Possible trace of screenwash in engine oil?

[tdfg83]

I'm not sure this is worth worrying about at all, but how careful do you really need to be about contamination of engine oil?

I topped up with a litre of oil today (Audi A3 TDi) but accidentally used the funnel that I normally use for pouring screenwash. I topped up the screenwash yesterday and neglected to rinse clean the funnel afterwards. I don't think the funnel was still wet, so if there was any screenwash left in the funnel it would be tiny amounts of dried residue.

I'd assume that such a tiny amount of possible contamination wouldn't be a problem, but just wanted to double check.

Thanks!

Tony

[Steve_D]

No problem at all.
If you said you had put half a litre of wash in the engine oil by mistake then I would have to have a little think and decide if I wanted to do anything about it.

Steve

[GreenV8S]

It's not a problem. The engine generates a lot of condensation inside the crank case in any case (it boils off when the engine is up to temperature) so it's perfectly routine to have moderate amounts of water/oil emulsion clinging on to cold spots while the engine is warming up.

[tdfg83]

Great, thanks both. I thought that would be the case, but I just worried in case there was some particular chemical in the antifreeze that could react in strange ways with the oil, even if in tiny amounts.

All sounds fine though, so thanks for putting my mind at ease!

[tapkaJohnD]

If it was a significant amount of water, just open the sump plug and drain some out.
Do it before you run the engine, but wait a while before you do so, like overnight.
Oil will float over water, so given time to settle what you drain out first should be mainly water.

John

[Huff]

AS suggestions above - water, accidental and from blow-by condensation, will boil-off because normal oil temp are slightly above 100degC anyway.

Screenwash is only really >90% water, a little alcohol - (iso)Propyl, usually - and a bare smidge of water-borne detergents. Alcohol boils-off at 79-80degC, and the water content/ water-based surfactant is a non-issue as described.