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I changed the engine oil, coolant and the radiator hoses tonight.

When draining everything, the coolant that came out of the car came out clean with no signs of oil. Also, the oil that came out seemed to be just oil with no unusual additives. I will check the old oil again tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

Anyway, now there are a few oil drops in the coolant. Also, while the water was heating up, (it hadn't mixed with the coolant in the engine yet) it turned to a cloudy white color before turning green after the thermostat opened. Could this be caused by residue from the new hoses or maybe the funnel that I used?

If a compression test checks out, should I be too worried about this? I'm specifically concerned about taking the car on track this weekend.

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In need of car.

Have you doublechecked to see whether or not the coolant is now clear (not cloudy)? You might find that the water was just churning and degassing as it was heating and it just looked turbid. A dumb question -- did you use the same funnel for the oil and coolant?

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I checked this morning and it's clear with the little specs of oil floating on the top (there are no large drops).

I used two different funnels and cleaned them both before using. Hopefully, the problem is that I didn't clean it good enough though.

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In need of car.

Did you use a cooling system cleaner/flush product? In the past I have used these and ended up with leaks/blown head gaskets. It appears that some of the cleaners are too aggressive and eat away at old gasket material.

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

No, I didn't flush the system as the stuff in it looked fine and my primary goal was to just change the hoses.

I think that I'm just being over concerned about it, and it's probably just residue from somewhere.

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In need of car.