Thanks Dennis.

The sludge looks brown/grey. It looks to me like a combination of
mineral and ?. It feels gritty. No orange coolant. Just green/blue
looking stuff. We have soft water around here. (Vancouver B.C.)

Regardless, I'll likely buy a new rad for the engine swap project. So
far, the useful cooling system parts from this parts van are rad
mounts, fan, front hoses, and possibly the long steel lines The
overflow/fill tanks look ok, but unless cost prohibitive, I'll go with
new.

FWIW people, I've done  a write up on my thoughts so far about
converting from an air cooled to water cooled van here:

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil/iWeb/Site%205/AirCooled2WaterCooled_notes.html

Basically a warning! --- :^)

And yes I was warned!

But I digress.....

Cheers,

On Nov 24, 2007 7:25 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dex-cool sludge is orange just like the fluid. The medium grey crap is
> most likely the precipitates from hard water. Regardless of the antifreeze
> used, if you live in a area with hard water, you need to use distilled
> water for your cooling system. How do you know if you have hard water? If
> you have well water, most water in the South and West, if you get lime or
> rust stains in your sinks and tubs, etc.
>
> The worst sludge I have also seen is from the VW blue stuff. It makes a
> blue gooey paste with crunchies.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Pascal Giasson
> Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2007 5:45 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Coolant sludge? (link to pics)
>
> FWIW, my "death cool" sludge was medium gray.  No more dexcool will ever
> go
> in my Westy!
>
> Pascal
> '84 Westy
>

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia -
"Jaco"  (Bustorius) http://web.mac.com/tubaneil

Engine swap beginings: http://musomuso.googlepages.com/home