cherokeereed310

I recently started to notice that my coolant is a orangish color and doesn't look to pleasing. I've read a few other post regarding the orangish coolant and yet to have really found the issue on why the coolant is orange. As of now I don't use actual coolant I simply just put water in and wanted to change that but before I did I want to make sure to rid the radiator and holding tank of this orangish sludge build up.

andrewmp6

If your running straight water its probably rust from the iron block and head.I would do a coolant flush a few times then replace it with 50/50 coolant and distilled water or you can buy it pre mixed now like that.

thatXJguy

Some coolants are orange. If the previous owner put in orange coolant, and failed to provide the Jeep with proper maintenance, then that would be why it has gotten goopy.

Orange/brown also comes from engine rust like Andrew says, but that is rarely going to be goopy. Usually it looks like metal flakes.

I would suggest you flush it 2-4 times with pure water, then fill with fresh 50/50 from Walmart.

Fred/N0AZZ

Yes it need to be flushed but also add cleaner to the first fresh water refill and let it clean the rust out.

cherokeereed310

I will have to give that a try, thank you and hopefully everything clears up

Bearstream

Once you get it flushed, don't be thrifty my friend, charge your cooling system with the factory recommended proportion of antifreeze and water. I used to get sludge in my old ZJ, and when I checked coolant with a test strip, found that pH and nitrite were badly out of balance in fairly new coolant. My mechanic friend recommended correcting issue with pH/nitrite additive i.e: Napa-Cool, Sy-Cool, Schaeffer-Cool etc. Never again had coolant system sludge issues. Remember, engine fluids are relatively cheap, parts and repairs are not. Hope this helps.