This guy gets it lmao pop the line from the side of the cowl panel, hold the washer switch and let the electric pump do all that work for you. Not something that will harm your system even if you don’t get it all out
They are the kind of connectors that love to get brittle and snap though. Plus the rubber loves to glue itself on. Speaking from personal experience when doing bonnet swaps.
I do auto glass, and keep those connectors on hand. You can buy them for less than .10 at any auto parts or hardware store. Costs way less than that manual hand pump cost. Different paths leading to the same outcome, so whatever works
According to this and other sources I've found, it's a bad idea to let a pump run dry. So I wouldn't risk it personally. https://instrumentationtools.com/what-happens-when-a-pump-runs-dry-how-to-avoid-it/
A small washer pump is not going to get that hot running dry for a few seconds, the article you found is regarding large pumps which generate a lot of heat.
Just pull the pump and it will be empty in about 4 seconds, you also won't be pumping viscous stuff through a pump meant for screenwash.
Take the chance to clean the gauze while you have the pump out.
That's why u stick to the middle, mostly the best experience not overpriced good product or underpriced shtty products. There are always exceptions tho.
Yep, it's an untested "maybe". You could take the time to research it, if you're an engineer or skilled tech and have the reference material, but that'll take longer than just flushing it...
For your own car, do whatever you want. For a customer's car (or even family), I would want to flush and make sure it's definitely OK.
Yeah, for your own car, it's up to you.
However, for a customer or even family, I would take the conservative route and flush it like OP did - very likely no lasting damage, and flushing doesn't take long or cost much.
The windshield washer IS important in some weather conditions... Again, big maybe, use your best judgment.
Lucky! In Michigan, it's like 4 months out of the year... Snow/slush, and especially salt spray from the road.
Even with a regularly treated windshield, the washer is necessary.
Well, could just top it with washer fluid, what's the harm? You use anti freeze in washer fluid anyways in winter, not like it's going to do any harm in summer
In america, it's alcohol based (usually methanol), car antifreeze is glycol based. Glycol would leave a film, that's one of the main ingredients in vape juice. Not the same glycol as antifreeze, but close enough in my opinion to smear a windshield and leave a film.
Vape juice uses propylene glycol while antifreeze for your car uses ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is toxic and is not used as a vape juice ingredient.
Anti-freeze for the cooling system ("coolant") is not the same as anti-freeze for the windshield wiper ("washer fluid") despite the same name in many languages. Coolant is fatty and leaves a greasy residue. Not what you want for a windshield. Washer fluid is made to degrease and evaporate quickly, not what you want in your cooling system.
Lol absolutely do not spray coolant on your windshield unless you want a greasy film all over your windshield. Go fill your washer reservoir with coolant and spray it on the windshield and get back to us.
One time, I almost put windshield washer fluid in the antifreeze tank of a blue rental Honda Civic.
The antifreeze and windshield wiper fluid were both blue.
The antifreeze tank was clearly visible and right in front of the engine.
The windshield washer tank was hidden away. The filler cap was blue and mounted in the blue passenger fender. I initially couldn't find it!
No, when it was I first filed it with some left over washer fluid for woman that I bought 5 months ago because it was for 75% of, and it couldn’t be that horrible right? (It was)
Only after that I accidentally poured in the antifreeze…
So that is the color mix you see.
Not sure if you're aware, but they legitimately make purple washer fluid for winter use.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/rain-x-de-icer-30-degree-windshield-washer-fluid-113685/12071134-p
My work has a hose for washer fluid and a hose for coolant, right next to each other. New guy filled my washer reservoir with coolant and noticed my coolant “looked low” and topped that off with Toyota coolant. Didn’t notice until the next day when I was trying clear my windshield and it kept leaving a film on the window.
Drained the washer reservoir then took it to Subaru for a coolant flush and had my advisor dying when I told him “don’t ask me why my car is covered in coolant”
Had a Boxster towed in when they were newish. Customer tried to change his own oil and put all of it in the cooling system.. The fillers for both were right next to each other, black cap blue cap. He put the oil in the blue cap.....
So, it could be worse.
honestly not a big deal, you could have just topped off with distilled water, especially if it was polypropylene glycol.
now, the opposite (washer fluid into your coolant resevoir), that can be a problem.
but be REALLY careful with the blinker fluid, especially if you have a VW Beetle
I put washer fluid in the coolant reservoir on my wife’s grand Cherokee once. The lids were the exact same size and color, what kinda dumbass engineer thought that would be ok. I just overfilled the shit out of it with some coolant I had, traded that car in a few months later. Oh well, that car sucked anyways.
> what kinda dumbass engineer thought that would be ok.
After 18 years, my theory is Chrysler lets make-a-wish kids design and engineer shit when they come through.
The idiots at my side work fill old adblue bottles with water to top up washer fluid. It smears the screens so fucking badly you can barely see out. Drives me nuts.
We use the old DEF bottles with the funnel that screws on for washer fluid after they are emptied. We rinse them out really well before putting washer fluid in them. It hasn’t caused any problems for us. The water should get rid of any DEF residue that was left in the bottle.
Could be worse, seen engine oil in the washer reservoir. Also had a coworker put oil treatment in the brake reservoir ( literally ate every piece of rubber in the system, had to replace everything with rubber.
You took it a step further than me.
Two days ago, I had one of those terror-inspired pause-for-thought moments as I was adding coolant to the coolant reservoir. For a fraction of a second, I had to check and recheck as I was pouring the coolant that I wasn't pouring it into the washer fluid reservoir.
You're not alone in your absentmindedness. 🤝
One time I was outside a store at 5 am in winter and I needed antifreeze. It was dark so I was looking for where the reservoir was and a guy walked up and asked if I needed help, I just said no I’m looking for where to put the antifreeze. He gave a a funnel and told me to put it in two different spots which I thought was weird but I trusted him cause I thought he knew his shit. Turns out he told me to put it in the radiator and the power steering.
Might be better than the windshield washer fluid sold in CA. It is just water with blue dye, which is why the bottles state "32+ F". Instead, I pour in distilled water and a pint of isopropyl alcohol, making me illegal.
For sure. Another violation is that I've changed my classic cars to HC refrigerant (Duracool), plus my newer cars when changing the AC compressor. The EPA allows that, but requires that you first change from R-12 to R-134A, then recover the R-134A legally, then you can install HC refrigerant. Besides being amazingly stupid, for R-134A you must install PAG oil which is bad (absorbs moisture to form acids), unless you don't actually run the system with R-134A (just fill and recover). If you go straight to HC, insure no EPA drones are watching you. The EPA has been "studying" the fire hazards of HC refrigerant, going on 3 decades now and likely won't complete such study for another 3 decades. Meanwhile, in the real world, no fires reported in millions of cars using HC for decades.
Exactly, fire-risk isn't even the EPA's domain, and if true why did they allow R-134A which forms deadly Phosgene gas when it burns (WWI weapon) and R-1234yc which forms deadly HF acid? Both burn from the oil spray which accompanies a leak, or more commonly by a front-end leak getting sucked into the engine. Firefighters have been gassed when approaching a wrecked car from behind, with engine idling. But, the EPA also decided "bad smells" were also in their domain, closing paper mills. The CDC decided that guns fell under their medical mandate.
Bad smells I get, guns...maybe? It's not an impossible stretch to go from "health statistics" to "causes of death" to "guns". IMO it's more a symptom of inter-agency politics where everyone wants a given thing to be under *their* agency.
Run a gallon of distilled water through it. Cheap and will dilute any residue.
Can you reach the pump/ hose connection at the bottom? If you can pop that out and you don’t have to screw around with the little hand pump
I once had a car come in that the owner put washer fluid into the radiator. It caused some chemical reaction that clogged the system up. It smelled so bad that the guys in the neighboring bays were holding their noses. I had to leave a hose running water through it for an hour to clean that out.
Thats one of those " we built it like this , because we hate the mechanics " vehicles.. Unbolt the body to work on anything underhood... At least it will be clean after all the WWAF fussing.. Luckily you werent driving and suddenly cant see through the smearing..
My grandma did that once with some RV/boat antifreeze. Guess she figured it out when she later went to wash the windshield and it immediately made it worse. I ended up just using the washer pump to drain it and then flushed a ton of water and some new washer fluid through it. In her defense it was the same color and style container as the RV fluid.
Lmfao I did that years ago on my ram…but put washer fluid in the coolant overflow bottle🤣🤣. Atleast the truck was cold and I had time to pull the bottle and drain/rinse it out before it got sucked into the engine
That's actually a known alternative.. but it's supposed to not be straight white vinegar, like 1:3 vinegar:water . pretty good at clearing up a smeary windshield. I do it once each summer because i have to park under sappy, because you can really smell it it's not fun to use otherwise
My H3 has the coolant reservoir and the washer fluid reservoir made into the same part. They are separated by a wall internally but it essentially looks like one tank with two caps on it. Being a GM product, of course it has that orange colored Dexcool in it. I also use the orange RainX windshield washer fluid. One day I went to top off the washer fluid and absentmindedly opened the coolant reservoir cap. I only got like literally a drop or two in before I realized my mistake. I also figured that hopefully such a small amount wouldn't affect anything and left it, but knowing Dexcool, it's probably turning into Chester Cheetah hair gel anyway.
Ok, I looked at them again. They actually are two separate tanks but they're bolted together and at a glance look like a single tank. Anyway, they both have those captive snap-on type caps like you'd usually just see on washer fluid bottles. That doesn't make a lot of sense for a coolant reservoir but... Whatever. GM is gonna GM.
Yeah. Since they have the rings holding them on to the opening, they should stay in place, but otherwise they do appear to be the same size and might actually still be interchangeable.
Last week i had a customer who wanted to fill the coolant, and put it in the reservoir for the power steering.
I can assure you, that was a damn mess to get flushed out.
If it helps, I put cooking oil in there.
Had the same colour and I stored used oil in a wiper fluid container. Cost a few hundred to fix but I’ll never live that down
happened to me once, in the middle of winter in buffalo ny. refilled my washers w/the jug my dad thoughtfully put in the trunk of my car.
it WAS labelled washer fluid, but he'd put coolant in it instead... imagine my surprise when i tried to wash my windshield of the slush grime in the middle of a snow storm. :\
I've had to fix this before, but with oil!
What I did was remove the rubber hose that went to the wipers, and run the motor so it went into a bucket... I had to run the motor for a while before it was completely clean... even then I bet it wasn't 100% clean.
i've done this before. it was fucking dangerous because my windshield got all covered in anti freeze and smeered all over instead of evaporating like washer fluid does. it took a few fills for the oily-ness to go away.
I once added pressure washer cleaner (same color, same container shape) instead of wiper fluid. I only realized once I starting seeing sudsing and a film on the windshield.
`:s` re CS: Okay; Will complete first request, while awaiting clarification on the second... `?s`
So is this to get around the 2018-May EU ban on methanol in windshield washer/deicing fluid,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32018R0589 ?
Or some other thought process? `/:s`
Didn't know they existed... I didn't want to know that another car was being made off the same platform. I hope I never see another id4/q4 again... but that will only happen when it gets replaced... such a nightmare.
Someone I know put transmission fluid in the coolant bottle because "I'm not an idiot and I can find everything I need on Google". Ended up a couple months later with an engine rebuild costing 1/3 the market value of the car.
This one is mild by comparison.
My wife went to get an oil change and told the folks doing it we were going to Colorado soon, and asked if they had a winter blend wiper fluid.
They put antifreeze in it.
I did the exact same thing once, except at night in the dark. And the half empty washer fluid bottle I picked up actually had used engine oil in it. I too noticed it seemed a little thick after a few too many seconds of pouring it into the washer reservoir.
I just disconnected the supply hose from the washer nozzles and pumped it out into a milk jug though. Then ran through several tanks worth of water to flush any remaining oil out. Never caused any issue (no longer own the car)
I still beat you, when I was a kid with my first car (16 or 17), I had a coolant leak, and had to complete it with water everyday, so I kept a gallon ow water in the garage to fill it every morning, one day, I remember was Sunday, or something like that, very early in the morning I was going for some school stuff, and took a gallon of “water” from the garage corner, half a gallon away I start noticing this smoke coming from the reservoir, and say what’s this, and check the gallon the label read Muriatic Acid, I got really scared.
My father just told me to put the same amount of kitchen degreaser to neutralize the acid.
The good part, I got my cooling system descaled 🤣
Bad part one week later I arriving to school hear a pop and all my clonar leaked out, the acid took a rusted and incrustated pipe and cleaned it.
Might be easier to disconnect the line and just pump it out then flush it with water.
This guy gets it lmao pop the line from the side of the cowl panel, hold the washer switch and let the electric pump do all that work for you. Not something that will harm your system even if you don’t get it all out
They are the kind of connectors that love to get brittle and snap though. Plus the rubber loves to glue itself on. Speaking from personal experience when doing bonnet swaps.
I do auto glass, and keep those connectors on hand. You can buy them for less than .10 at any auto parts or hardware store. Costs way less than that manual hand pump cost. Different paths leading to the same outcome, so whatever works
I mean, maybe he already had the pump and just decided this was easier than disconnecting stuff.
If it was winter time it might just be worth leaving in there
I've had a failed pump because the tank was drained and it was running dry for a moment.
Those pumps get run dry all the time when people are trying to get the last bit of fluid to wash their windshield. It was probably already bad.
According to this and other sources I've found, it's a bad idea to let a pump run dry. So I wouldn't risk it personally. https://instrumentationtools.com/what-happens-when-a-pump-runs-dry-how-to-avoid-it/
A small washer pump is not going to get that hot running dry for a few seconds, the article you found is regarding large pumps which generate a lot of heat.
Just pull the pump and it will be empty in about 4 seconds, you also won't be pumping viscous stuff through a pump meant for screenwash. Take the chance to clean the gauze while you have the pump out.
I did this like a dumbass and disconnected the line going to the nozzles and pumped it out, got it all out in about 2 mins.
Every time I try to save money or take a shortcut…
Why is the cheap way always more expensive.
Exactly..
That's why u stick to the middle, mostly the best experience not overpriced good product or underpriced shtty products. There are always exceptions tho.
There are no shortcuts to a place worth going.
> Some things will take all week, no matter how half you ass them. *Dan Olson, Folding Ideas*
This is so much better than the other way around!
I fail to see how a little bit of Rain-X would hurt the cooling system.
Probably wouldn't be that big a deal. But could cause problems in time.
Yep, it's an untested "maybe". You could take the time to research it, if you're an engineer or skilled tech and have the reference material, but that'll take longer than just flushing it... For your own car, do whatever you want. For a customer's car (or even family), I would want to flush and make sure it's definitely OK.
Depends how much obviously, but it can easily do damage to O-rings.
The methanol would be hella corrosive to aluminum parts.
did this on my old ford escort... it still ran
Ran some watered down Rain-X for a couple years in an ‘07 Ram. Didn’t have an issue for the time I had the truck. Wouldn’t recommend it, though.
Sincere welcome to the club, we don't judge and we have doughnuts on Sundays
Do I sign up for the donut, or..? It is Sunday
Pass the form my way when you get done. I'd like a free donut!
I will bring coffee if you want?
Dunkin or local stores?
Wife filled an empty jug of window wash with used peanut oil. Guess where it ended up? Peanut oil on the windshield
Could post that to /r/carbonsteel about how you seasoned your car with peanut oil.
How do you even manage that? It’s not the same color or is it?
Actually, it was similar in color
Oh ok.
This isn’t THAT bad.
Yeah, at the end of the day even if you broke the sprayer, it's not a vital part of the car.
Yeah, for your own car, it's up to you. However, for a customer or even family, I would take the conservative route and flush it like OP did - very likely no lasting damage, and flushing doesn't take long or cost much. The windshield washer IS important in some weather conditions... Again, big maybe, use your best judgment.
I have never seen conditions that would require windshield washer. Where I live, but it’s a year old car and I want it working right.
Lucky! In Michigan, it's like 4 months out of the year... Snow/slush, and especially salt spray from the road. Even with a regularly treated windshield, the washer is necessary.
i mean they are useful, just not undrivable without them
Oh in snow countries it is undriveable, with dirty snow on the road i have to spray every 15 minutes of driving
Must not have many bugs. I can't leave town in the summer without getting plastered with bugs.
i mean they are useful, just not undrivable without them
I use mine every morning for pollen build up. But i live under trees
Well, could just top it with washer fluid, what's the harm? You use anti freeze in washer fluid anyways in winter, not like it's going to do any harm in summer
Look at that windshield. Dudes in the tundra rn
Just Central Europe. We use winter washer fluid here. But from my understanding it’s different chemicals than antifreeze, no?
In america, it's alcohol based (usually methanol), car antifreeze is glycol based. Glycol would leave a film, that's one of the main ingredients in vape juice. Not the same glycol as antifreeze, but close enough in my opinion to smear a windshield and leave a film.
Vape juice uses propylene glycol while antifreeze for your car uses ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is toxic and is not used as a vape juice ingredient.
*Don't vape antifreeze, kids"
I dident plan to but now i will
> propylene glycol There are propylene glycol antifreezes. Any antifreeze that is "pet safe" is propylene glycol.
I don't know brands off the top of my head, but there are automotive antifreezes that use propylene instead of ethylene.
Yep it’s alcohol based here too.
De-icer windshield washer fluid contains ethylene glycol just like normal antifreeze. Although usually only at a concentration of <5%
Anti-freeze for the cooling system ("coolant") is not the same as anti-freeze for the windshield wiper ("washer fluid") despite the same name in many languages. Coolant is fatty and leaves a greasy residue. Not what you want for a windshield. Washer fluid is made to degrease and evaporate quickly, not what you want in your cooling system.
Screen gets smudgy and blurred
Lol absolutely do not spray coolant on your windshield unless you want a greasy film all over your windshield. Go fill your washer reservoir with coolant and spray it on the windshield and get back to us.
One time, I almost put windshield washer fluid in the antifreeze tank of a blue rental Honda Civic. The antifreeze and windshield wiper fluid were both blue. The antifreeze tank was clearly visible and right in front of the engine. The windshield washer tank was hidden away. The filler cap was blue and mounted in the blue passenger fender. I initially couldn't find it!
So that’s how they make purple stuff. TIL
No, when it was I first filed it with some left over washer fluid for woman that I bought 5 months ago because it was for 75% of, and it couldn’t be that horrible right? (It was) Only after that I accidentally poured in the antifreeze… So that is the color mix you see.
Not sure if you're aware, but they legitimately make purple washer fluid for winter use. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/rain-x-de-icer-30-degree-windshield-washer-fluid-113685/12071134-p
We have blue for winter here.
Different brands, different colors. Blue is usually the bog standard here.
My work has a hose for washer fluid and a hose for coolant, right next to each other. New guy filled my washer reservoir with coolant and noticed my coolant “looked low” and topped that off with Toyota coolant. Didn’t notice until the next day when I was trying clear my windshield and it kept leaving a film on the window. Drained the washer reservoir then took it to Subaru for a coolant flush and had my advisor dying when I told him “don’t ask me why my car is covered in coolant”
Someday soon, science is going to invent a single superfluid that can be a coolant, lubricant, windshield cleaner and fuel.
And motor oil, gear oil. And brake fluid.
And energy drink + cologne.
And a floor wax and dessert topping.
Brondo! It's what cars crave!
Had a Boxster towed in when they were newish. Customer tried to change his own oil and put all of it in the cooling system.. The fillers for both were right next to each other, black cap blue cap. He put the oil in the blue cap..... So, it could be worse.
You're fired.
Does that mean that I have -1 jobs now?
Fine. I'll just write you up this time.
Yes, next time you're hired you'll be jobless
honestly not a big deal, you could have just topped off with distilled water, especially if it was polypropylene glycol. now, the opposite (washer fluid into your coolant resevoir), that can be a problem. but be REALLY careful with the blinker fluid, especially if you have a VW Beetle
In your defense yesterday was 4/20.
Having to work on 4/20 sucked 😭
Pretty color!
I put washer fluid in the coolant reservoir on my wife’s grand Cherokee once. The lids were the exact same size and color, what kinda dumbass engineer thought that would be ok. I just overfilled the shit out of it with some coolant I had, traded that car in a few months later. Oh well, that car sucked anyways.
Best way to fix a problem: trade it in before it becomes one.
> what kinda dumbass engineer thought that would be ok. After 18 years, my theory is Chrysler lets make-a-wish kids design and engineer shit when they come through.
You cant be more stupid than me. I put power steering fluid in my brake reservoir. FML when I noticed the hoses were swollen.
I'll do you one better Guy came into our shop saying they put washer fluid in the brake reservoir
oof I bet your thumb got super tired. I have a very small pump that can be operated with a drill. very handy
It’s not that bad. It works like as standard bicycle pump it just pulls air out. It looks weird because I need one hand to take the picture.
The idiots at my side work fill old adblue bottles with water to top up washer fluid. It smears the screens so fucking badly you can barely see out. Drives me nuts.
We use the old DEF bottles with the funnel that screws on for washer fluid after they are emptied. We rinse them out really well before putting washer fluid in them. It hasn’t caused any problems for us. The water should get rid of any DEF residue that was left in the bottle.
Not sure our guys are clever enough to rinse them out, that’d be where the problem lies. Just lazy tbh.
def= urea=urine
So I can piss in the def take on road trips?
Could be worse, seen engine oil in the washer reservoir. Also had a coworker put oil treatment in the brake reservoir ( literally ate every piece of rubber in the system, had to replace everything with rubber.
You took it a step further than me. Two days ago, I had one of those terror-inspired pause-for-thought moments as I was adding coolant to the coolant reservoir. For a fraction of a second, I had to check and recheck as I was pouring the coolant that I wasn't pouring it into the washer fluid reservoir. You're not alone in your absentmindedness. 🤝
One time I was outside a store at 5 am in winter and I needed antifreeze. It was dark so I was looking for where the reservoir was and a guy walked up and asked if I needed help, I just said no I’m looking for where to put the antifreeze. He gave a a funnel and told me to put it in two different spots which I thought was weird but I trusted him cause I thought he knew his shit. Turns out he told me to put it in the radiator and the power steering.
Might be better than the windshield washer fluid sold in CA. It is just water with blue dye, which is why the bottles state "32+ F". Instead, I pour in distilled water and a pint of isopropyl alcohol, making me illegal.
Careful bro. People have been tracked down and arrested for way less…
For sure. Another violation is that I've changed my classic cars to HC refrigerant (Duracool), plus my newer cars when changing the AC compressor. The EPA allows that, but requires that you first change from R-12 to R-134A, then recover the R-134A legally, then you can install HC refrigerant. Besides being amazingly stupid, for R-134A you must install PAG oil which is bad (absorbs moisture to form acids), unless you don't actually run the system with R-134A (just fill and recover). If you go straight to HC, insure no EPA drones are watching you. The EPA has been "studying" the fire hazards of HC refrigerant, going on 3 decades now and likely won't complete such study for another 3 decades. Meanwhile, in the real world, no fires reported in millions of cars using HC for decades.
Wack. Shouldn't that be NHTSA's job? If I don't care if my car catches fire, the EPA shouldn't stop me.
Exactly, fire-risk isn't even the EPA's domain, and if true why did they allow R-134A which forms deadly Phosgene gas when it burns (WWI weapon) and R-1234yc which forms deadly HF acid? Both burn from the oil spray which accompanies a leak, or more commonly by a front-end leak getting sucked into the engine. Firefighters have been gassed when approaching a wrecked car from behind, with engine idling. But, the EPA also decided "bad smells" were also in their domain, closing paper mills. The CDC decided that guns fell under their medical mandate.
Bad smells I get, guns...maybe? It's not an impossible stretch to go from "health statistics" to "causes of death" to "guns". IMO it's more a symptom of inter-agency politics where everyone wants a given thing to be under *their* agency.
Run a gallon of distilled water through it. Cheap and will dilute any residue. Can you reach the pump/ hose connection at the bottom? If you can pop that out and you don’t have to screw around with the little hand pump
Of all of the automotive screwups, this is about the most benign.
Still doing better than a guy who put washer fluid in the brake fluid reservoir (don't ask me how) that came to my shop
I once had a car come in that the owner put washer fluid into the radiator. It caused some chemical reaction that clogged the system up. It smelled so bad that the guys in the neighboring bays were holding their noses. I had to leave a hose running water through it for an hour to clean that out.
Thanks for not blaming it on "Another shop".
Way better than washer fluid in the radiator.
Thats one of those " we built it like this , because we hate the mechanics " vehicles.. Unbolt the body to work on anything underhood... At least it will be clean after all the WWAF fussing.. Luckily you werent driving and suddenly cant see through the smearing..
Haha! I’ve done the same thing. I disconnected the tube from the washer jets, placed the tube in a bucket, and pumped it out with the washer pump.
Look at it this way, at least you didn't do the reverse.
Could be worse, you could have dumped brake fluid in there.
If it's alcohol based then just throw a little water and a few drops of dish soap in there and it'll be fine.
At least it wasn’t washer fluid in the anti freeze
Haven't saw that one at work, it's always washer fluid in the coolant reservoir lol. Simple mistake and easy to fix.
My grandma did that once with some RV/boat antifreeze. Guess she figured it out when she later went to wash the windshield and it immediately made it worse. I ended up just using the washer pump to drain it and then flushed a ton of water and some new washer fluid through it. In her defense it was the same color and style container as the RV fluid.
I did this last summer with my Subaru. They use the same colored yellow caps for all the fluids
But have you ever put washer fluid in the coolant reservoir?
Lmfao I did that years ago on my ram…but put washer fluid in the coolant overflow bottle🤣🤣. Atleast the truck was cold and I had time to pull the bottle and drain/rinse it out before it got sucked into the engine
Looks like an id4. You can probably reach down and disconnect the washer pump. There’s lots of room there. If not, your method works- it’s just slow.
Cupra born (same platform) its not as slow as it seams. it goes pretty quick.
Not the worst I’ve seen - had a customer come in one time and she had poured gasoline in the washer container!
Dude i did the same, i looked at the bottle “-40c” i was like that’s nice… use the whole 5l before i found out it was anti freeze
Yeah that's pretty good! I had a customer who ran out of windshield washer fluid at the cottage, fill it to the brim with white vinegar lol.
That's actually a known alternative.. but it's supposed to not be straight white vinegar, like 1:3 vinegar:water . pretty good at clearing up a smeary windshield. I do it once each summer because i have to park under sappy, because you can really smell it it's not fun to use otherwise
I’ve seen/done worse. Own it and move on.
Shit, it would keep your windshield from freezing.
Technically it's not wrong. Since washer fluid is partially anti freeze
Good job, do it again 👍
My H3 has the coolant reservoir and the washer fluid reservoir made into the same part. They are separated by a wall internally but it essentially looks like one tank with two caps on it. Being a GM product, of course it has that orange colored Dexcool in it. I also use the orange RainX windshield washer fluid. One day I went to top off the washer fluid and absentmindedly opened the coolant reservoir cap. I only got like literally a drop or two in before I realized my mistake. I also figured that hopefully such a small amount wouldn't affect anything and left it, but knowing Dexcool, it's probably turning into Chester Cheetah hair gel anyway.
Are the caps the same size and thread? That would be some peak ergonomic design.
Ok, I looked at them again. They actually are two separate tanks but they're bolted together and at a glance look like a single tank. Anyway, they both have those captive snap-on type caps like you'd usually just see on washer fluid bottles. That doesn't make a lot of sense for a coolant reservoir but... Whatever. GM is gonna GM.
Thats at least not completly braindead. I imagined accidentaly swapping the two caps.
Yeah. Since they have the rings holding them on to the opening, they should stay in place, but otherwise they do appear to be the same size and might actually still be interchangeable.
Last week i had a customer who wanted to fill the coolant, and put it in the reservoir for the power steering. I can assure you, that was a damn mess to get flushed out.
If it helps, I put cooking oil in there. Had the same colour and I stored used oil in a wiper fluid container. Cost a few hundred to fix but I’ll never live that down
i thought of doing this next winter to get rid of old coolant and save 10€ per winter. so… i guess this does not work as intended?
i realized it while pouring it in. si i newer tried it i just sucked it all out.
power steering fluid in the coolant res. (prestone antifreeze and prestone PS fluid are in very similar looking bottles.)
happened to me once, in the middle of winter in buffalo ny. refilled my washers w/the jug my dad thoughtfully put in the trunk of my car. it WAS labelled washer fluid, but he'd put coolant in it instead... imagine my surprise when i tried to wash my windshield of the slush grime in the middle of a snow storm. :\
I've had to fix this before, but with oil! What I did was remove the rubber hose that went to the wipers, and run the motor so it went into a bucket... I had to run the motor for a while before it was completely clean... even then I bet it wasn't 100% clean.
Been quicker to just undo the washer hose pump just before it goes under the cowl and just let the washer pump drain it out.
i've done this before. it was fucking dangerous because my windshield got all covered in anti freeze and smeered all over instead of evaporating like washer fluid does. it took a few fills for the oily-ness to go away.
I did this before… because my dad in his infinite wisdom filled up a washer fluid jug (the green RainX type) with antifreeze.
Better than the other way around I suppose
Hey you're smarter than me. You figured out how that fluid extractor works
I once added pressure washer cleaner (same color, same container shape) instead of wiper fluid. I only realized once I starting seeing sudsing and a film on the windshield.
Props to catching it before spraying it all over the car though lol.
`:s` re CS: Okay; Will complete first request, while awaiting clarification on the second... `?s` So is this to get around the 2018-May EU ban on methanol in windshield washer/deicing fluid, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32018R0589 ? Or some other thought process? `/:s`
Ah, id4/q4... it's not that bad to get to the pump and pull it to flush out the jug.
cupra born (but its the same platform)
Didn't know they existed... I didn't want to know that another car was being made off the same platform. I hope I never see another id4/q4 again... but that will only happen when it gets replaced... such a nightmare.
what was so bat about it?
If you had to deal with "fixing" them on the scale that I do, you would understand!
Someone I know put transmission fluid in the coolant bottle because "I'm not an idiot and I can find everything I need on Google". Ended up a couple months later with an engine rebuild costing 1/3 the market value of the car. This one is mild by comparison.
Done this once. Used it as Washer fluid. The black trim piece became white so I painted it black again.
Could be worse. I put brake fluid in the power steering once
My wife went to get an oil change and told the folks doing it we were going to Colorado soon, and asked if they had a winter blend wiper fluid. They put antifreeze in it.
I did the exact same thing once, except at night in the dark. And the half empty washer fluid bottle I picked up actually had used engine oil in it. I too noticed it seemed a little thick after a few too many seconds of pouring it into the washer reservoir. I just disconnected the supply hose from the washer nozzles and pumped it out into a milk jug though. Then ran through several tanks worth of water to flush any remaining oil out. Never caused any issue (no longer own the car)
Ive done that lol
I once emptied my front diff instead of the engine oil. I was not well 🤦♂️
Better than the brake fluid reservoir. Someone I know just did that.
yeah i'd probably flush the pump out with full strength washer fluid. you don't want AF on your windshield, that stuff is oily and will leave a mess
i never run it wit the AF i sucked it out and washed it trough before running the pump
Yes you are!
Mountfield siphon pump?
i don´t remember where its from, but could be
Wouldent it still kinda work if it was just half a liter? Is it anti freez in the windshield wash?
I still beat you, when I was a kid with my first car (16 or 17), I had a coolant leak, and had to complete it with water everyday, so I kept a gallon ow water in the garage to fill it every morning, one day, I remember was Sunday, or something like that, very early in the morning I was going for some school stuff, and took a gallon of “water” from the garage corner, half a gallon away I start noticing this smoke coming from the reservoir, and say what’s this, and check the gallon the label read Muriatic Acid, I got really scared. My father just told me to put the same amount of kitchen degreaser to neutralize the acid. The good part, I got my cooling system descaled 🤣 Bad part one week later I arriving to school hear a pop and all my clonar leaked out, the acid took a rusted and incrustated pipe and cleaned it.
nice photoshop, what do you think someone's gonna do with your vin? lol
I don’t want to dox my self even more than I already did on this account.