Salt or silicates?

[Gabe n Em]

Hi All,
When we first purchased the In Sanity a couple years ago, we had both engines(perkins t6.354s) gone over and they've been great (knock on wood) ever since (except a slow FW pump seal failure and recent replacement).

I was too busy with the initial acquisition to think about such things but looking back through the pictures recently, I found this one (below). I used to think this was just salt but I think this is on the FW side, now that I'm looking at it. Are these the dreaded silica precipitates one gets from using the "wrong" coolant??

To be clear: This was remedied professionally at time of purchase but I'm wondering if I should change what I'm doing with regards to the flavor of coolant.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Gabe n Em]

oh you want the picture....

 

[Gabe n Em]

and all that silly putty is gone - we found a whole new hx on craigslist, believe it or not!!

 

[CaptSteve53]

Just a note on coolants, they should be flushed every two years (especially if not being used frequently) as the coolant turns acidic and attacks any thing Aluminium or its alloys such as manifolds and heat exchangers,

Re mixing types as :

"Traditional" coolants (often green or yellow) generally use silicates, while "new style" (generally orange or pink) coolants use organic acids. GM's Dex Cool is an example of a newer organic acid coolant. These two types shouldn't be mixed if possible, as the effectiveness of the corrosion inhibitors can be reduced.

Below is a fine example of old coolant and it's damage(this was three years old)

Cheers Steve