Reply to "Rusty Brown Coolant"

Hi Ray

If the engine were recently rebuilt, and if it had been hot tanked as a step in the rebuild procedure, the water jackets should have been nice and clean.

Although rust is obviously a possibility when the heads/block are cast in iron, it is not endemic to all engines employing iron castings, just those that have been neglected.

I've worked on cars in the past in which their maintenance had been so neglected that no amount of flushing would make the "rusty water" stop. On the other hand I've seen many high mileage cars which had received just an "average" amount of maintenance in which the water jackets were just clean and normal.

Use regular anti-freeze (green?). If the tap water in your area is soft or low in minerals you can mix the anti-freeze with your tap water, but if the mineral content is high I suggest purchasing the anti-freeze which has been premixed with water off-the-shelf.