Brown froth in coolant bottle

[chrisandrewc]

hello cars been going fine of late but noticed some brown froth in coolant bottle ,looks like foam ,what is this and why ,renualt 4 tl thankyou

 

[Azazello]

If it is like mayo is an emulsion of oil and water, due probably to a fail in your head gasket. If it is just dirt/rust it comes from your water circuit, and it is quite normal i think. With periodic cleanings it should, if not disappear, at least decrease.

 

[chrisandrewc]

will go have look in a min again looks like rusty brown froth not creamy

 

[Tripyrenees]

It is just crap coming out of your radiator. Really you need to flush out your whole cooling system. There are products that you can put into the system and run it for while and then drain and replace with cooling fluid. I did it with mine as it was awful. They sell it in any motor shop, Norauto, Feu Vert or the Spanish equivalents.

 

[chrisandrewc]

whats the name of the stuff coolant flush or something cant find it on web googles norauto and feu vert and just shows labels for big motor chains,what would the product be called so I can track it down here ,he's been runnin nice last few weeks no overheating what is the average temp the reader should be reading on dash mine stay around the 40 to 85 mark most of journey gets up to 80 maybe after a longer drive and heater has been on half way most journeys to get windscreen de misted and is working great,thanks again for help ,it seems like an epic journey everytime I take him out and even the old galicians heads turn when we go past ,a woman sweeping leaves stopped and looked for ages when we went by ,big smile on her face

 

[snailshed]

A few tiny bubbles can be normal but big bubbles can mean trouble. A little test you can try. With the car cold, take off the lid of the coolant bottle (NOT the cap in the top of the radiator), then start the car and leave it to run on tick over. For about five to ten minutes nothing should happen if you look in the coolant bottle. This is because the thermostat is closed as the engine is warming up. After about ten minutes the water will get warm enough for the thermostat to open. Once it is open, you may find the level in the bottle has risen a little which is fine. If you find a continuous stream of bubbles coming through it tends to indicate that the head gasket may have failed. The bigger the bubbles and more aggressive the bubbling the more the gasket has gone. If you get anything like this then asking a garage to do a compression test will confirm if it has gone. Other symptoms can be the mayonnaise someone mentioned earlier - take the oil filler cap out of the rocker cover and look at the underside, or water can get in the oil. The oil on the dipstick may have gone milky looking if this has happened.

Try Tripyrenees flushing first and don't be surprised if a bright orange sludgy water comes out, but if the foam persists it might mean head gasket failure. The R4 engines are pretty tough but head gasket failure is not unknown. They can still run with a slightly gone head gasket. When my garage changed the one in my GTL they told me it was leaking on three of the four cylinders!

 

[chrisandrewc]

will head gasket cost me allot?

 

[Azazello]

Don't take the worst at first! Just try to wash out the dirt from your circuit as suggested...
Head gasket is not so expensive, but we are still talking of a few hundred euros... The piece itself is quite cheap, but you have to plane the head and there is a lot of work...

 

[chrisandrewc]

coolant looks brownish in bottle know has settled in bottom is on the min line on coolant bottle ,shall I get more know re fill flush,i did a flush few weeks back when he overheated put new coolant in after I did the holding bottle think and un did bulk head the yellow came out then it flowed nice,ive used the heater on mid every journey as windscreen is very misty in this wet Galician weather,he clears up nice after ten mins with heater and fan blower on,what is the average temp the car should be reading on drive out , hope its not gasket to be honest

 

[Tripyrenees]

You can check out the compression yourself quite cheaply. It is not too difficult either - Buy yourself a compression tester - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-3744...1392968237&sr=8-1&keywords=compression+tester

1. Run the engine until warm
2. [be careful engine hot] take out spark plug number 1 and insert tester and reset (careful of threads)
3. Disconnect the little wire coming from the coil - just to stop the engine firing
4. Turn over the engine with the key (starter motor) while pushing down the gas pedal.
5. Check the tester reading and write it down.
6. repeat on all 4 cylinders and compare results.

Some one here will give the right compression but if not I will look it up.

And for the radiator flush, just go down to your local motor store and ask them - here is an example - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wynns-56064...qid=1392968510&sr=8-1&keywords=radiator+flush

 

[jonigel]

If you do it a compression test ,you should do a cold one first and you need all the plugs out at the time,pull off the HT lead from coil ,throttle fully open and spin it over at least four times per cylinder then the warm one. The cylinders should not vary by more than 10 lbs.

 

[pepper]

Every Renault I have ever had, has had a rusty brown frothy expansion bottle, if it isn't broken don't go touching it!

If it's not overheating and not blowing water out, or oil in the sump, leave well alone and just drive it....