to change the coolant once a year minimum to stay on top of it.

First, what is in an engine that rusts like this? It seems to me if Ford knew it was going to be inside of water they should have used something that WOULDN'T RUST? Secondly, is there a rust stabilizer that you can buy off the shelf that would at least retard the rust between changes? The coolant obviously isn't doing the trick and I always use top shelf fluids in my vehicle. Thoughts? Comments?

 

well the entire block is made of cast iron so that is surely where the rust is coming from. the reason its rusting is probably the coolant to water ratio. if theres too much water and not enough coolant it will rust the system. thats also one of the reasons they suggest using distilled water to mix with the coolant so it doesnt have any harmful minerals that can also cause rust.

 

I can't speak for most people but I never cut my own antifreeze. I always but the pre-cut. I figure the manufacturer knows more about the proper process than I do.

 

Chevy also made the S-10 of cast iron but I never had this kind of issue with my S-10. But then again my S-10 sucked so badly I traded it to a guy at the office for a 20oz Sunkist. :D

 

Sounds like you got the better end of that deal.

 

Agreed. Now if I can just keep the rust out of the Ford...