Is there a service to test antifreeze? I'm thinking something like there is for oil where you send in a sample and they tell you what's in it (contaminants).
I have a liquid cooled generator. The coolant has some form of goop (highly technical term) in it. I've flushed the coolant and it's still there. In fact, it didn't fully leave because the flush chemical didn't really break whatever this is down.
Some background:
There's a technician that has worked on my generator for many years (before I even owned the house) and he said he flushed it out before too. He was stumped at what it was too. Then he called me back and said his conclusion is that there is a head gasket issue and that oil is getting into the antifreeze. While this seem logical, I'm not convinced. There is absolutely no clouding of the oil. I would think if the head gasket was the issue, it would show up with antifreeze in the oil.
In the generator manual, it states that a low silicate antifreeze needs to be used and if you use a chromate based rust inhibitor, you can get green slime. I'm wondering if this happened or if at some point someone used the wrong antifreeze and the mixture of two antifreeze types is causing the problem. I've gotten some of the goop on my hand and it does not seem to be affected by a degreaser - leading me further to be skeptical about it being a gasket leak and oil in the antifreeze. However, I don't know what oil would do when mixed with antifreeze.
The good news is that the generator still operates and does not over heat. I've changed the antifreeze out twice now. This year I just dumped and refilled. I'd like to get to the bottom of this and get a clean coolant system. Is there any testing lab that could identify what this stuff is so I can correct the situation?
Thanks.
I have a liquid cooled generator. The coolant has some form of goop (highly technical term) in it. I've flushed the coolant and it's still there. In fact, it didn't fully leave because the flush chemical didn't really break whatever this is down.
Some background:
There's a technician that has worked on my generator for many years (before I even owned the house) and he said he flushed it out before too. He was stumped at what it was too. Then he called me back and said his conclusion is that there is a head gasket issue and that oil is getting into the antifreeze. While this seem logical, I'm not convinced. There is absolutely no clouding of the oil. I would think if the head gasket was the issue, it would show up with antifreeze in the oil.
In the generator manual, it states that a low silicate antifreeze needs to be used and if you use a chromate based rust inhibitor, you can get green slime. I'm wondering if this happened or if at some point someone used the wrong antifreeze and the mixture of two antifreeze types is causing the problem. I've gotten some of the goop on my hand and it does not seem to be affected by a degreaser - leading me further to be skeptical about it being a gasket leak and oil in the antifreeze. However, I don't know what oil would do when mixed with antifreeze.
The good news is that the generator still operates and does not over heat. I've changed the antifreeze out twice now. This year I just dumped and refilled. I'd like to get to the bottom of this and get a clean coolant system. Is there any testing lab that could identify what this stuff is so I can correct the situation?
Thanks.