Milky White Substance in top of Radiator

Just doing some routine maintenance on my 01' 3.4. When replacing the radiator hose and looking at the top under the lid after draining a white s milky substance almost the consistency of sand is in the bottom. See pictures, but hoping it isn't a head gasket from reading and my little knowledge. Could not see this until the coolant was out, all looked normal until the coolant was gone. Any and all help is welcomed. Btw truck has 117,000 miles.

 

Did you ever put any stop leak in it?

 

I'd start with doing several complete flushes of the cooling system. That's buildup from the looks. I had a lot of that come out when I flushed my system. Be sure you use distilled water for the flushing as nd your choice of a quality cooling system flush additive. First flush should be distilled water and the flush additive. Then flush once or twice more with just distilled water. After that, refill with the proper coolant for Asian vehicles.

 

Jesus, did someone throw sand in your radiator?

What did the rest of the coolant you drained look like?

 

It's buildup, not unusual although his seems a little excessive which is why I suggested flushing the system several times.

This is what came out of mine when I flushed it.

 

buildup from what though? It's a closed system.

I can understand fine particulates from oxidation or whatever, but that looks like straight up dirt! Or the engine is falling apart from the inside-out.

 

Hey man I just did my coolant exchange on my 197000 mile prerunner 3.4, and it came out clear. I think u might have a problem...

 

It's silicate which I believe is present in the coolant itself and can build up like that over time. Perfectly normal and why flushing the system on a regular basis is good practice.

 

Sand is basically silica, too, so I guess that's why it looks that way, lol...

 

Wow I would have freaked out. Good to know it's possible for build up to look like this

 

I would still probably freak out lol. When I changed mine out it was clear...the coolant only had about 40k miles on it at the time but it was 15 years old. This makes me want to go look under the radiator cap now just to check, been a long time since I've looked (probably not since I last changed it).

 

Made me calm down a little bit lol. Only has had 15k miles put on it since 08 or 09 and don't it has ever been flushed. He only feed cows with it. So sitting up over time has caused this.

 

Lol I did freak out. I was already looking to trade it in cause I thought it was a head gasket.

 

I would definitely verify before jumping to any conclusions with a compression test or leak down test, that will give you the peace of mind you need (or motivation to sell lol)

 

Yeah, ^^^ this.

The compression test will really tell you if you're screwed or not.

 

Do a compression check.
Have you been losing coolant?
Run your engine while warmed up and look to see if there are bubbles in the overflow tank. If so you have a head gasket leak.

 

Pressure test the coolant system (I think auto zone or one of the similar stores may have the tool to rent).

Looks like oil

 

Have not been losing coolant at all. Was at the tip top, still after I have driven it 3k kiles or so.

 

How long have you owned the truck for? Is it possible the prior owner put some type of radiator "stop leak" prior to you buying it? Some of those products have a gritty, sandy, solid type material in them that can look like that.

 

At 100k miles I seriously don’t think you should have any of that type material in your system.

I say stop leak was used at one time.

I’ve never run into that type material before on my truck