Few months ago i had the idea to open the cap from my expansion tank for inspection.

What i saw that night i couldn't believe it in the beginning, something was glowing inside and my first thought was to empty it. I took my flash light and while i was anxious and took few photos, i know aren't in good quality but i was in a hurry to finish the job and return home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After emptying the content, you can see them on the cement floor ''shinning" a bit.

 

 

 

 

I blame the Amsoil additive that i put few months earlier, maybe it done some sort of like chemical reaction with a material inside the whole circuit or it's something else that i don't know.

First time in my whole life i see ''glitters'' inside a coolant mix, any helpful thoughts from you Gentlemen?

 

Are you sure it is from the Amsoil additive (was it green in colour).  If so then contact Amsoil showing the photos and ask them.

 

Have you used any sort of coolant system sealer previously?

 

As you probably know when changing different to coolants or additives it is best to clean and thoroughly flush, back-flush and flush again the whole system to get out as much existing residue as possible and even then unless you take the whole system apart and out of the car there will always be some residue left but hopefully very diluted by the cleaning and flushes.

 

Even taking hoses, radiator and heater matrix out of a car it is hard to get everything out of the radiator I have found and the engine will still have some residue in it.

 

23 hours ago, nta16 said:

Are you sure it is from the Amsoil additive (was it green in colour).  If so then contact Amsoil showing the photos and ask them.

 

Have you used any sort of coolant system sealer previously?

 

Even taking hoses, radiator and heater matrix out of a car it is hard to get everything out of the radiator I have found and the engine will still have some residue in it.

 

 

Amsoil additive is red colour, my coolant is Blue so maybe the combination turn to Green.

 

No was many years ego and was like these which Yes were like ''dust''.

 

https://autocorner.gr/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/fwkia-arexons-skonh.autocorner.gr_.jpg

 

https://www.angelidis.gr/photos/4011.jpg

 

The weird was that i had no ''glitters'' inside the hoses or on the coolant sensor, everything was clear. I checked those ''glitters'' in my palm, were small detritus like some pulverized material. Unfortunately i had no magnet available at that time to see if it was iron.

Turafalle in polvere per radiatori is powder leak stopper for radiators perhaps combined with coolant that creates some "glitters" again you could contact the manufacture.

 

A breakdown service added K-Seal to my car's system as it got a leak to the radiator when I was far from home, it sealed the leak but later I notice dark brown or brass type (I forget which) "glitters" in the metal expansion tank.

 

Your "glitters" might have been from either of those powder sealants, or even perhaps the Amsoil additive, or perhaps even a coolant, or a reaction from any combination.  As everything else seems clear then perhaps these "glitters" have just come to the top of the system and residing in the expansion bottle.

 

I'd not worry about it at all.  Next coolant change if you wanted to you could not only drain the existing coolant but also perhaps clean and/or thoroughly flush, back-flush and flush again the whole system and thoroughly drain before refilling with fresh new coolant.

 

19 hours ago, nta16 said:

As everything else seems clear then perhaps these "glitters" have just come to the top of the system and residing in the expansion bottle.

 

I said to the mechanic ''when you remove the expansion tank check those glitters from what material they are'' but that idiot didn't do it.

He throw anything away, completely clean the plastic tank and made a coolant refill.

After few days i checked (2 times) thoroughly the plastic tank at night with flash light, to ''glitters'' at all, i also checked the coolant sensor but nothing.

 

The first moments when i discovered this was terrible, i thought for instance that the whole circuit would be full of these detritus and i will start having overheating problems.

The best scenario is that due to gravity and after the ''boiling'' procedure all these ''glitters'' have ''depositioned'' to the sides of the expansion tank and stayed there.

I would NEVER use such a radiator sealant type again.

3 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

 .  .  .  due to gravity and after the ''boiling'' procedure all these ''glitters'' have ''depositioned'' to the sides of the expansion tank and stayed there.

That is what I was thinking.  Too late to know if the "glitters" were stuck to anything else but I'd not worry about it.  Come the hottest weather and hottest driving you will find out for sure.

 

 

3 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

I would NEVER use such a radiator sealant type again.

I would think it most likely that any problem would more likely be from existing detritus already build up or inside the radiator, engine waterways, heater matrix, system generally, perhaps may be a sealant might add to the existing issue  but I don't know, I would think the margins would have already had to be close to clogging up already.

 

 

After the K-Seal had been added to my radiator I changed the radiator as I did not know its full history, that was a mistake as although the new (brass) radiator was supposed to have been a good replica it was not that well made and the swap made no difference to the cooling.  I only changed as I cannot stand unexpected car problems, particularly when far from home and Sod's Law dictates that is when they often happen.

 

As I put I would forget about it and carry on driving.

 

3 hours ago, nta16 said:

  Too late to know if the "glitters" were stuck to anything else but I'd not worry about it.

 

I could expect a discolourization but ''glitters''?

If the car wasn't locked i could say this was a bad joke or some kind of sabotage. 

 

Nevertheless there is some sort of ''good thing'' of what happened otherwise those granules would stay somewhere in the circuit stucked causing nothing more than problems. 

18 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

I could expect a discolourization but ''glitters''?

I was wondering if the "glitters" might be stuck to to some other sort of granule debris but probably just "glitters".

 

 

18 hours ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

Nevertheless there is some sort of ''good thing'' of what happened otherwise those granules would stay somewhere in the circuit stucked causing nothing more than problems. 

Or they might have sealed a leak - but if they're just spare they're out of the system now anyway, gone but not forgotten. 😄

 

On 23/03/2023 at 15:24, nta16 said:

A breakdown service added K-Seal to my car's system as it got a leak to the radiator when I was far from home, it sealed the leak but later I notice dark brown or brass type (I forget which) "glitters" in the metal expansion tank.

 

K-Seal is a liquid and not a pownder.

So your ''glitters'' where came from? From corrosion of some part?

40 minutes ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

K-Seal is a liquid and not a pownder.

Probably more drinks than you realise may start or contain powder before they become or you made into a liquid drink.  Have you never had milkshakes, coffee(?), coco drinks, gravy made up from powder.

 

 

45 minutes ago, D.FYLAKTOS said:

So your ''glitters'' where came from? From corrosion of some part?

The "glitters" I got out of the metal expansion tank by using a cheap suction pump were just that, I rubbed them between my fingertips and couldn't feel any grit type feel so don't think they contained any sort of corrosion.   My coolant was changed far more frequently than I would want as I every time something was done on the engine  or cooling/heating system fresh coolant was put back in.  No doubt there would be some corrosion but all the emptying would get much of any loose stuff out.

 

Bar's Leak (now Stop Leak) or Radweld (liquid) products used to be the go to for radiator leaks or cleaning over here.  I see Bar's Leak now sell a powdered form but years ago they sold it in a tube in a dried tobacco type form known to some as "dog's turd".  Bar's Leak is claimed not to clog a system and I was told that when the local race and road engine builders, Cosworth, were an independent company they would recommend using Bars Leak as a conditioner (in an engine and system without leaks), presumably (?) this is now Bar's Leaks Original(?).

 

To empty the system on my car meant disconnecting a small bottom radiator hose which meant the coolant partly ran over an oily chassis frame so I never bother checking the collected coolant as there would also be all the road and other debris off the chassis frame.  Like your car mine lived permanently outside and the neighbour across the road had been rebuilding his property for about 5 years and not the tidiest builder.

 

7 hours ago, nta16 said:

Probably more drinks than you realise may start or contain powder before they become or you made into a liquid drink.  Have you never had milkshakes, coffee(?), coco drinks, gravy made up from powder.

 

Yes but Instant coffee (we call it Frappe here) begins from powder but in this end nothing is left in the bottom of the glass.

I change my coolant every 2-3 years and so far i haven't see anything like these ''glitters", was an unpleasant surprise.

 

I have added a little bit of this https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/radiator-stop-leak-p000198.html#2505

as a precaution, so far nothing suspicious inside the plastic tank, no decolourization either.

It can depend on how much powder is used and how well it is mixed as to how well it is dissolved.

 

I do not suppose it really matters but I prefer to keep with the same coolant all the time and not mix previous and future different ones, same if using any additive.

 

I've seem gloopy mixed coloured messes come out of "classic" (over-priced and over valued old) cars' cooling/heating systems, I do not know why the mixing of similar coolants should do this other than the coolants used were not similar but these are usually not from cars that have regular changes of coolant and/or thorough flushing and/or cleaning of the cooling/heating systems.

 

hm they seem like silicate crystals to me

Good call, I didn't think of that my mind was stuck on the Amsoil additive.

 

13 hours ago, Thefeliciahacker said:

they seem like silicate crystals to me

 

It was night and i was a little bit desperate, their shape was something like Silica Gel, tough and a  little bit ''sharp'' in the edges.

They were ''shining'' even in the light of the ceiling lamp and i blame that idiot mechanic which throw them away while washing the expansion tank.

I wish i could keep some of them for further examination.

 

My first thought was that a part from the radiator or the thermostat was corroded and produced these.

Maybe was that powder from the sealant additive which made a chemical reaction with the Amsoil additive.

I have removed that expansion tank and i decide to cut it through to see how was inside

 

 

and the result was shocking !

 

 

 

 

 

The most disgusting water expansion tank view that i have ever seen.

Something is majorly wrong with your cooling system, something reacted with something that black stuff looks like aluminum oxide.

 

 

Scratching the sludge.

 

 

 

The ''glitters".

 

You have to investigate, further I don't like what I am seeing. 

That green glitter powder looks like silicates that fell out of suspension. I don't like what I'm seeing who knows what this thing has clogged. Start a declogging procedure asap

Edited 19 May, 20242 yr by Thefeliciahacker

The "glitters" is one thing and sometimes seen in leak sealants, whether that caused the black gloopy I'm not sure, it might be the photos but it looks very black and shiny, perhaps it's different additives reacting or something else as suggested.  I too would investigated further, if your rad has a cap I'd look at that and the top of the rad, extract some coolant if required to see the top of the inside of the rad and see what the coolant looks like too.  Perhaps if the heater is higher take the hose off and see what it looks like insides, again also looking at the coolant there.

 

 

I t was a difficult task, one hand holding the plastic tank and the other hand the Dremel, small pieces like filings everywhere even towards my face.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the lower part, from there the hose goes to the radiator.

 

 

 

 

I said the mechanic to remove the old coolant, fill it with water, rinse, fill it again rinse and then add distilled water and new antifreeze.

No glitters or sludge was found in hoses, i personally check it even the coolant sensors was clean, no residues at all.

According to the theory that when something boils the bubbles-lathe goes to the top and stays in the side of the utensil?

Examples:

https://www.argiro.gr/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/kameno-gala.jpg

 

https://www.newsitamea.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/med_gallery_447_8_96432.jpg

 

The new coolant has about 450 Km on it, many times checked at night with flash light in purpose to the any glitters ''shining", nothing yet.

The sides of the expansion tank are 95% ,only a small mark on one side but nothing serious.

 

Except waiting and if necessary changing again the whole coolant and install a new expansion tank i don't know what else can i do. 🙄

 

12 hours ago, nta16 said:

if your rad has a cap I'd look at that and the top of the rad

 

No radiator cap on Skoda, there is only one on the expansion tank and the old and the new were clear.

No residues (muck or glitters) on them at all.

In fact the highest point of the felly cooling system is the heater matrix 

Since i removed this dirty expansion tank i have done 2 coolant changes.

The coolant sensor is clean but i can not know what's happening inside the engine.

I will try to take photos of the new expansion tank (walls, bottom) for any signs of muck.

Internally (and externally if possible) clean the heater matrix and rinse an flush and back-flush through.

You means this?

https://haynes.com/en-gb/tips-tutorials/what-is-car-heater-matrix

This is in the back of the whole system, has 2 hoses (in-out) but i can not remove it by myself.