Water Pump Removed - Brown NOT Working For Me

So I got the water pump off tonight as I am replacing it with a BHive special, ASAP. It was leaking and now I know why. Gasket was pretty much disintegrated.

My question is what my next move should be concerning the brown crap in the engine. I am not a mechanic and am very much a newb at this so go easy. I plan to flush the crap out of this thing as soon as I get everything buttoned up.

But what about those little stalactites growing on the wall there? AND, is this normal for an engine that has been neglected for a few years, sitting in storage?

Another angle. Is it ok to spray carb cleaner around here to clean it up? Or just a degreaser?

I can't imagine why it'd be bad. I used a pressure-washer on mine while I was degreasing my engine bay. I'd just make sure to flush it out really good before sealing it back up.

Needs a rad/cooling system cleaner,,a couple of times and a prestone flush and fill kit
(real cheap ) annual requirement if using regular anti freeze before labor day.

looks pretty normal to me.

You might put the old pump back in and flush the system using a cleaner solution. Evapo Rust (available at Harbor Freight) can be mixed half-half with water to fill the radiator and system, run engine for an hour or so, then flush. That should get the lion's share of the rust without getting into acid cleaners and such.

how to flush a cooling system:

1) have available at the front of the car (a) garden hose connected to a tap, (b) a 5-10 gallon bucket (or a plastic garbage can will work), (c) a long (24 inch or longer--longer is better) radiator hose the proper size to fit onto the top hise connection at the thermostat housing.

2) take the top hose off the thermostat housing, perhaps loosen the hose clamp on the radiator side so you can twist the hose away from the housing, re-clamp the radiator end. fit the long radiator hose onto the stat huising and put the other end in the bucket. start the engine and pull choke out a little to get on fast idle. water will begin dribbling out of the long hose into the bucket. turn on the garden hose, not high...pretty low, actually, and put the garden hose into the hose attached to the radiator. you may be turning the garden hose down or even off.

3) water will dribble out of the engine at the thermostat houising and be dumped into the bucket. It won't come as a great big whoosh flow. modulate the garden hose flow to just about balance the water coming out. after a while the water coming out will look as clean as the water going in. You are done then.

The bucket (should probably hold 5-6 gallons, not much more in most cases) is contaminated with anti freeze and should NOT be dumped into store sewer. Your local area will have specific instructions for dealing with this stuff. And this is a reason why I suggest a bucket you can carry. a big garbage can is not needed and how can you transport it?

at this point you can put in the new water pump and proceed. I suggest using the old pump simply to keep the new one clean. If the old pump no longer works at all (as opposed to just leaking) then clearly you do';t want to do that.

Thanks so much for the detailed info, Mac.

Much appreciated!!

Take a rag and soak it in water then lay the rag into the waterpump opening so one end of the rag is lower than the opening and that will siphon out more of the prestone.
After it is siphoned out then use some spray carb cleaner to get the liquid/grease off from around the opening and the pump mounting area,scrape off the old gasket till its clean the use a sanding block and some 80 grit sand paper to remove any remaining rust and debris then clean again with some spray brake and parts cleaner.

What about the rust/deposits inside the engine? Will the Prestone flush clean all of that completely?