Oops, screenwash into water tank of car!

[Eels]

I poured 500ml of all seasons screenwash into the heater water tank of my car by accident (it's dark, and I'm a girl). Boyf says it'll be fine and not to tell my boss (who owns the car) ... I'm sure he's right, but I'm scared it'll knacker the car - and I'm on call tonight so need to know!

Does it need to be drained? Really?

[v64paul]

it will be ok. expect bubbles, lots of bubbles next time you try to top up the coolant. seriously, i've never seen it done or even heard of it but i'm sure it will be cool.

[Eels]

Think so? Hope so!

[tigga]

cool ? nice pun v64paul !

[snapdarlich]

I'm sure it would be so easy to rectify...Just a case of flushing out the liquid with purified water. But perhaps you should own up, in case there are any problems! If your boss is half decent, I'm sure he/she would appreciate your honesty!

[Eels]

If it's essentially just a solution of antifreeze and detergent, it should in theory be ok? I mean, my head gasket went on my last car and I drove round with oil in the coolant for aaaaages. Oh dear ...!

[ianess]

Eels......you can't leave it at that!!
What the h*ll happened?

[Eels]

Nothing has happened ... yet. My sister's boyfriend is reasonably handy with motors and he reckons I can chance it tomorrow, then I'm off call tomorrow night so he'll come round and drain the radiator for me. Sound sensible? I know nothing about cars except for how to wear them out!

[v64paul]

if you can sort it then all the better but please dont worry to much.

thanks tigga, didnt realise....

[Eels]

Thanks - I was so sure I had knackered it, but consensus seems to be that it should be fine short term until I can get it drained.

[Eels]

Sister's boyfriend is currently doing stuff to my radiator with a flush solution and then filling it with antifreeze and water ... cross fingers!

[Andy Boz]

Were you after cleaner emissions?

[ianess]

Eels...........sorry, I may be a bit thick, but do you not have pressurised coolant getting into the oil??
Keep us posted how you get on.

[Eels]

It was drained, flushed and refilled with antifreeze and water last night. Running fine today, done a good few miles with temp gauge sitting at normal. Would coolant normally get into your oil then? I didn't think it should be able to?

[ianess]

Eels...........we're getting off the subject of the thread slightly but my understanding is that if the head gasket is leaking inwards [towards the pistons] then because the coolant is pressurised it would force its way into the internal workings of the engine and dilute the oil. When engine is up to near normal temperature it would be expelled as steam via the exhaust pipe.
I'm no mechanic and would welcome any comments on my theory, but I think it sounds feasable. What say others?

[Eels]

The head gasket thing was with my old car, and yes, somehow there was definitely oil (well, it was black, greasy and didn't mix with water, so I assume it was oil) in the expansion tank. I filled up the emptying water reservoir every hundred miles or so until I got rid of the car (pronto!).

My work car has no such problem. In fact, it had no problems at all until I filled the coolant tank with screenwash, which has now thankfully been resolved. Managed one of Scotland's most notorious roads in pretty bad conditions today without incident (I MOCK the Mazda!) so I reckon it's doing ok.