My car antifreeze is brown. I had it flushed anyway,a day later it is brown, (i never checked it after it was completed)The car drives normal. Is it possible that my mechanic used brown antifreeze?
by 
dngertrain
ANSWERS: 9
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Try cleaning the radiator, or call the mechanic...ask what type of antifreeze he used...
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I had the same problem with my car. You need to clean the radiator.
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I've seen green, I've seen orange, and I've seen many people do an incomplete flush. One of those three happened here and since brown is neither orange nor green.....
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Maybe your radiator is rusted and needs to be replaced.
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Wheter there is air in the system or not. There can and will be rust. You don't say what kind of car it is. I'm thinking a Ford. I have a ford truck and I had to flush it 3 or 4 times to get rid of all the rust. It just happens. Once I had it all clean though, and refilled it. IT hasn't done it again. It sounds like your car needs a full flush, and it need to be done properly. I don't think it was done fully last time.
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Your entire system is most likely rusty, the color of rusty is "BROWN"
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I drive a 97 Cavalier, and I have brown antifreeze too. A mechanic pointed it out, he thought someone might have used blue antifreeze to top off the reservoir (My Cav takes the orange stuff), thus mixing the two and making brown. I didn't buy that idea. Then a friend of mine said it may be caused by a small crack somewhere in the head or head gasket inside the engine leaking traces of motor oil into the reservoir as the coolant passes thru the engine... the car runs fine because as the engine heats the metal expands and the crack seals up. So don't drive your car in winter with a cold engine (which probably caused the crack). Does this answer sound plausible?
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you may have a transmission cooler in your radiator. it might be leaking.
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That can be normal. in aluminum engines today, the factory adds, and recommends at coolant changes to add a stop leak supplement. it's a ginger root/crushed walnut compound. This over time can build up as a crud on your radiator cap. this is normal and does no harm & can give the impression of brown rust. generally a radiator flush should not be performed, as a 50/50 mixture is tough to achieve with the water in there & also only distilled water should be inside a radiator. BTW manufactures are moving away from the stop leak because owners get concerned when they see this stuff, and mechanics take advantage of the uninformed & scare them into unnecessary coolant flushes. PLEASE only drain & fill your radiator, if the factory used orange dexcool, use dexcool, and add the baars stop leak (Wal mart $.99). "the only thing that should be flushed is a toilet"!!
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