Brown Antifreeze

[dannylp78]

I bought a 1989 festiva LX. It has the original 1.3L fuel injected motor with an automatic transmission. It runs great, but after I bought it I saw that it had a brown liquid in the radiator overflow. I immediately flushed the system and topped it off with new 50/50 antifreeze and water. After about a day of driving the water started to turn brown again. I figured that I must have a blown head gasket, so I checked the compression on all four cylinders. All cylinders had equal compression and it was within the specifications in my Haynes manual. This ruled out the head gasket. I may have a cracked block. Is there anything else that can cause antifreeze coolant to turn brown?

[mattswabb]

Probably just rust. I had it in one of my cars. I just used a very diluted mix for a few weeks and drained it a few times till it came out clean then went with a 50/50 mix. Also run the hose thru it for a while with the drain open.

[dannylp78]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will follow your instructions. I just feel like the car is running too good to have any major problems.

[88lx4speed]

I have also found that a coolant flush kit will work well for getting it all cleaned out. its cheap, and works well.

[Gforcefd]

Another little story about my mechanic, I told him I wanted him to flush my radiator, he said there was no such thing. God what a moron he is.

Anyways ya its probably rust, the pimptivas needs to be flushed to.

[zrice88]

was fuel injection an option in '89? i have (and crashed) an '89 with a 4-speed manual and it is carbureted.

[packrat427]

There were a few automatics in 89 had FI , manual had a carb , in 90 all were FI.