Plastic shavings in coolant

Sorry for all the threads lately..

I meant to ask this eariler but here goes. When I drained my radiator pretty rainbows fell out ..

That was my g/f.. Anyway. I found coils of white plastic stuck in the radiator cap? There was a small pile of them in the resevoir and a few fell out of the lower hose. Any idea what these could have come from?

[This message has been edited by Ryan H (edited 07-31-2005).]

some kind of stop leak gone bad? sure there plastic? sure it isnt like a white flake crap that glogs up radiators like what are on my fins? after running a cleaner thru the coolant system

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1966 mustang
1988 tbird

found this reading the archives good for a laugh
quote:
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Originally posted by: fordprefect

Mine sounds like twenty crickets on meth!

No, it looks like someone ran a knife down the side of a plastic object. It is clearly some sort of plastic shaving. Like pencil shavings, only plastic...

Any ideas? And could this have been the cause of my turbo's death?

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Ryan Harris

88 TC, 5 speed, B&M Ripper Shifter, Walbro 190 LPH, K&N, 3.73's, 88K miles
Awaiting install: Volvo FMIC, Walbro 255 HP, Kirban Adj. FPR

Huh...that is odd.... It could have caused the turbo to go, if it gummed up the cooling lines to/from/in the turbo.... I have no idea what could cause that though.

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Current: 99 Mercury Cougar 2.5 V-6 Duratech 5 Speed
Project Car: 1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5 Speed

Truly odd, the only thing plastic that I've ever seen in the coolant system would be the inline restrictor that comes with most new heater cores. Wonder if it's possible that someone installed it on the outlet hose and it made its way to the water pump where it was literally shaved to pieces by the impeller.

Regardless of what it is, I would find a way to back flush everything and remove as many hoses as possible, definitely remove/inspect the thermostat. I'd also remove the radiator and back flush it upside down.

Oh believe me, every hose on the car is coming out and being replaced. I've yet to remove the water pump but the "grab and pull" test passes. I think it's a new water pump actually, so I guess that rules out water pump bearings or seals...

Most of the coolant lines are torn off/disconnected as we speak and I jetted the water hose into them from every direction I can think of to clean it all out. I got a good amount of stuff off, but I'm still waiting to get the head off (later today probably) so I can get the lower coolant lines flushed out too and replace with new ones [Image: smile.gif]

I'll keep you guys updated! Just wish I could provide pictures.. (my friend who I used to borrow a camera from had an incident with his new puppy- it ate the camera!) [Image: frown.gif]

Thanks again everybody [Image: smile.gif]

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Ryan Harris

88 TC, 5 speed, B&M Ripper Shifter, Walbro 190 LPH, K&N, 3.73's, 88K miles
Awaiting install: Volvo FMIC, Walbro 255 HP, Kirban Adj. FPR

I guess we found the missing milk jug [Image: biggrin.gif]
You neeed to flush the system well, including back flushing the heater core and radiator

The heater core isn't hooked up, so I think that leaves it to just flushing out the orifaces where the hoses go really good and back flushing the radiator and replacing the hoses.. Am I misssing anything here?

Hey, since the heater core was bypassed, could the plastic restrictor theory actually be true [Image: confused.gif]