Rust colored gunk in coolant reservoir- which way to turn?

[cebowman]

Hi all!
I'm new to this site, but not new to me 89' Toyota 4X4 Van
Here's what went down and I'm confused which way to turn...

As I was driving down the highway the RPM's started to go down even though I still was giving the car gas and had a full tank. Within 3-5 minutes I pulled over and the car completely died while in Drive (Auto transmission). As it died all the Check Engine lights on the dash illuminated. After that the van would crank but not turn over. I got out a found water consistently dripping from behind the passenger seat from a rusted mystery part. (Pictured) The battery, alternator and starter all checked out as good. I replaced the fuel pump/fuel filter and several connecting hoses. I than noticed rust colored gunk in the coolant reservoir. (Pictured)
Which direction should I turn next? Water pump? Bad ground (The cable appears to be all good)?
Thanks!!!
89448945894689478948

[Cali Cruiser]

You have a few things going on, and they may or may not be related to your driving issue. How many miles are on the van?

The rust in the coolant overflow reservoir may be from a cooling system that has been filled with regular water instead of distilled water. It also may not have a proper mix of distilled water and antifreeze. My suggestion for that would be to do a full coolant system flush to clear it out and fill with the proper 50/50 premix antifreeze or the cheaper option of 50% distilled water and 50% antifreeze.

The rusty mystery part is a protective cover, not a lifting point for jacking up the van. It appears that the cover may have been used for jacking up the van, along with the pinch weld of the body next to it (where the body is now dented). Be sure to locate the proper lifting points, so you don't dent up things any worse. The leaking from the protective cover should be investigated further. There may be a damaged hose or condenser under it.

It appears that your air intake hose has tape or some repair done to it. I would remove it and inspect it closely to make sure there are no cracks or splits in it. This can make the van run erratic, or not at all, depending on the severity of the crack/split.

[cebowman]

YES, the air intake hose does have a split. then someone used some kind of rubber glue and taped the roflroflroflrofl out of it. it doesn't seem that air was leaking out of it tho. but....who knows.
it seems very hard to find on the internet.

as for the A/C protective cover, that definitely wasn't me to lift up the car off of that.....

[trestlehed]

That leak looks like it's directly below your rear heater.
You probably have a leaky coolant hose going to/from the rear heater assembly.

When your van died and all the dash lights came on... that is a symptom known as
"Christmas Tree Dash" and could mean your fusible link (located under your battery)
may be bad.

Use the search function: terms "Fusible Link" "Christmas Tree Dash"

If your coolant is old rusty crappy, it would be a good idea to have your radiator pulled, inspected and cleaned.
If any component of your cooling systems fails, you could overheat the engine and get a blown head gasket real quick.
Do not fudge on the cooling system!