Neglected vehicle - coolant looks like coffee and is broken down - what to do?

Yes, the following was done. Two radiator flushes over two days. The first one was with vinegar and the second one was a bottle of flush from the parts store. I flushed crud out for like 30 minutes on the second one. I then replaced the thermostat, water pump, and the 2 radiator hoses as well as the bypass hose (small hose between water pump and intake). I do not see any leaks now but will keep everyone up to date. Even with the nasty coolant, I never saw leaks and it never ran hot.

You replaced the water-pump…Just doing that probably got all of the cold fluid out. Probably didn’t have to flush it.

All my vehicles for the past 10 years have had the extended anti-freeze (5 years). And I replace it every other year anyways. It’s cheap insurance.

Yeah, I stuck a garden hose up into the holes in the block when the water pump was off and some more crap came out. It wasn’t a lot but I figured it wouldn’t hurt and I had the hose there to wash away all the old gasket material I had scraped off.

It sounds to me like you’ve pretty much covered everything. The cooling system shouldn’t give any more problems I would think.