Windshield Wiper Fluid in the Cooling System

Not likely to cause problems, it's mostly water. If you haven't driven the car then it is still in the res, you could syphon the fluid out. But I wouldn't worry too much. the anti-freeze will combine with the small amount that you added. And as far as freezing, well it won't freeze unless you are in extreme cold when it is on its own, so mixed with the anti-freeze... Well it ain't my car.

You think you have troubles, a few years ago my ( confirmed genius ) sister poured laundry detergent into her, completely empty, washer fluid reservoir on the coldest night of the winter here in NJ. She did it at 11pm and called me at 4am to ask me to help her "get it out" so she could go to work. now imagine standing out in 5" of snow trying to get the res tank off to empty and clean it. And you think you have troubles.

Hey thanks for the response . I just talked to 2 different mechanics and got 2 different answers . The first pretty much said I'm screwed if I drive it , the 2nd. said it really wasn't a problem and that he's seen it 100 times. You eased my mind a bit , thanks . Nonetheless , I think I'm going to have it flushed anyways since I heard that dex-cool gums up and plugs heater cores etc. I don't think there is dex-cool in it now , just regular antifreeze , but at one point I'm sure there was dex-cool in it because that's what Chevy used on these models . I forgot to login before posting , that's why this thread was started under "guest" .

I once sent a fire truck out for a repaint job. I made the first mistake by not draining the foam concentrate. The next mistake was the body shop worker that unbolted the foam tank drain valve that was bolted to the side of the truck. What I saw was quite a site. The 120 gallons of foam ran out of the truck behind the body panel the shop never saw the problem until it was empty. When I came by the shop porter was trying to hose away the foam. There was enough foam concentrate on the ground to make 4,000 gallons of a rich foam mixture. That poor man was just whipping up that foam for the entire day. And sea of foam in the back of the yard.

Try to remove what you can with a turkey baster, or siphon. refill with straight antifreeze, and don't worry about it.

Good answer! After all, (5BANJO5/Guest), what else is windshield washer fluid but...that's right, you guessed it: antifreeze! (Actually, alcohol antrifreeze predated ...-glycol coolants.) Since the washer fluid floats...not soluble in glycol so skimming it should "cure" the problem. For peace of mind you could accelerate your next scheduled purge a bit...but probably just as effective to simply monitor coolant level and color.

I'm with nss.

Can't see how it could hurt anything.

Drive on..........................

It's not going to hurt a dam thing. The mechanic that said it will, probably has a boat payment due, and needs the business.

HAAA , that's funny . His opinion was such because he heard me mention "Dex-Cool" and that the two don't go good together . thanks for the reply , I appreciate it .

these washer fluids are 50% water and the rest methanol and isopropanol.

Placed into the cooling system in winter they will increase the vapour pressure at operating temperature may cause fluid to vent into the overflow tank. It depends on the thermostat rating, air temperature and operating temperature.

In the summer this venting will increase and could cause boilover in a hard worked engine on a hot day. This could leave the engine with only hot gasses.

Another factor, is the water pump seal. The higher solvency of the methanol and isopropanol might cause early failure of this seal and it is often a costly repair.

All things considered, I would drain the system, flush with warm water and add fresh antifreeze, to be on the safe side.

With this story I recalled something different which happened with me.

I was working with a small organisation, where the owner was staying on next floor. During those days, I had a two wheeler.

One fine morning, 5 years old son of owner came and informed me inocently, that he opened the fuel tank cover and poured good quantity of water in it.

Thanks, he atleast informed me.

Naturally I had to do something to remove empty the fuel tank to flush out everything.

Initially, I removed the plastic tube coming out of outlet valve of the tank, which was supplying the fue to the engine, and opened the tap. What I was expecting was water should come out through the outlet valve, which was fitted at the botton of the tank, as water being heavier than petrol

But surprisingly, petrol started coming out, which was obvious from its colour. immediadtely I closed the valve and agained opened it to collect it in some container.

After some time. flow stopped and no drop of water came out.

I thought the kid was kidding. But when seen from the lid, I could see the water inside. Means he was not kidding.

With the help of others, I made the two wheeler upside down and remove all the water from the tank.

After waiting for some time for drying the tank, I refilled the petrol, I collected. Happily, the two wheeler started withpout any problem.

It is still a puzzle for me, how all the petrol came out from the bottom valve, though it is lighter than water?

For the lack of a definitive answer, you could simply drain the radiator and refill it with a 50/50 mix. What residual that is left in the water jacket should not be a concern. hope this helps.

I would drain, flush and refill. The cost is tiny against something going wrong.....

The only problem I can forsee is if the water pump has a chance to captivate,,, (Make Air bubbles) then it would foam and get worse and not pump any coolant.

otherwise it is mainly water and alchahol and some detergent (spapy stuff0 the original antifreeze was alchaol anyway.

Joe

That should be cavitate

Thanks everyone for your responses and helping me cope with my utter stupidity . Yesterday I obtained a large syphon like tool with a 3/8" hose so today I'm going to suck out the wiper fluid I can see setting on top of the anti-freeze that was already in the resivoir . The only driving I've done so far is moving the car from one side of the driveway to the other so the wife could get her van out of the garage . I have some 50/50 I will put in since I plan on sucking out some anti-freeze as well . The only driving I will then be doing is going down the street to the garage so they can flush it out (good advice) . Thanks again everyone you've been a big help .

Funny thing, I did just the opposite the week before last, I bought a car a few weeks back to repair and use for a winter car. When the weather threatened to plunge to single digits, I went to check the anti-freeze potential with a floating ball hygrometer, but the coolant reservoir was empty. The reservoir is the only means to add coolant. So I bought a gallon of dexcool and used an empty windshield washer bottle to mix it with water 50/50, then topped it off to be safe.

I've been using rain-x windshield washer solvent, ( orange colored, of course ), and when I grabbed what I thought was windshield washer solvent, you guessed it, it was the dexcool mix.

In my lame attempt at defense, It was getting dark, but as I was pouring it in I was thinking how clear and vibrant the color was, by the time I realized what I had done, I had already poured about a quart into the windshield-washer bottle. It makes a lousy windshield washer solvent, From now on I will be more selective when choosing an empty jug for making coolant pre-mix, and more comprehensive with labeling what I've got sitting around.

After reading your post, and chuckling to myself, I thought you might appreciate my similar experience. :)