When I bought my Cherokee the coolant was nice and green. It's basically like a poop color now, but I don't think any oil is getting into it because its not white or foamy. Its basically just like mud. I replaced the radiator and all hoses, thermostat, etc. Flushed it out for a good half hour and the water keeps coming out muddy. The new coolant I put in it is muddy as well. Thinking I need to flush the entire engine to get the back crap out of there? I've had it for two years and oil change every 3k. Only has 113,000 miles on it. Does this sound like the right approach? I will try and snap a pic soon.

 

DAMN!!!
It looks like someone took a dump in your radiator. It looks like someone had added some stop leak. I would flush it for a real long time and run it for a day without antifreeze and see what it looks like after the day. More then likely you will have to flush it a few times. Make sure to flush and back flush the heater core too and separate from the rest of the cooling system. With a little luck you may get away with a good flush. But personally I would get ready to start changing the radiator, t-stat, water pump, and all of the hoses.

 

Did u fill it with straight water 2 years ago? Doesn't seem like fresh 50/50 coolant would deteriorate to that in 2 years unless something else is wrong.

 

Holy crap, man. Did you replace radiator, hoses, and thermostat after or before you flushed it?

X2... Flush the radiator, engine block, and heater core all separately. Its going to take at least a few flushes over a couple days to get all that crap out.

If you can't get it all out, you could always take it to a dealership and have them "power flush" the cooling system.

 

I forget which way I did this but its all new components in there right now. While I was flushing the water would never come out clear. Going to take it somewhere to have them flush the block, since I have no place to drain this stuff.

 

It looks like Dexcool and regular antifreeze mix together.

 

Hmmm interesting. I've never put Dexcool in there, and do all maintenance myself. Unless before I bought the car the dude did a flush and put Dex in there. It was green though.

 

I can almost guarantee you have a head/head gasket problem. I've had anti-freeze look just like that with a blown head gasket. It's nasty and makes for a lengthy clean-up.

 

I had a similar problem with my first Cherokee after 2 teens ragged on it for years. Mine did look a bit more rusty colored and felt like clay. I had it power-flushed, new radiator, etc.. and eventually it started to muck up again. In my opinion it had a cracked head or gasket. Still ran great all the way to the dealer...

 

Oil looks fine when I drain it, not milky at all. No bubbles or anything in the coolant just sludge. Forgot to mention my heat doesn't work all that well either since this started happening. The heat really kicks in when I am driving at high speed, but at low speed and idle it doesn't blow as hot as it should.

 

The question I haven't seen posed here yet is this:Are you using any coolant? Having to add to the coolant reservoir?

The #1 symptom of a cracked 0331 cylinder head is "unexplained coolant loss".

Those symptoms and the look of that coolant doesn't look good to me.....

 

You won't always have coolant in your oil with a blown head gasket. That's a good thing but you must be using oil. Have you noticed it being low? Your heat isn't working because this gunk has clogged up your heater core.

 

You sure one of your buddies did give your XJ an upper decker?

 

The good ol' upper decker! Classic.

 

"The new coolant I put in it is muddy as well."

^
This, could be the problem.