spanking time. girlfriend dumped windshield fluid in coolant tank.

M6X · #1 03-06-2009, 02:25 AM

she dumped very little, maybe a cup of it before i had to stop her. is it necessary to drain and refill coolant? we actually have a 600km trip today so i don't know if we can schedule a service in time.

stim141 · #2 03-06-2009, 06:45 AM

If you used off the shelf stuff (blue) it probably won't hurt it since it basically is just water, and ethylene glycol which is antifreeze. On some cars for example the VW GTI VR6 engine - regular antifreeze mixed with VW antifreeze (even a small amount) will turn the antifreeze in the car brown/foam and is very corrosive to the cooling system. Also I believe BMW's use Phosphate Free antifreeze which is not the standard off the shelf (yellow) stuff.

Just call the service to or even BMW Assist and see if they can help.

WolfX5 · #3 03-11-2009, 07:24 PM

...and may I suggest you man-up and stop letting your woman do the maintenance checks on your car

M6X · #4 03-12-2009, 12:55 AM

LOL, after 900 miles everything's fine. the car takes 2 gallons of coolant and she only dumped 1 cup or two so i doubt it'll make any impact to the cooling system. i actually saw her do it and i said nooooooooooooooooooo and she stopped right away and went ohhhh sh!t. i will do a coolant flush later just to be sure.

grover432 · #5 03-12-2009, 04:29 PM

Where is the leak??

M6X · #6 03-13-2009, 08:22 AM

no leak. she went to refill windshield washer fluid but dumped them in the coolant tank somehow.