Hi all, it's been a while since I posted here for anything.

Been carrying out the annual service and it was time for a coolant change, however I noticed that there are silver flakes in the coolant - see pictures below. There seem to be some in the drained stuff, but its more noticable in the freshly circulated new coolant.

I have done a search and there are some indications it may be a water pump failing, but by many accounts that is very rare in these cars. Another possibility is that if there was an air pocked and its been sat a while, there could be some corrosion, hence the flakes. The car has been sat for a few months whilst I've been working on the rear subframe and suspension (around 4 months I think), so could this be the cause?

I'd welcome any thoughts, plus any guidance about how urgent an issue this is.

Cheers

 

To add, the car is a MY2000 and has done around 77000 miles

 

That's quite alarming

Are they magnetic?

 

Take its a oem rad? Like above get a magnet and test those particles.

 

Maybe has water pump bearing issue

 

Very possible. Could be premature bearing failure. Checking if the particle are magnetic will help diagnose.

 

I've checked and the particles don't seem to be magnetic. I took another look at the old coolant, and its difficult to see if there are any particles in it (it went in a less than clean bucket, so there is a bit of dirt, but not lots of specks). Opening the cap of the radiator, its immediately clear there are plenty of particles there.

I took off the serpentine belt to check the water pump - the pulley turns freely, and there doesn't seem to be any play to indicate a bearing issue.

The particles themselves are not hard flakes, more like dust, and can be rubbed away when I got some coolant on my finger.

So latest is:
- Particles not magnetic
- Particles are very fine like dust
- Very few particles in old fluid
- No play in water pump pulley

Would this fit with the air pocket causing corrosion theory, or are we looking at worse like head gasket issues?

 

Well if not magnetic they are probably aluminium as they are also quite bright

I looked in mine, could not get a good pic in the reservoir but nothing in there glistening.

Do you have an ally rad or anything?

 

Just the standard original oem radiator.

Perhaps what I'll do is get a new water pump, and flush the system a couple of times with deionised water and refill with coolant again.

Reading around it could be corrosion, maybe because the car wasnt used for a bit, but it's sat for several years before without any issue like this.

 

Glad its not looking engine related.
sometimes an old rad breaks down inside and you get some particles..
Id recomend a good flush through. And check again soon. Does it loose any coolant?