Rusty waters

Rescued a "carport find" MR2 Turbo. Been sitting 3 years. Long story short - Kid took it to a shop to have the "engine rebuilt." He got a $3k tab he couldn't pay and the shop botched the job and the car sat behind the shop for a year. The guy I bought it from got it from the shop and towed it to his carport. He never could get the car to run right either. It sat for another 2 years.

I looked it over and saw all kinds of hacks and was suspicous of the quality of rebuild it got, but then I spied something on the head that convinced me to make an offer -- The overheat / warranty tab on a reman longblock. Under all the grungy accessories, there was a brand new zero-mile longblock. I dragged the car home for $1200.

4 hours spent with the BGB fixing all of the hackjob stuff on the engine install and I have the car running well. But here is the issue -- rusty water. The car was inappropriately filled and all that sitting has lead to funky rusty water. I drained it, put flush solution and water in it, ran it, flushed it. Hooked a garden hose up to it and let it flush for 30min. A few miles later and the straight water looks like Nestea again.

How bad is this? Can it be cured?

Keep flushing, and don't forget the heater core.

Nice score, btw!

Javelin wrote: Keep flushing, and don't forget the heater core. Nice score, btw!

What he said it will take a lot of flushing probably.

Are you flushing the rad, or have you taken the heater hoses off and flushed the block? With the thermostat closed, you can flush the rad till the cows come home, and you will still have a block full of rusty water.

If you have been flushing the block, all you can do is keep flushing. Flush, drive, flush, drive...

Sounds like a nice score! I agree with the "keep flushing" sentiment. As long as you're not leaking coolant anywhere, it probably didn't rust anything too badly (though you might find out for sure after driving a while :)). IIRC the coolant hardlines that run front to back are aluminum, so you're pretty much just talking about the radiator, heater core, and block/water pump impeller/t-stat in terms of rust. The block will be fine, as will the impellar (since it's spinning now), so just keep an eye on the radiator, heater core, and temp gauge. I might be tempted to change the thermostat since it could be bad news if it sticks closed. It's a PITA on those cars, though. BTDT.

that is a lot of piping to flush.. I do not envy you

I've heard of people using a mild acid to help flush crap out. Complete heresy, potentially, but wouldn't hurt to look into it.

Flush more. Flush again. Flush more. Enjoy a great car at a great price! Then flush some more.

I have, in an extreme case, run Muriatic through a cooling system. (It was a 2-liter Escort)

You have to be very quick with your work when you rinse the engine out with a baking soda/water solution. It will boil the cooling system out even with the engine NOT running, but you'll want it running so the water pump circulates it.

Keep flushing until it comes out clean and not fizzy, then flush with pure water a lot, like remove the upper radiator hose from the engine and dump it into a safe and environmentally friendly receptacle while a garden hose fills the radiator.

NB - It was a lot of work with a front engined car. I'd imagine the suck factor would be far higher with a mid-engined car.

Yes, I know the acid is bad for the head and the radiator and the heater core. It worked out okay for us, and, really, you're looking and possibly having to replace the heater core and radiator anyway, so what have you got to lose?

I got a preemptive radiator and thermostat. It just takes a pound of flesh and triplejointedness on these cars. Want to get it clean first so I'm not putting that junk in the new parts.