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Recently I noticed my overflow bottle was full of brown gunky stuff. Took to repair shop and they flushed complete system and changed thermostat. Has been fine for past month but noticed again last night that the stuff was back in overflow bottle. Is this something that is common on these? Did I just buy a lemon or what? Love the gas mileage but will not dump a crap load of money in this car.
Are you saying that the coolant looks fine one day, and the next day it's brown? Brown could also be rust, but there's not very much in modern cooling systems that can rust. So yes, there's a good chance it's oil, or maybe even tranny fluid from a cooler/rad problem, if it's an automatic. How do the oil and tranny fluid look? Might be a good idea to do both a compression and leak down test, to find out how healthy the engine is. That would tell you if there's a big-ticket engine repair bill coming at you soon.
If those tests come back fine and you don't have any success figuring out what's wrong, here's one thing that might work. There are labs (Blackstone is one) that do analysis of auto fluids. I'm not sure if they can identify specifically oil or tranny fluid, if in fact one of them is in the coolant. You could contact them to find out how definitive their testing is in telling you what each fluid might be contaminated with. If the lab testing can give specific results, it might give you a good idea of what will need to be fixed, and what kind of repair bill you would be looking at. I know they do a basic oil test for $25, and perhaps they have a package price for all 3 fluids (or 2 if it's a standard).
Had it completely flushed about 3 weeks ago. Its a light brown milky almost paste. Stuck screwdriver in and stuff doesnt even drip off.
Well, that added description definitely sounds like oil. So how does your oil look, and tranny fluid if it's an automatic? You definitely have a problem there, and need to find out exactly what it is. Did you buy from a dealer or owner. If from a dealer, do you still have any kind of warranty left? If not, check the laws in your state about disclosing a known problem before the sale.
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i would definitly make sure its not the radiator leaking trans fluid into the coolant, as its much cheaper than a headgasket job.
Had this happen on my 2009 Aveo. Transmission cooler located inside the radiator leaked mixing coolant and tranny fluid (I originally thought it was motor oil). My daughter drives the car so this went on for some time before it was noticed,the transmission was a complete loss. In my case the tranny fluid and radiator fluid were the same color... it was pretty obvious.
Hi, I would love to know how did you fix this issue. I have the same problem on my 2010 aveo. I took the radiator to a specialist who did not find any issues with the radiator. My mechanic advised me to take it to another radiator specialist who has been in the business for decades. So That it what I will be doing. My last option is to buy a new radiator.