Brown engine coolant

[Randy Winkman]

I looked at a 2002 Nissan Primera 1.8 petrol today (boring, I know). Nice car, low mileage, drove nicely. But the engine coolant was noticably brown in colour. The oil and inside of the oil cap were clean. Could this be a minor issue or something I should completely keep clear of?

Cheers.

[catso]

Runaway, sounds like oil or rust in the coolant, either way not good...

[Poledriver]

My Rover had brown coolant, it was a head gasket failing. No water was getting into the oil though! Dip your finger into the coolant (When cold) and see if it feels like oil.

[JackDaniels]

Could be because someone has mixed coolant types.

[catso]

Poledriver said:

No water was getting into the oil though!

The oil is at a higher pressure so it will mostly go that way.

Edited by catso on Monday 24th August 00:11

[TheEnd]

either way, it's bad.

it's either rust because no coolant has been used, so the HG could be corroded away and cause problems, or the chocolate milkshake you get from oil and water mixing into an emulsion

[pits]

The radiator on my car is like this, just rusted quite badly, however I am assured that it wasnt like this when I bought it, and proper coolant was used, as that when I drained it the water came out....Brown!

A guess been running a few years like that, hasnt been an issue

[Randy Winkman]

Can you all give the same answer please, either:

a) Run away, or
b) It's no problem at all

Seriously, thanks for the help so far.

[matty_doh]

Could possibly be Radweld or similar substance. Nasty looking stuff that does make your coolant look rusty.

[mulletmark]

Sounds like someone's been using water instead of coolant to me resulting in rust. The HG may not have failed yet, but it won't be far off it.

Either way, it sounds like a big bill could be just around the corner, and if the previous owner has neglegted the cooling system to the extent that it's gone brown you can only imagine what else would've been neglegted.

Walk away, find another 2002 1.8 petrol Primera which hasn't got brown coolant.

[hardcorehobbit]

Be safe and run away.

You'll find another. I would be suspicious of completely clean coolant though. Perhaps they're covering something up.

[Poledriver]

If you have not bought the car already...Don't!

[TehMonkey]

Randy Winkman said:

Can you all give the same answer please, either:

a) Run away, or
b) It's no problem at all

Seriously, thanks for the help so far.

Scare mongering. My car has brown coolant. The HG isn't failing. If the HG is on its way out, they'll be other symtpoms, dirty oil cap etc.

[ymwoods]

Randy Winkman said:

Can you all give the same answer please, either:

a) Run away, or
b) It's no problem at all

Seriously, thanks for the help so far.

Well it depends, My old car was run with just water for a few years before i had it, 2-3 months later one of the metal pipes rusted through and sprayed (I had filled it with real coolent by this time!) a nice healthy coating of crap over my engine, then obviously she over-heated.

My new car on the other hand has had water in it for 2 days (as an emergency as it had nicely decided to pee out all the coolant) and that shouldnt have caused any problems. Its all based on how long the stuff has been in their, how bad the inside of the pipes have gotten.

At the worst you may split the pipe and breakdown pending getting it repaired, at the best no problems. Have no idea bout the oil in the water though.

[Randy Winkman]

hardcorehobbit said:

Be safe and run away.

You'll find another. I would be suspicious of completely clean coolant though. Perhaps they're covering something up.

You're probably right - it's a shame though when you find a car that's right except for one thing.

[bertelli_1]

catso said:

Poledriver said:

No water was getting into the oil though!

The oil is at a higher pressure so it will mostly go that way.

No it isn't. The oil in the crankcase is just above atmospheric pressure, the whole coolant system will be a c.15psi.

[Athlon]

Oil is way over 16psi where it passes through the head gasket though

[Busa_Rush]

bertelli_1 said:

catso said:

Poledriver said:

No water was getting into the oil though!

The oil is at a higher pressure so it will mostly go that way.

No it isn't. The oil in the crankcase is just above atmospheric pressure, the whole coolant system will be a c.15psi.

...and the oil system will be at 60-70 psi normal running and 90 psi when the il is cold.

Brown coolant is OK in an older car, just shows it's (possibly) not been changed as frequently as it perhaps ought to have been. Not a reason not to buy a car. If you do buy it, flush the cooling system with a good 2 part flushing agent (see engines forum for recent post - 4 to 6 weeks ago, quite interesting) then refil with the correct coolant mixture.

[HellDiver]

"Brown" isn't descriptive enough, really. Any chance you can post a pic of it?

Could be rust, could be oil, could just be pink coolant that's overdue a change.

[Randy Winkman]

HellDiver said:

"Brown" isn't descriptive enough, really. Any chance you can post a pic of it?

Could be rust, could be oil, could just be pink coolant that's overdue a change.

Not possible to post a pic. Brown a bit like tea without milk or weak black coffee. Not sludgy, or with any bits or weird colours like oil on water.