Cooling horrors, pics included!

[DK-VX]

Hey guys, I was topping up my coolant and once again my VX is bringing up brown sludge when I take off the radiator cap.
I had this issue a few months ago, and had my water pump replaced as it was entirely coroded, so I thought the sludge was from the only metal part in the system. I also flushed the system once the pump was replaced.
The radiator was also replaced about 4 months ago. (Mind you, the car has done 205kms )
The car hasn't overheated, but I miss just looking at the nice green color everytime I top up.
What can be the problem now?

Picture:
(Mind you, this is AFTER I topped up, but if you look at the brown sludge around the cap, it's what was inside.)

[soop]

Its just dirt and crap from inside the water galleries. Nothing to stress over.

[])R@G()N]

still bits of old pellets in the system, probably take years for that crap to come out.

[stevoss]

if its red then the radiator is broken in between the oil cooler and radiator
if its brown the then valley cover gaskets have gone and it is mixing oil and water

trust me i have done both they are very common.

[DK-VX]

if its red then the radiator is broken in between the oil cooler and radiator
if its brown the then valley cover gaskets have gone and it is mixing oil and water

trust me i have done both they are very common.

Thanks for the reply guys,
@Stevos, I might give that a change tonight, and flush the system again and see how it goes, thanks mate!

[Brett_jjj]

As mentioned above,it looks like its caused by the cooling system pellets holden use..I have seen this lots of times.They turn the coolant to that rusty brown colour and make it go sludgey.This is why a lot of people wont use them,including me.Just use a quality coolant.I use a castrol coolant especially made for the commodore V6 engine.

[Mirkz]

may be a stupid question, but I don't play with radiator and cooling system much (read: ever:P)
When checking the fluid etc, I'm assuming the motor should be cold and the fluid should be up to the top as in the pic above?

I think last time I checked it wasn't but I can't remember if it was warm or not (obviously cant open when hot or that'd hurt :P)

[DK-VX]

may be a stupid question, but I don't play with radiator and cooling system much (read: ever:P)
When checking the fluid etc, I'm assuming the motor should be cold and the fluid should be up to the top as in the pic above?

I think last time I checked it wasn't but I can't remember if it was warm or not (obviously cant open when hot or that'd hurt :P)

Yep, always do it on a cold engine, otherwise, when the heat increases, so does the pressure under the cap, which will cause you to either lose fluid & potentially burn yourself. When it's nice and cold, it can be filled to its full potential.

Also @Brett: The coolant & demineralised water I bought was from Autobarn (can't remember the name atm), would you recommend another flush of the system?

[Brett_jjj]

It does look like it needs another flush out,but if thats new coolant and distilled water youve just put in there,its a shame to waste it.Id let it run for a few weeks like it,maybe 6 weeks or so,then do another reflush,and as the new coolant gets dirty, its helping remove the crud from the cooling system anyway.Also run the heater on full hot as well as much as you can during this time..Also when doing the flush,make sure you remove the heater tap hoses and run the garden hose through these hoses both ways to flush out the heater core as well.Remember, the heater tap needs vacuum to hold it open,so if the engine is off, the heater tap will be closed ,even if the heater controls are in the "HOT " position.This means that the heater core wont get flushed out unless the heater hoses are undone from the heater tap.You would be suprised at the amount of crap that can come out of a dirty cruddy heater core.

[berlina411]

Had the same problem. Couldn't figure it out then a guy from a radiatore repair shop told me it is the valley cover gaskets. Had it fixed and no more brown sludge in the radiator!

[ZaRnOw]

Could be the intake manifold gasket, or maybe your bolts on your intake manifold are loose. If there loose, Tightening them could tighten up the gaskets and possibly fix your problem.

[rch-13z]

common problem on the intake manifold gasket - had mine changed the other day

[Jarrad]

common problem on the intake manifold gasket - had mine changed the other day

What did it cost to fix???