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gmcnoob · 10-25-2014, 07:16 AM

Moving along with my maintenance while waiting for these stupid 16.5" tires to be manufactured... Decided to do a coolant flush yesterday. Surprisingly what drained out was fairly green considering I have not changed it in the 5 years I have owned it. Oops. I'm learning cut me a break. The flushing part yielded massive amounts of rusty looking water that just kept coming out. It didn't appear to be oil, at least I hope not. I kept flushing until the water came out clean, then filled it up with just water and brought it up to operating temperature with the radiator cap off as that's what I read you were supposed to do. I added some more water as it lowered a little bit and what do you know, more rusty water. I let it run for a bit longer then the water did not drop anymore so I put the cap back on and let it run for a while. It was getting late so I shut it off and I'm going to drain it again today. Is all of this rusty water normal for a truck that has been sitting unused for quite a while and not flushed for at least five years? I heard this may be a sign of a blown head gasket but I don't have any other telltale signs of that.

On another note I live out in the middle of nowhere and there are a lot of rough old logging roads that I can test out my four-wheel-drive on. Even with the tires in the sorry shape they are in the truck impressed the hell out of me and my buddy. I went into a bit of a dip that was a little deeper mud than I had expected. It got stuck so I slapped it in 4 low and it crawled out of there no problem. This was with mud up to about 6 inches from the rear bumper. The truck now looks brown it is so covered in mud, I love it.

I wish I had started working on this years ago but since I'm not a mechanic I was intimidated. I seem to be having good luck fixing things lately. I'm having lots of fun and learning a lot. I'm just about done with any mechanical issues so the rest is just cosmetic work. Thinking about going on Craigslist and finding another one around the same year to fix up.

I'm probably just rambling to myself here but thanks for listening.

10-25-2014, 07:16 AM	#73
gmcnoob Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 96	Re: 86 GMC Sierra K2500 Project Moving along with my maintenance while waiting for these stupid 16.5" tires to be manufactured... Decided to do a coolant flush yesterday. Surprisingly what drained out was fairly green considering I have not changed it in the 5 years I have owned it. Oops. I'm learning cut me a break. The flushing part yielded massive amounts of rusty looking water that just kept coming out. It didn't appear to be oil, at least I hope not. I kept flushing until the water came out clean, then filled it up with just water and brought it up to operating temperature with the radiator cap off as that's what I read you were supposed to do. I added some more water as it lowered a little bit and what do you know, more rusty water. I let it run for a bit longer then the water did not drop anymore so I put the cap back on and let it run for a while. It was getting late so I shut it off and I'm going to drain it again today. Is all of this rusty water normal for a truck that has been sitting unused for quite a while and not flushed for at least five years? I heard this may be a sign of a blown head gasket but I don't have any other telltale signs of that. On another note I live out in the middle of nowhere and there are a lot of rough old logging roads that I can test out my four-wheel-drive on. Even with the tires in the sorry shape they are in the truck impressed the hell out of me and my buddy. I went into a bit of a dip that was a little deeper mud than I had expected. It got stuck so I slapped it in 4 low and it crawled out of there no problem. This was with mud up to about 6 inches from the rear bumper. The truck now looks brown it is so covered in mud, I love it. I wish I had started working on this years ago but since I'm not a mechanic I was intimidated. I seem to be having good luck fixing things lately. I'm having lots of fun and learning a lot. I'm just about done with any mechanical issues so the rest is just cosmetic work. Thinking about going on Craigslist and finding another one around the same year to fix up. I'm probably just rambling to myself here but thanks for listening.