opened up my the lid to where u put the coolant and there was brown bubbles comin up ? anybody have an idea of what the could be

 

had a sweet smell to it sort of too

 

Don't want to sound too alarmist but could it be oil mixed in with coolant? What year is your car? What engine is in it?

 

1989 sedan deville 4.5 litre, if it was oil mixing in what would have to be done to fix that? expensive im guessing

 

Well, that sweet smell is just the way engine coolant smells. Glycerin is a component of coolant and surprise, a component of wine too. Glycerin is sugar alcohol, so it is normal to smell that when around engine coolant.

I'm am going to suggest that your coolant is old and degraded and that you need to repalce it all and flush your cooling system. Coolants can become sludgy and clog up the rad so you need to clean and flush them every 3 or so years. Because you have a 4.5 V8 and not a 4.6 V8 I won't even mention what coolant and oil mixed together could mean. I am assuming your car runs well, idles smoothly and has not recently overheated. If not please advise.

 

my car runs well, idles smoothly, but HAS recently over heated , what does this mean if it over heated??

 

An overheated engine means you have a cooling system problem. There are so many components it is hard to pinpoint. Repairs can run from a $10 thermostat to several hundred's for new head gaskets or radiators. There is no sense drawing conclusions without some more information.

When was the last time the cooling system was flushed and cleaned?

Do you now of any additives placed in the radiator?

Do you have a low coolant condition?

Do you see any puddles of coolant under the car?

Do you hear any squeeks from the fan belt area of the motor?

When the engine overheated , how long and how far did you continue driving?

Has the engine overheated before or since?

What is the mileage on the car?

If you can address some or all of these it will help us.

 

im unaware of the last time the cooling system was flushed and cleaned( bought car 2 weeks ago)

unaware of any additives placed in water

there is a coolant leak from one of the tubes but not large amounts

no squeaks from the fan belt

when the engine over heated it was because of the keys getting locked in the car so it was over heating in idle , there was only water in the coolant at the time , no other coolant, over heated for about 10-15 minutes then was shut off

engine hasnt over heated since but havent droven it, only left it in idle for about 15 minutes

there is 255000 kilometres on the car

 

Ok, that is great information. I am standing by what I said at first with one change. Get the obvious leak fixed then I think you should get the system flushed and cleaned. I suspect that the brown bubbles were caused by sludge and other contaminants mixing in with the weakened solution in the radiator. Many owners ignore the cooling system and with 255,000 km on the clock it would be high time for a good flush and clean anyway. When you buy a used caryou sometimes have to play catch up on maintenance items that the previous owner may have let slide. I'd also advise to change the oil and check the transmission fluid, it should be clear red. If it isn't change it too along with a filter and pan gasket.

 

thanks that helps alot cars goin in this week