thank you. it looks like I have a big problem and a big job ahead of me?

i have taken off the hoses, they didn't fall apart; but I hear what you are saying.

should I try to continue to clean it up as much as I can or just get it all done? water pump is not leaking at all, no overheating, nothing bad is happening other than the coolant is just nasty after a while of changing it.

for example, it was very clean when I picked it up this morning, but after 3 hours on the highway at 80mph, it was all black in color in the overflow tank and there was so much more sediment in the bottom of overflow bottle that I couldn't close the cap without crunching the little rubber straw.

I will have to flush this thing a lot to get it clean, but like I said, nothing leaking, hoses didn't fall apart when removed.

on a side note, I spoke a mechanic that has worked on my dad's vehicles for many years; I asked his advice on the situation here is what he said:

when orange and green are mixed, the PH gets all out of whack.........best first step to cleanse the system is to drain and flush it empty as much as possible, fill with water and put in anti-rust/water pump lube treatment and run it like that for a week; he said that stuff is formulated to help stabilize the PH and break up the sediments.

any input?