Ok, so this morning I was checking fluids and found something interesting. We all know that this is what clean anti-freeze looks like:



Well this is what I found in my '93 4Runner:



I got that sinking feeling that it's the headgasket. I did some searching and every "Oil in radiator" thread I looked at pointed to HG. Would someone please give me some insight? The weird thing is I've been getting better gas mileage than ever- 13.5-14 mpg. Would this explain some of my low idle issues? (500-600 rpm while in drive and stopped)

Also, is there any way to test if it is oil or just dirt? I don't know of any places around here to take a sample.

I found a 3.4L for $900 out of a 2003... but I'm really not sure that's something I can tackle. Starting my search...

Thanks for your help friends.

 

It's just old. Drain it, run only water through it for a few miles, then drain & replace with new coolant. If you had the "milkshake" look, then I'd suspect HG. Looks fine from here.

 

Looks like perfectly normal mixed antifreeze. You would likely look the same if I ran you through a water pump a few thousand times. Except red *edit so thats what they make Toyota red coolant out of!*

If you are super worried about it, just flush the system and replace the coolant. In fact, do it anyways. Cause I said so.

 

Great! That's very good news. Thanks for the replies and Coug, I'll do it because you said so.

 

If you think thats bad you should see coolant from a Taurus after about a year of use. It just turns brown like muddy water.