Screenwash in coolant - drain or ignore?

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Screenwash in coolant - drain or ignore?

Steve145

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A muppet, who shall not be named (ok, it was the wife), has just filled the coolant header tank of her Panda with screenwash, probably a litre or so (brimmed it).

Car hasn't been run since.

Ignore it or drain the system?

No idea what's in the stuff, but any risk of damaging seals?

Leisure lounge as, well, it's fairly comic :p
 
It depends how much she put in v the total capacity, but to be on the safe side, I'd say yes - definitely drain it. I'd also go as far as flushing it too.


Just make sure you get the right water in it a lot of people are confused if it should be de-ionised or distilled. I believe it should be distilled. Having said that, I have a water softener so use softened water.


Also, DO NOT rely on the colour of the coolant to be the indicator of the correct type i.e.
Inorganic Additive Technology (IAT)
Organic Acid Technology (OAT)
and just to confuse matters there's
Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT).
Typically, older cars use IAT.


Manufacturers of coolants all use various colours blue green red orange yellow.
The colour must NOT be regarded as an indication of the type of coolant.
 
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I always drain the old coolant then refill with clean water, bleed and run the engine to temperature. Drain the water, add coolant concentrate to the correct measure top up with water. That makes sure any water in the system does not dilute the coolant strength.

Its good advice to change the thermostat as Sod's Law defines that it will fail just after you've changed the coolant.
 
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Thanks all.

I've pumped out the header tank and topped up with fresh coolant (OAT), as she needs the car tomorrow. Will look after to see how bubbly it is.

I'm hoping that the screenwash will have sat on top, or at least stayed in the header tank, they're both exactly the same colour of pink though, so can't tell from the colour.

Will drain it one weekend, didn't have time during the week though.

Pretty sure I replaced the thermostat when I did the head gasket last year.
 
Steve, as a way of avoiding putting the 'wrong' type of water in, fill the system with a premixed coolant.

Available anywhere, including most supermarkets Is Prestone coolant. I don't know too much about this yet, but it claims it's suitable for ALL vehicles whatever their age or coolant requirements, which is of interest to me as I own a couple of classic cars, meaning I perhaps need only one bottle of coolant on my shelf.
PRESTONE COOLANT LINK


It claims not to change the colour (here we go again about colours!) of the existing coolant - which as I have already mentioned, is completely irrelevant when it comes to determining the type of coolant you might have

Another Link here...
 
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The Panda 1200 header tank is part of the radiator, so pumping it out means you will have pumped out the radiator as well. Great idea. :slayer:

If the engine has not been run, this should have removed all of the screen wash and all should be well.
 
Im guessing its a separate reservoir.. that way you would see the pink fluid at the bottom of it.. and be drawn in to fill the thing.. ;)

Most 'side tube' systems are pretty opaque.. so unlikely you would choose that as a screenwash tank


On the bright side..

One of Englands 1980's goalkeepers filled his ENGINE with water..


Could have been so much worse
 
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The screenwash filler is pretty miserable and easy to miss especially when the filler cap goes missing. The coolant cap is just alongside with a big fat screw lid. I wonder how many none mechanics make the same mistake. I wonder how many blown head gaskets on Pandas are caused by screenwash alcohol boiling away leaving the level low.
 
Thanks all.

I've pumped out the header tank and topped up with fresh coolant (OAT), as she needs the car tomorrow. Will look after to see how bubbly it is.

I'm hoping that the screenwash will have sat on top, or at least stayed in the header tank, they're both exactly the same colour of pink though, so can't tell from the colour.

Will drain it one weekend, didn't have time during the week though.

Pretty sure I replaced the thermostat when I did the head gasket last year.


Did it survive ok?
 
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