arjun90

Found few black specks floating in the Coolant Expansion Tank, anyway to remove them?
I flushed the coolant earlier last month, and refilled the coolant expansion tank with G13. I don't think my radiator hoses or water pump have given in, but these black specks may have possibly surface as a result of the constant screwing in and screwing out of the lower radiator hose drain plug during the coolant flush process (the plug did fall out in the beginning; managed to squeeze the plug back in). I haven't noticed any changes in the coolant level since the flush. I remember bleeding the system. How should I remove those specks? Please let me know. Thanks

Specks found in Coolant Expansion Tank

pr0xZen

I got these, too - couldn't flush them out properly. Hoping someone chimes in with a solution here.

arjun90

Have you noticed any change in your coolant level? Mine appears stable; I did a coolant flush recently, and made sure there were no air pockets.

I suspect these specks may have originated from the lower radiator hose when I was flushing and replugging the hose between flushes.

Otherwise, these specks might as well be the leftover residue from the previous coolant, indicating to me that I may have not fully flushed the internals. I strongly doubt my water pump or heater core were compromised during the process. Heat comes out as it should, and the vehicle has never overheated in any way, stable temperature.

The best I can do, to avoid spending another fortune on a gallon of Genuine Audi Coolant, is to aspirate the fluid from the Coolant Expansion tank through a cheap Fluid Transfer Pump; insert a clean rag and clean whatever specks that may be adhered to the tank wall; and refill tank with freshly prepared 50/50 coolant antifreeze, and monitor the tank on a bi-weekly basis.

jcman

arjun90 you are a certified automotive hypochondriac, Don't Fix What Isn't Broken!.......this will help you sleep better at night.

pr0xZen

Any idea what is is though? Might serve for peace of mind I have (visually) similar ammounts of this in my own coolant system, not just the exp.tank. Didn't know when it was flushed last or what coolant was actually used before I bought it so I flushed it, but it seems a lot of it remains. Didn't really worry about it, but this reminder got me curious.

EDIT:
My level is stable. Unless you smell warm coolant in the cabin, or you see notable wet spots accompanied by a significant ammount of white coolant fuzz around connections or on your radiator - don't worry.

They might be - I don't know - but if it was "shavings" from the hose, wouldn't it float (rubber)? Found the same stuff when I pulled a sample from the pipe CTS sits in (suspected gone thermostat but was just a dodgy CTS), so its not just in the tank. Its probably just some old Audi herpies.

arjun90

I changed the Coolant Temperature Sensor a month or so ago, and the coolant in the CTS area appeared murky; the lower radiator hose plug is made out of plastic, could also be the paint from there as well. I also noticed that the G12 'label' paint on the outside of the expansion tank has slowly deteriorated. Could just be paint.

arjun90

Maybe I should avoid replacing the Valve Cover Gasket and get these four wheels back on the road.

jcman

Simple solution: Take a turkey baster and draw the debris out to examine it then send the sample to a lab for an analysis $$$, chances are some crack-head that worked on it last used a dirty funnel or was eating Oreo cookies...who knows.

But based on the OP's many many threads one draws a flag with the #3 and #4 misfires and has yet to report about pulling the passenger VC off with a status of the exhaust cam lobes, but then the operating temps are normal....lets wait as the mystery unfolds with a possible passing of certain fluids.

This is when I really hate these threads about the 3.0 that have been through a few owners and many hands have possibly been in the works, seems like an old song I've heard before.

jcman

Actually I'm thinking you should take your personal items out of this car and put them in a new car......then no problems

Do check out the cam lobes when pulling the VC .....this will change everything as much as I hate to say it "real slow"

arjun90

Haha, I heard these were common problems in the 2002 3.0L. Here we have an '04 with a manufacture month and year of December, 2004 respectively.

Those misfires were definitely related to the oil which was accumulating on the driver side spark plug / ignition coil wells as well as a faulty coolant temperature sensor. Recently, I went for a week without a misfire (continuous fault code monitoring).