Help please - brown sludge in water filler tank

[greenland40]

A few weeks ago I needed to top up the coolant in the filler tank as it had disappeared, but with no sign of any leaks. Yesterday MOH took the van out and about 15 miles into the journey the temperature gauge went quickly up, the red warning light flickered, went off and the needle went back down to normal. This happened several times. Back at the ranch I checked the coolant and it looked like brown sludge - yuk. I realise a trip to the garage is needed as I'm not very technically able, but was wondering (a) what is the cause (b) is it going to be expensive and (c) will it be OK to drive it to the garage (about 15 miles)?

I've got a 1990 1.6 TD

Thanks in advance for any help/advice

[ermie571]

Have you seen this thread?
https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50251


Maybe worth pm'ing him....seeing as he has the same engine as you!

Em
x

[Nicola&Tony]

Yesterday MOH took the van out and about 15 miles into the journey the temperature gauge went quickly up, the red warning light flickered, went off and the needle went back down to normal. This happened several times.

Sounds like you might've got some air in your cooling system so it'll need bleeding. That's the secondary issue though. You need to find out why the top-up bottle was empty.

Tony