Brown coolant?

[fordfan4life]

My aunt has a 97 Camry with the 3.0 V6 and about 112,000 miles on it. Yesterday I was doing some poking around under the hood and noticed the coolant was dark brown (the color of oil that needs to be changed) and opaque. She said she had added coolant about a month ago upon noticing it was low. Since then the coolant level has not changed. Any ideas?

Since I'm already here, I also have a question about warning lights... the Brake light and a red light she says indicates a burned out bulb in the rear are both lit up on the dash... I'm guessing the Brake light is due to a bad switch on the e-brake. I'm guessing the "burned out bulb warning light" is lit due to a short, considering there are no bulbs burned out at all. Any info on this would be appreciated.

[RIP]

> Brown coolant > If it is oil in the coolant, it's likely caused by a leaking head gasket. You should be seeing two things if that's the case. 1) Some amount of white water vapor coming out of the exhaust as the engine runs, especially on start up and acceleration. 2) Evidense of coolant in the oil. What I would do is change the oil and look for whitish brown swirls and drain and flush the coolant. From that point closely monitor both fluids ie, check the fluid levels and condition daily or after she drives it and drain a small amount of oil weekly looking for lighter swirls in the oil. Might want to buy a small pump and pump the oil out the dip stick. If you really have oil in the coolant you need to fix it asap or you may be buying a new engine. If you want to get more involved it may fail a compression test and there are test kits out there to detect oil and or exhaust in the coolant. They can be pricey. All this said, you may just have a severely corroded coolant system. A good flushing will help.

> Lights > If you're saying the brake warning light is on, if topping off the fluid in the master cylinder doesn't make the light go out, take it to a shop and have it looked at. It's a safety issue that needs to be fixed pronto. Don't fool around with brakes. As far as the tail light warning indicator light, inspect the bulbs and bulb sockets for corrosion even if the bulbs work. Look good? Go to the wire bundle that runs near the left trunk hinge, take it apart and look for frayed or pinched wires. This wire bundle is infamous for creating rear lighting problems. Looks good? You may have a bad failure monitor module. It may be located in the right forward area of the trunk under the liner. You can get more info from your maintenance manual listed in the "Factory Service Manuals" thread listed at the top of the forum. Also try reading through the FAQs thread.

[fordfan4life]

Okay, thanks, I will definitely check for all of these. With regard to the oil in the coolant possibility... I know oil and water don't mix, does the addition of antifreeze to the mixture allow the oil to be suspended in the coolant easier? The only reason I ask is because the color of the liquid in the reservoir is brown all the way through, not just a puddle of oil on top, or swirls of darker brown in it. The coolant level has also not changed in a month... wouldn't a head gasket failure cause usage of coolant, resulting in low[er] reservoir levels (at least after a month of usage)?

I did have her start up the car yesterday to look for any smoke from the tailpipe, and didn't see any. I didn't do any further investigation, though.

I'm kinda leaning toward the corroded cooling system, personally... a couple of months ago, she started a job that involves an hour commute each way in heavy traffic... this after she worked out of her house, which required much less driving. Maybe the sharp increase in driving has manifested itself in jarring corrosion loose in the cooling system. Either way, I'm definitely going to have her get the system flushed.

[RIP]

If she's driving it every day and you're not seeing the coolant level drop or white vapor then I would lean towards corrosion too. Thinking on it, I've read flushing a severly corroded system can clog a radiator to one degree or another. The flushing action dislodges particles that can get stuck in the radiator. This can lead to blockages and overheating. Ask your local mechanics. Just draining and replacing the fluid might be a better idea.

I've only seen one case of oil in the coolant and what little was in it was beaded on the surface. Not sure how time and temp fluctuations would effect suspension.

[DFBonnett]

Originally Posted by fordfan4life

She said she had added coolant about a month ago upon noticing it was low. Since then the coolant level has not changed. Any ideas?

Is it possible that some sort of stop leak was added at that time? I've seen that stuff cloud up coolant.

[xfeejayx]

I'd just drain and fill. My coolant was like that when I bought the car (off my dad no less!). No recurring problems once I refilled.

[Brian R.]

Sometimes brown coolant is just old and color is from rust from the block. Sort of the same thing fordfan4life was saying.

[flashlight]

The reason that the coolant is brown is because it has not been changed in quite some time. I got the same color when I looked at the coolant in my sister's car. So I changed it and now everything is fine. I would suggest that you change the coolant or at least check on it when you change your oil. That way you would know if it was getting mixed or if it was staying the same color as when you changed it. As for your lights I have no clue what you should be checking.

[GSS123]

I've found using green color antifreeze has a reaction to all the aluminum in the engine block and produces a brown oilish color. So I change out the green color stuff to the Toyota Red color antifreeze and the problems isn't as noticable. Never have purchased a brand new toyota, but I doubt the green color antifreeze was factory original.

[Wee Daffy]

Toyota GENUINE radiator anti-boil/Anti-freeze coolant concentrate mixed 50-50 with distilled water is a reddish colour, but appears Brown in the radiator. Maybe that's all it is ...

[altinator]

I had this same problem in my 95 Camry. This car came from the factory with the Toyota brand coolant in the system, which is red in color. Just before I purchased the car, the Chevrolet mechanic at the dealership added just a little glycol (green) antifreeze to the system so it would be full. When the red Toyota antifreeze gets mixed with green glycol antifreeze, the mixture turns a dark brown color that looks very much like engine oil mixed in with the coolant. All I had to do was flush the cooling system really well. Then I filled it with a mixture of water and new antifreeze (I used green glycol) and it has been fine ever since. That was about a year ago and my coolant is still a nice green color.