Oil in Coolant

S

Sandperson

Member
So, were one to have a very stupid friend who accidentally put a few hundred ml of oil into their coolant tank and drove the car before they realised their stupid mistake, how bad would that be for the engine? It's been driven a few miles (less than 10-15) and it's booked in for a coolant flush tomorrow.

Asking for this mystery friend, nothing to do with stupid me of course! :headbang:
 
Not too bad for the engine, I reckon.
Can't see a little oil doing much harm for a short while. Any left in there after the flush should float to the top.
Don't be too harsh on your "friend" :D
 
Ironically, your friend is not the only person to have confused the filling points today!
I would ask whoever is doing the flush to give it a good old rinsing through, as much as they can.
Otherwise you may still find a bit of oil in the system.
 
enuff_zed said:
Ironically, your friend is not the only person to have confused the filling points today!
I would ask whoever is doing the flush to give it a good old rinsing through, as much as they can.
Otherwise you may still find a bit of oil in the system.
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Thank goodness. I don't know what came over me.....I mean him.....
 
Flush is done. Never had a car like this and having the admiration of the mechanic was nice. He was gushing about how it was going to be a collector's item soon and what a great engine it is. Even encouraged me to do the rocker cover gasket myself as it was a simple job (I know there's the usual leak). Thanks for all the advice.
 
Sandperson said:
iEven encouraged me to do the rocker cover gasket myself as it was a simple job
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Just make sure your friend doesn’t top it up with water after completion :wink:

We all do many stupid things with varying levels of stupidity so don’t be too harsh on yourself :thumbsup:
 
When fitting my sport steering wheel to my E85, I forgot to put the huge retaining nut back on.

Got in the car, pulled the wheel towards me whilst trying to adjust it - the thing came off, unravelling the clock spring wires behind it which all coiled in the footwell, and leaving me holding the wheel in mid air.

There's stupid, then there's me :headbang: but welcome to the slightly silly but have-a-go home DIY club!
 
After much faffing replacing the door lock mechanism on my Evoque, I forgot to re-attach a bowden cable to the interior handle. I finally put the door card back on and closed the door, then realised my error. :cry:
Neither the interior nor exterior handles would open the door, so I had to remove the door card again from the inside with the door shut- very tricky.
 
I once drove from Exeter to Nottingham to watch Meatloaf. I could end it there as an example of doing a stupid thing, but there's more - I was in a 14 year old Vauxhall Astra with 140k+ on the clock that I bought for £150 and being a diligent motorist I made sure I topped up the coolant before setting off on the long drive. After 2 hours of being stuck in traffic getting into Nottingham with a very serious overheating problem I pulled into the car park and opened the bonnet to find the coolant reservoir cap still sat on top of the engine block. :headbang:
 
enuff_zed said:
I once bought a 1.3l Capri..........................

That's it. :rofl:
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Bizarrely this made me laugh the most! (I once bought an 850cc Yugo 45, so I understand the term 'underpowered'. :D
 
AveZ4coop said:
enuff_zed said:
I once bought a 1.3l Capri..........................

That's it. :rofl:
Click to expand...
Bizarrely this made me laugh the most! (I once bought an 850cc Yugo 45, so I understand the term 'underpowered'. :D
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When I lifted the bonnet and discovered they fitted a box section to move the radiator back closer to the engine I began to realise my mistake. On the plus side, on a rainy day you could actually stand inside the engine bay to work on it............... and I did. :)
 
tiglon said:
I once drove from Exeter to Nottingham to watch Meatloaf. I could end it there as an example of doing a stupid thing, but there's more - I was in a 14 year old Vauxhall Astra with 140k+ on the clock that I bought for £150 and being a diligent motorist I made sure I topped up the coolant before setting off on the long drive. After 2 hours of being stuck in traffic getting into Nottingham with a very serious overheating problem I pulled into the car park and opened the bonnet to find the coolant reservoir cap still sat on top of the engine block. :headbang:
Click to expand...
Easy Done - many years ago I did that too.
Only without the Meatloaf.
And the long motorway journey.
 
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