copper flakes in radiator

[Deleted member 3203]

Hi this is a question regarding a e46 a friend of mine recently purchased.
I thought I would ask for help here as ive had some good advice in the past, now the car seems to run fine but there is a leak from somewhere.
while trying to trace it we noticed the radiator was slightly low, topped it up and noticed like coppery flakes floating around in there.

should he be worried here... I had a look around and had conflicting info, from sell it as soon as possible to don't worry.

 

[Stevo7682]

The copper is because the cooling system has had Radwell or Blockseal added to it to try stop some sort of leak .
You need to get cooling system pressure tested to trace leak.
Stephen.

 

[Deleted member 3203]

thanks Stephen ,
how likely is it the head gasket has gone, seen a few post stating this?

 

[Stevo7682]

You need to find out if coolant loss external or not if internal be the gasket .
Are there any other potential head gasket failure symptoms
Sign of coolant in oil .
Sign of oil in coolant.
Excess pressure in cooling system.
Signs of combustion fumes in coolant.
Excess smoke from exhaust.
Poor start and run .

If it has an external leak then if still got anti freeze look for staining dried up anti freeze .

How much coolant it is using.

 

[colb]

It is a possibility the head gasket is starting to fail and causing a loss of coolant, if it gets too bad then you would see overheating occur. First action to take is as others have said get the rad and system pressure tested to find any leaks across the system. You can get a test kit to check if the radiator coolant has exhaust fumes in it, the kits are arond £10 and worth doing at that price, it will tell you if the head gasket has failed.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124672591099?hash=item1d0710c4fb:g0EAAOSw6bpgbv1z

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArG9Ve3bRjU