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[cd 2.2]

Right now I am getting frustrated 

I have flushed and flushed and flushed my coolant system ! From memory about 25 times, running the car for a while between every flush  !!
Brand new radiator fitted as the original exploded (literally), New thermostat fitted and new HBV fitted! At every stage the engine has been flushed fully until the water was clear, even at one point we had soda crystals in there on every flush (4 flushes total), this shifted all manner of nasties including lots of K-seal (I hate that stuff it's evil)!

So Yesterday, after running the car for 200+ miles on fresh water (that stayed clear), I thought it time we added the OAT coolant .... All was well until this afternoon, Checked the coolant to see if it was still OAT colour, It's mostly muggy blue/green but still obviously OAT coolant (if that makes sense)!

I do know that at some point in this cars life someone has run the coolant system with blue antifreeze (BAD previous owner, Very Bad *slap*)! This is obviously what has caused the issue that I have now ... When you mix OAT and Blue antifreeze it has a tendency to "gel" in pockets that are extremely difficult to clear (if not impossible)!

So after about 25 system flushes and I don't know how much petrol used running it between flushes, I still have an issue with the coolant reacting with remnants of blue antifreeze 

What else can I do to rectify this problem?? It's obvious that the flushing is working, albeit very slowly. But I'm becoming tired of every time I buy 5 litres of OAT I may as well p*ss the £20 up the wall (I only add 3 litres at a time)! I have gone through 9 litres of OAT so far, and every time that the engine runs for long distance and the water stays clear ... I drain down and add OAT , Checking that what comes out is clear after it's poured into a bottle straight out of the engine!

As I said there is a brand new radiator on the car, so I know it's not coming from there. I also flushed the heater matrix, I was almost convinced that the issue would lie in the heater matrix so I flushed it as per guides on here and nothing but clear water came out with a few bits of scale in it (took 3 hours to get all the scale out)!

What am I missing??? I have noticed that after all of this treatment the engine runs a hell of alot cooler whereas before I started with all this the temp gauge reached 80 degrees within about 5 minutes (the old rad was in a very bad way), now I have to take the car for a drive to get it up to 80 degrees within a reasonable time!

I'm thinking there has to be something I have missed, either that or the blue stuff is really stuck in somewhere that I can't flush out and it's just going to take time !!

Any advice welcomed as I'm really out of ideas 
Cheers Graham

[martin42]

Change thermostat as thats what allows the engine to get hot,infact remove it for a few days and run with water in system and then drain,and fit new thermostat.

[cd 2.2]

Change thermostat as thats what allows the engine to get hot, in fact remove it for a few days and run with water in system and then drain,and fit new thermostat.

What will that actually achieve? Is it to enable the water to circulate constantly, therefore removing what flushing, to this point has not
Obviously it's going to make it run too cold and I am partial to my climate control set at 24 degrees! I know it won't harm the engine in any way.
I ran it for 2 days with soda crystals in x 4 times (totally harmless to the engine but shifts allot of grime out), then flushed and ran with just water x 2 times for a couple of days so I knew I had removed all the junk from the system. Last but not least, I ran for 3 x days on clean fresh water with nothing added before I drained down and added the OAT, The water that came out was clear (clear enough to see through with 0 coloured tint)

Loads of other flushes done before this point also

[05omegav6]

New stat should solve the problem

[dbug]

Why use OAT antifreeze - not specified for Omega - just use standard Vx red antifreeze 

[cd 2.2]

New stat should solve the problem

Already got a new stat in Al, but it's a less than perfect solution. Had to rob the "new" insert out of the ecp supplied housing and fit it into the original housing! The "new" housing sprung a leak on the top hose part. It wasn't even put together properly!
I'm not sure if the new housing failure was a one in a million event or not but I will not be getting another from there (temperature holds bang on 80 degrees but takes a while to get there) 

Why use OAT antifreeze - not specified for Omega - just use standard Vx red antifreeze 

As far as I'm aware the Vx stuff (pink/red) Is OAT I will only put in the grade recommended for the car, It shouldn't matter if it comes from Vx or not (as long as you're careful about grade and specification of the product), so long as it's compatible so to speak.

On a plus note though, weirdly I took a look at the coolant this evening and it looks like it should again   
Maybe I'm trying to get to close to perfection, and we all know that's never going to happen easily 

[PhilRich]

The only way you will totally drain/flush the whole cooling system in one go is to remove the waterpump

[TheBoy]

The GM Red stuff is not, I believe, OAT. OAT reacts badly with older coolants, and can damage seals, the GM stuff is designed to be compatible. Hence the recommendation is to use the GM stuff here. Its only slightly more expensive (on tradeclub) than the sorts of stuff Halfords etc sell (on trade).

Running on clear water for more than a spin around the block will start to cause corrosion - remember the primary function of antifreeze in our climate is corrosion inhibitors - so will give a muddy/grubby colour to the water.

I feel your pain, having had a V6 oil cooler failure before, when the previous owners kept driving until it wouldn't go. About £120 in a new oil cooler and ancillaries, and about the same again in coolant, as that must have needed about 50 flushes (including a couple of waterpump removal flushes to remove the coolant in the block) to get it to run with minimal oil deposits in there. Most were quick blasts around the block, any overnighters or longer trips (as I started to use for work) meant a full 50:50 mix going in.

[05omegav6]

New stat or not, if the car doesn't get up to temp, it clearly doesn't work

Fit a genuine one, along with the correct coolant and report back

[sjr47]

The GM Red stuff is not, I believe, OAT. OAT reacts badly with older coolants, and can damage seals, the GM stuff is designed to be compatible. Hence the recommendation is to use the GM stuff here. Its only slightly more expensive (on tradeclub) than the sorts of stuff Halfords etc sell (on trade).

Running on clear water for more than a spin around the block will start to cause corrosion - remember the primary function of antifreeze in our climate is corrosion inhibitors - so will give a muddy/grubby colour to the water.

I feel your pain, having had a V6 oil cooler failure before, when the previous owners kept driving until it wouldn't go. About £120 in a new oil cooler and ancillaries, and about the same again in coolant, as that must have needed about 50 flushes (including a couple of waterpump removal flushes to remove the coolant in the block) to get it to run with minimal oil deposits in there. Most were quick blasts around the block, any overnighters or longer trips (as I started to use for work) meant a full 50:50 mix going in.
VX red antifreeze is marketed as longlife therefore has to have OAT, if it was MEG would not be long life may be a MEG /OAT hybrid what Ford first started to use back in tha late 90s either way has to have OAT whats frustrating is VX give no info of compatability on their antifreeze products. Just flushed my system with a mixture of Dexcool & Comma OAT red stuff seems to get along together OK no sign of sludge,gel build up been in there 3 weeks now   

[zirk]

last couple of V6 Oil Cooler failures Ive done, requires horrendos amout of flushing, Ive found that Industrial Oven Cleaner works well (the Rubber and Plastic friendly sort).

Your local Pub Landlord could be your friend here, if your into that sort of thing, personally I never the places. 

[Shackeng]

The GM Red stuff is not, I believe, OAT. OAT reacts badly with older coolants, and can damage seals, the GM stuff is designed to be compatible. Hence the recommendation is to use the GM stuff here. Its only slightly more expensive (on tradeclub) than the sorts of stuff Halfords etc sell (on trade).

Running on clear water for more than a spin around the block will start to cause corrosion - remember the primary function of antifreeze in our climate is corrosion inhibitors - so will give a muddy/grubby colour to the water.

I feel your pain, having had a V6 oil cooler failure before, when the previous owners kept driving until it wouldn't go. About £120 in a new oil cooler and ancillaries, and about the same again in coolant, as that must have needed about 50 flushes (including a couple of waterpump removal flushes to remove the coolant in the block) to get it to run with minimal oil deposits in there. Most were quick blasts around the block, any overnighters or longer trips (as I started to use for work) meant a full 50:50 mix going in.

£38.50 plus VAT on Trade Club for 20 litres

[Kevin Wood]

I'm not sure what technology the VX red coolant is, but I know that the label states that it is compatible with all other types of coolant.

[cd 2.2]

Been in to Vx dealers today ... The guy on parts is very helpful indeed  , He confirmed toady that use of Halfords OAT and the like, as long as it's the right grade, is fine.

I priced up the new thermostat housing (including thermostat) at £35.60 inc vat .. part # V0090501081 (0651G1 Thermostat) and the new gasket at £3.05 inc vat .. part # V0009157001 (022D5 Gasket)

I don't think it's too bad for prices on those parts but the cash has dried up at the moment  this car is costing a fortune to get right after all the neglect it's had before

Again thanks for advice and suggestions so far ... I'm taking it all on board