Dirt in Raditaor?

[da9r00d]

i have an 88 XJ with a open cooling system upgrade. i always check my fluid levels, recently i looked at my coolant after coming back from a beach trip. my coolant is clear except for some dirt/sand in my coolant overflow box and at the fill cap on the radiator. i can wipe it out with my finger. i have no cooling issues. but during my weekend i noticed my heater core was leaking onto the passenger floor mat. im going to change my core but i was wondering if i might be having a head gasket issue or something else. i regularly flush my coolant.

[XJ Wheeler]

Are you sure its not rust? Looks a lot like dirt.

[Cheromaniac]

i have an 88 XJ with a open cooling system upgrade. i always check my fluid levels, recently i looked at my coolant after coming back from a beach trip. my coolant is clear except for some dirt/sand in my coolant overflow box and at the fill cap on the radiator. i can wipe it out with my finger. i have no cooling issues. but during my weekend i noticed my heater core was leaking onto the passenger floor mat. im going to change my core but i was wondering if i might be having a head gasket issue or something else. i regularly flush my coolant.

I doubt that you have a head gasket issue but you could have rust/scale deposits coming from your corroded heater core.
Since your coolant is clean I suggest you just wash the sludge out of the overflow reservoir, and you can bypass the heater core temporarily by disconnecting the two hoses going to it and linking them with a U-shaped piece of pipe.

[da9r00d]

i flushed everything. my heater core is bad, im gonna change it out and check everything again

[bluedragon436]

Yeah I would say if you are worried you might have another issue, or even just to check as to whether you do or not in the mean time prior to changing your heater core.. bypass the heater core as shown above and run it for a bit once you have flushed the coolant.. and see if the dirt or rust shows up again... It does sound a bit more like rust that you are seeing in your coolant than dirt... I was a bit freaked out by the sight of dirt in my coolant too, only to find out it was rust from my radiator that was about to give way.