TLDR; probably been running on tap water/concentrate mix for twenty years

Video won’t upload so https://youtube.com/shorts/4GwqjvmFByw?si=X1q0B04QzGi2sjG2

I got this car from my dad 4 years ago, got my license last month and started driving it. I finally checked the fluids and the radiator was essentially empty.

I went to use the coolant he had in the boot and the container had mold inside. Got a new bottle and went to fill it up. Saw this.

I’m assuming he had mixed the coolant concentrate in the bottle with tap water instead of distilled, and that he’s been doing this since he got the car, Along with his other three cars. (two of them are v8) he had this car for twenty years and it has over 250,000 km.

The coolant barely passed through the radiator and I couldn’t even fill it to halfway. I filled to the amount It wouldn’t go down anymore and ran the car but I haven’t looked to see if it’s gone down anymore.

The car definitely runs cooler (probably because there’s actually fluid in the rad now) But this is ridiculous right? I mean, the cap had a full beard growing down from it.

I’m assuming it’s all calcium buildup and rust because it’s been filled with non-distilled water. At this point I’m thinking I’ll have to replace the whole radiator system.

What do you think?

I have a 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse that started smoking & locked up. I'm assuming this is antifreeze?? I'm not sure what to do. Please help.

I recently bought a 1995 Toyota Camry V6 LE. I’m not sure how much maintenance, if any, the previous owner did. I’m slowly going through and giving the car everything it needs and right now I’m looking at the coolant. The reservoir is almost empty, and when I pulled out what was in it, it was cloudy and gray. but when I pulled some coolant out of the radiator cap, it was a reddish-yellow and looked much cleaner than what was in the reservoir.

Should I just empty the reservoir and fill it with new coolant, or flush the entire system and put fresh coolant throughout?

2018 Chevy Trax. Overheated. checked coolant tank. damn near bone dry. checked owners manual. checked the color of the cap on the coolant tank. yellow. Ran into nearest store and got Peak Blue Mountain Anti-freeze/Coolant. Add to any color, compatible for all makes and models. On the phone my step-dad is upset because it HAS TO HAVE orange kind.

i am assuming he is speaking about Dexcool, and i was under the impression that the brand i got was even compatible with that. i know that red and blues mixed with it in the past can gel the engine, but modern brands are getting less color relevant and that dexcool is actually kind of rough on your car… he is saying it all needs flushed and i should have waited.

How bad did i fuck up and please explain to me like i’m 5 so i can avoid this in the future.

Gf's dad didn't secure parked trailer; hitch rolled into my cry's radiator. Looks bad, isn't leaking (yet). Should I replace it or wait until I see any sign I leakage?

I took this thermostat out of my car today. How do I inspect it? Please help

I have a 2008 Subaru Legacy 2.0R, today in traffic jam lower radiator hose exploded, luckily, I noticed white steam coming from my hood and stopped before the engine overheated. I towed the car to the shop, they replaced the hose, filled the coolant and pressure tested the system. My question - can I now drive my car worry-free? Also, what can cause lower radiator hose to blow, other than wear? Can it be faulty water pump or stuck thermostat, or something else?

My car (2004 Chrysler 300M with 93k miles) overheated on the interstate, so obviously I didn’t pull over right away (which a sane person would have done). I got to the light on the off ramp and it died. I got it pushed off to the side and out of the way. I’ve added some water to the coolant reservoir and have to work for the next two hours. Is there any chance it starts when I go back to it or am I pretty much screwed? I knew I needed coolant but it got forgotten about with the damned hurricane.

I get the above warning from my car when I slow down or stop my car and goes away as soon as I drive off again. No, the engine doesn't stop.
This is after an engine repair.

Edit: Oil level is fine.

I’m changing the original one as many people suggested to fix the leak I showed on my previous post

Well my mechanic put head gasket sealer in my car and while I'm still hoping to get the few extra months he promised I have low hopes. It heated up on first drive to shops but held temp on way back so not sure what I'm dealing with yet.

This was the first car I've brought for myself and first time dealing with a big issue, unfortunately with an unfamiliar mechanic. In the past I only had little problems and a family friend mechanic.

I've vowed I'm going to learn more about cars, I'm too poor and dependent on them to not understand how they work better. For now I've got a half dead car that I'm attached to and might as well play with it.

At the moment I'm most interested in learning how to check and recognize a problem in the parts the sealer is most likely to fuck up since I haven't entirely given up on my car. Also the kind of checks I should learn when looking to buy a new car since thats probably on the horizon.

Hello! We just recently bought this van, 2016 Chrysler town and country, and I’m noticing it keeps getting up to this mark over halfway when driving. When it gets to this mark the a/c gets less cold and doesn’t work as well. It tends to get itself back down to halfway after a few minutes but randomly goes back up to this mark closer to the H. Is this okay? We live in Iowa and today it’s real hot and real humid, almost 100 degrees right now.

Our last van transmission blew and wasn’t worth to fix but we just took out a loan for this van and I’m terrified of having issues now 😅

So 43 days ago my wife had her coolant reservoir and hose replaced. The mechanic noticed the hose looked like it was deteriorating on one end while doing other maintenance so we agreed to replace it.

The car is a 2016 Fiat 500X with about 72k miles on it. We've never had overheating or cooling issues. We did the repair as preventative.

A few days later her car overheats and she limps it back to the shop. The shopkeep said it looked like one of their guys forgot to run the engine and then top it off with coolant to fill the reservoir. So they do.

The car runs fine until a week later, and it overheats again. The car also started having misfires so I changed the spark plugs. There I noticed oil on the threads. I also see for myself that the coolant is low again so I added a half gallon.

Flash forward, we took it back to the shop and they find the head gasket and thermostat need replacing. A $3600 job. Or they could do a low-milage engine swap for $6000. Since we've never had cooling issues until they worked on it, we're assuming the blown head gasket is from damage sustained due to their negligence with the coolant reservoir.

My main question is, how do we go about getting them to fix the head gasket for their mistake? I've casually mentioned that being the cause without outright accusing them and of course they immediately deflect any responsibility. If needed, how would we get a lawyer involved? My wife doesn't have a current powertrain warranty and insurance won't cover unless it was caused by an accident.