That looks like mixed coolant, HOAT with Ethylene glycol, flush it soon.
Already beat you to it man, just not posted up yet. Not a chance in hell I was driving it round making cream cheese.
Strangely (or as Iâm rather hoping) the coolant that was in was fine with the coolant that was put in to top it up - just rusty. They werenât mixed types and were fine for a week and about 300 miles, then suddenly in one journey maximum cream cheese.
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Tbh it looks a lot more edible than some of those American cheesesâŚ
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As a 'Murican, I can confirm
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Weâll be having none of them advisories here:
Admittedly itâs original rear brake discs finally had to be changed but no matter, canât really complain. Also done a few hundred miles now sans any cream cheese in the radiator, I am pleased to report.
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Sodding car.
I have no luck with this thing, belts in particular seemingly. June 2017, 21000 miles ago, had a new Gates timing belt kit fitted. Recently the usual whine it does has developed a rattly noise and like a rubbing/grinding when the car warms up.
Of course it couldnât be an ancillary I could just change cheaply and easily when I get one, no no, the timing belt tensioner bearing is having a bad time and dying, joy of joys.
I hope the boat is quick with the Blade on it.
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As that whine had been such a slow developer I hadnât really noticed how bad it had gotten, it was only when the rattling/rubbing sounds started I had an oh shit moment, and discovered the above. When I first started it up after fitting a new cambelt kit I thought something wasnât right because it was suddenly so quiet.
Turns out it was actually the idler pulley as opposed to the tensioner, and it got marginally quieter before it was changed. Somehow the tension on it was keeping it in a better state than off the car, where it was fairly obviously totally shagged when just trying to spin it by hand and seemed to be just waiting for the right second to drop to bits.
Anyway, not to worry, sorted now. Still have a dodgy 2nd gear but not entirely sure thereâs a lot I can do there without spending a fortune trying to find or get parts for a rare as hell gearbox.
Onwards.
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Forgot to post bonus spammery here, mileage peaked a few days ago and wonât be as good again for a while.
And no, it wasnât me taking the photo before anyone asks.
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Turns out it wouldnât actually be that good again. 126520 or so seems to be about as far as this thing wanted to go.
I always had a funny feeling this wouldnât last after the head gasket was done when I got it. Itâs never sounded quite perfect since but itâs always pulled well enough, passed emissions, did well on fuel etc, but tonight as I was coming into my estate I had very little power and a huge misfire. I parked up at home thinking Iâd lost a plug lead or something as they have been iffy for a little while, but the engine is full of itâs own coolant and hydrolocked and thereâs sparkly bits on the plug tips.
It still always got me home, it still hasnât left me stranded anywhere. Itâs run with a shagged timing belt, it drove me home with a ruined head gasket, itâs rescued people from the snow, and it survived being whacked by a Fiesta, but the body is starting to go in places, the clutch is sticking, and now the engine seems to be done. It had a shitty life before I got it, this has always been evident, and Iâve saved it a few times now, but I think this time itâs actually run out of lives.
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Aw, sucks to hear that. 
RIP Corolla, 1999-2019
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Curiosity got the better of me.
Itâs like bloody Deja Vu this - 2016:
And then today:
If anything, this one looks even worse. I think the point of failure is here, would certainly make the most sense.
Need to have everything checked again now to make sure it was all level, and work out if the reason itâs only lasted 30k miles is bad surfaces or a shitty gasket the last time it was done (as a wise man once said, it wasnât me).
Fortunately just looking, bores all appear OK and it didnât tell me it was overheating this time, but suspect there may have been some localised around that first cylinder. It only ran for 2-3 minutes max after the misfire started so hopefully itâs fine, and it didnât run itself dry of coolant - just came very close. Maybe it has got another life in it, maybe I did call it a little too soon.
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This car is like a bloody cat, you know that?
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Yeah, if the cat was an evil sod that chucks stuff back at you and then decides it doesnât want to live.
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Thatâs a typical cat then.
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Sit rep - took the head to a machine shop today, between all cylinders has damage from where it was blowing, and there were low points around some of the coolant passages. Apparently, it was otherwise OK and enough meat was left on it for a skim, so itâs now lovely and shiny.
As far as I can tell, the rest looks OK and the block face is fine. Strangely, the head coolant channels themselves are all extremely clean, expected far far more buildup than there is.
Iâve had a couple of people look at it that know far more about this sort of thing than me and the general consensus is that something went wrong with the head torquing - this I would agree with as even with being different lengths, the head bolts on the exhaust side were a good bit looser than the intake side (4E heads and blocks are like chamfered, hence differing lengths). How this has happened, be it reused bolts or the skimming not allowing the front edge to tighten properly, donât know but doesnât matter because it has. The cams also hadnât been installed properly which explains some of the intermittent top end rattles on a cold start.
But, looks like Iâm down the road of seeing if itâll be saved anyway. The head is apparently OK, and Iâm still fairly nervous because of how quickly and dramatically it popped, but everyone thatâs looked at it didnât believe it had been just fine before it went massively. All bits ordered now, and Iâm replacing the lot, new head bolts included. All Victor Reinz stuff which Iâm sure BMW owners will tell me is bad but it seems to get a great rep elsewhere, and is less than 1/3rd the price of Toyotaâs gasket kit.
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Onwards goes the work. Iâve been a bit iffy recently so hoping to god Iâm not making any mistakes.
Ehh this appears incorrect, this is a clear container and itâs what came out of the cooling system.
This looks good to me, or as good as itâs gonna get anyway.
Gave in there for tonight, but nearly there - Iâll soon know if it was just the gasket or if it is actually properly knackered. I couldnât be doing with just getting rid without trying and never knowing.
Oh, and ignore that bit on piston 4 that looks like the valves have hit, that was me catching the carbon with something else.
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Nearly there, another couple of hours squeezed in tonight. Manifolds, fuel system, electrics, vacuum lines, belt pulleys etc all reinstalled.
Came across a problem earlier though, gasket kit didnât include a new one for the throttle body to intake manifold and I didnât want to have to hang around waiting, the previous one having been mullered in favour of some sort of sealant that resembled Bovril that had gone off. The only place offering it with fast postage was ÂŁ10 which seemed a little steep for a bit of paper.
After scouring what felt like the entire country for gasket paper sheet at not ridiculous prices, managed to find some 10 minutes up the road for the princely sum of 75p. Set about making a template from what I could, as the intake and throttle body mating faces are not exactly the same.
Now, got myself a template and went at it with a stanley knife but it was a little bit, rough and ready, didnât quite line up, and it wouldnât be me if I didnât go overboard with pointless ideas somewhere along the line, so I finally found the first practical use for something I put together a couple of months back:
2 minutes in Inkscape and some frickinâ laser beams in my kitchen (always wear your eye protection kids, no photos because I look even worse than usual) and we have this stupidly overdone yet perfectly made and fitting paper gasket:
Anyway yes, thatâs todayâs wall of rubbish, although getting quite close now so will be back soon with the inevitable failure of the entire job.
At least my throttle body gasket looks good though.
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