Brown foam in coolant

[Ibleedblue13]

Hey guys.

Just had my oil changed and there is brownish foam in my coolant resovoir. The car has been running great and has not overheated once in the 20k miles i've put on it. It's a 2002 GT with a 5 speed manual transmission, I called my mechanic in Boston and he said his only thought was that it could be power steering fluid that had somehow worked its way in there.

So basically, what is it? How do I fix it? And what damage could that do to the car in the meantime?

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

im not aware of any way for power steering fluid and coolant to mix on these cars.

is it possible from rust and such in the coolant system?

Have you checked the oil level/check oil for coolant?

if it is oil it could be the oil cooler assembly or a head gasket

 

[thomas91169]

brown foam = blown head gasket.

Your oil is mixing with coolant and making a nice chocolate milkshake.

 

[MGC]

Yep, head gasket most likely

 

[Ibleedblue13]

Wouldn't the car be overheating immediately with a blown headgasket?

 

[Coiled03]

Wouldn't the car be overheating immediately with a blown headgasket?

Depends on the severity.

Might check your dipstick to confirm. If you have brown foam/chocolate milkshake/rainbow of colors on the dipstick, it's pretty much certain you popped a head gasket.

 

[thomas91169]

Wouldn't the car be overheating immediately with a blown headgasket?

Not necessarily. Whats happening is likely a crack between the water jacket and the oil passages. Your coolant is not thick enough if its still frothing to lose its ability to transfer heat, as it can still be circulated through the motor and radiator. The thicker it gets the harder it is to move and the less heat it can transfer out of the system.

 

[Ibleedblue13]

What are my options here?

 

[CobraBob]

First step is to confirm you have a blown head gasket. Next is to determine the severity. Ie. did the gasket blow recently, or has it been multiple days ago. How severe is the coolant leak? If enough coolant leaks into a cylinder, it may "hydro-lock" the engine. At that point the engine won't even turn over when you attempt to start it.

 

[Ibleedblue13]

You all are definitely more well versed in this stuff than me but I really don't think this is a head gasket issue. I just did a quick flush and let the car run for about 20 minutes letting it idle and giving it some good revs every few minutes. It's idling right where it should be, everything sounds healthy, no smoke at all and after I turned it off I checked the coolant resovoir again and there was no froth at all. Now im even more confused then before but im not worried about it blowing up on the road.

 

[jymboslice]

Maybe it was just dirty ass coolant.

 

[KLeech]

Could just be dirty coolant. I've seen some pretty nasty stuff come out of cooling systems before from years of not having distilled water in them.

What kind of temps are you guys having in Boston? Just a thought but if it's incredibly cold obviously it's going to take the car longer to overheat or it would be harder for it to overheat. It's probably just on my mind because it's -40 windchill this morning lol

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

sometimes the engine needs to be under a load before the gasket will start leaking.

If you're really concerned it could be a head gasket the tester kit that shows the presence of combustion gases in the coolant are around $50 from the autoparts store, drive around for a few days then test the coolant.

 

[Shaunk]

It could also be the oil filter adapter housing or gasket.

 

[nxhappy]

blown head gasket symptoms :

-milky looking oil
-milky looking coolant
- overheating
- white exhaust smoke
- coolant overflowing

have a leak down test performed. That will tell you for sure if you have a blown head gasket. Don't drive the car any more until you figure this out. A BHG can ruin the engine pretty fast.