Screwed up coolant change, what do it?
Discussion
(Full disclosure, I am a car mechanic noob although have dabbled with basic motorcycle servicing [oil, sparks, brakes] in the past)
Morning guys
Recently discovered that my Hyundai i10's coolant had been over filled by previous garage.
At a glance the expansion tank looked empty in daylight, but using a strong torch and dip stick it was in fact way above the max fill line and right at the top. I estimated it's about a pint over the F line with a cold engine, far from ideal according to the manual.
Timing was bad for this discovery; it was after work hours, and I had a 400-mile drive planned for the next day so decided to syphon it out ASAP...
Found a new plastic 50ml medical syringe in the house which would do the job... The nozzle however was too short so we Blue Peter'd an extension using a hollowed ballpoint pen casing. It fit snuggly and worked with a glass of water, so off I went to the car.
After about 5 mins I was half-way through and had slowly but surely decanted 150ml of excess coolant into a jar. Went in for another pull and heard a crack. The suction pressure caused a small shard of the pen casing to break off suddenly! Now I have a 14mm x 8mm piece of plastic floating in the expansion tank where it definitely shouldn't be.
There's no way of fishing it back out and I am concerned that it may block the radiator hosing or could break down under high temperature and get sucked elsewhere.
Luckily said expansion tanks are available for <£20 on eBay so I've ordered one for delivery next week. I haven't started the car since and am thinking coolant flush and tank swap would be the best way of avoiding any fall out from this?
All comments (mickey-taking or otherwise) welcome!
Morning guys
Recently discovered that my Hyundai i10's coolant had been over filled by previous garage.
At a glance the expansion tank looked empty in daylight, but using a strong torch and dip stick it was in fact way above the max fill line and right at the top. I estimated it's about a pint over the F line with a cold engine, far from ideal according to the manual.
Timing was bad for this discovery; it was after work hours, and I had a 400-mile drive planned for the next day so decided to syphon it out ASAP...
Found a new plastic 50ml medical syringe in the house which would do the job... The nozzle however was too short so we Blue Peter'd an extension using a hollowed ballpoint pen casing. It fit snuggly and worked with a glass of water, so off I went to the car.
After about 5 mins I was half-way through and had slowly but surely decanted 150ml of excess coolant into a jar. Went in for another pull and heard a crack. The suction pressure caused a small shard of the pen casing to break off suddenly! Now I have a 14mm x 8mm piece of plastic floating in the expansion tank where it definitely shouldn't be.
There's no way of fishing it back out and I am concerned that it may block the radiator hosing or could break down under high temperature and get sucked elsewhere.
Luckily said expansion tanks are available for <£20 on eBay so I've ordered one for delivery next week. I haven't started the car since and am thinking coolant flush and tank swap would be the best way of avoiding any fall out from this?
All comments (mickey-taking or otherwise) welcome!
Edited by hyundai_guy on Saturday 10th December 09:44
I remember over filling the coolant myself on my track car.
Quick solution to get the excess out was a turkey baster I found in the kitchen!!
I was however doing this little job on Christmas Eve morning. She was not a happy bunny
Now have one of these in the garage
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-FHP-1L-23242-Multi...
Quick solution to get the excess out was a turkey baster I found in the kitchen!!
I was however doing this little job on Christmas Eve morning. She was not a happy bunny
Now have one of these in the garage
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-FHP-1L-23242-Multi...
I know this wont help the OP, unless he has to do it again (!) but maybe someone else?
Rather than syringes that can break, with the above or more serious consequences, SIPHON the excess coolant out. If one end of a length of tubing is under the surface in the overfilled container, and the other end is below the container, coolant will continue to flow out through the tube as long as the tube is filled with liquid.
The only difficult bit is to draw coolant into the tube. Sucking on it may be distasteful, but not dangerous if a glass of water is to hand as mouthwash, or use your syringe to draw the coolant up into the tube.
Job done, and as long as a flexible tube is used, no risk of broken parts.
John
Rather than syringes that can break, with the above or more serious consequences, SIPHON the excess coolant out. If one end of a length of tubing is under the surface in the overfilled container, and the other end is below the container, coolant will continue to flow out through the tube as long as the tube is filled with liquid.
The only difficult bit is to draw coolant into the tube. Sucking on it may be distasteful, but not dangerous if a glass of water is to hand as mouthwash, or use your syringe to draw the coolant up into the tube.
Job done, and as long as a flexible tube is used, no risk of broken parts.
John
tapkaJohnD said:
I know this wont help the OP, unless he has to do it again (!) but maybe someone else?
Rather than syringes that can break, with the above or more serious consequences, SIPHON the excess coolant out. If one end of a length of tubing is under the surface in the overfilled container, and the other end is below the container, coolant will continue to flow out through the tube as long as the tube is filled with liquid.
The only difficult bit is to draw coolant into the tube. Sucking on it may be distasteful, but not dangerous if a glass of water is to hand as mouthwash, or use your syringe to draw the coolant up into the tube.
Job done, and as long as a flexible tube is used, no risk of broken parts.
John
Or put the tube into the coolant, hold the tube upright and use the glass of water to fill the empty tube, then when you suck you are drawing up clean water. Once you have a mouthful of clean water lower the end of the tube below the level in the tank and drain as much out as you want.Rather than syringes that can break, with the above or more serious consequences, SIPHON the excess coolant out. If one end of a length of tubing is under the surface in the overfilled container, and the other end is below the container, coolant will continue to flow out through the tube as long as the tube is filled with liquid.
The only difficult bit is to draw coolant into the tube. Sucking on it may be distasteful, but not dangerous if a glass of water is to hand as mouthwash, or use your syringe to draw the coolant up into the tube.
Job done, and as long as a flexible tube is used, no risk of broken parts.
John
You could also fill the tube with a good whisky to suck on and swallow.
Disclaimer. I have never done this but I am sure it will work and if it doesn't you won't care anyway.
GreenV8S said:
If the debris is floating (and assuming you exhausted options to fish it out with wire, cloth etc) then then you could just continue filling the tank until it floats up into the neck where you can grab it.
That will work.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liKNl6gpaMw
An overfilled expansion tank wouldn`t worry me, it would simply blow any excess out of the overflow, no need to do anything really.
I`d be more concerned about being unable to see coolant except with a strong torch and a dipstick.
Coolant is red, green or blue in the main.
If the OP is seeing clear water with his torch he needs to change it for coolant sharpish.
I`d be more concerned about being unable to see coolant except with a strong torch and a dipstick.
Coolant is red, green or blue in the main.
If the OP is seeing clear water with his torch he needs to change it for coolant sharpish.
Next time just leave it alone. You must have driven it before you discovered this and you could have driven it forever after too, it wouldn't have made any difference.
Level lines are only approximations.
IF and only IF it was too much it would have pushed it out of the overflow on its own anyhow.
Level lines are only approximations.
IF and only IF it was too much it would have pushed it out of the overflow on its own anyhow.
Cheers for the comments everyone - good shout on the turkey baster!
To give a bit of back story, the reason I looked at it in the first place is because the free Halford's winter check I had done that day said that the coolant was "too low" because it was missing in the expansion tank. In fairness to the guy, it did look that way... The tank goes from translucent to black plastic half-way up, and because it was overfilled so much there was no shadow/colour change to sight read the level. Checking myself with a torch/dip stick when I got home confirmed the problem was too much rather than too little in the tank, it was right up to the filler cap. With the excess is out, it's easy to see where it sits:
Thanks to your encouragement I decided to give removal a try this afternoon - after clamping off the hose and removing 2 10mm bolts it came out with ease. I distilled all coolant into a jar and rinsed/shook the tank out several times with water. This cleaned out a load of sediment in the bottom, but no sign of plastic shards. I did however find one piece underneath the car(!) so maybe the other bit flew off as-well??
The replacement tank I ordered is due to arrive Tuesday so I may swap it over to be extra cautious, but it appears I got lucky in a round-about way
To give a bit of back story, the reason I looked at it in the first place is because the free Halford's winter check I had done that day said that the coolant was "too low" because it was missing in the expansion tank. In fairness to the guy, it did look that way... The tank goes from translucent to black plastic half-way up, and because it was overfilled so much there was no shadow/colour change to sight read the level. Checking myself with a torch/dip stick when I got home confirmed the problem was too much rather than too little in the tank, it was right up to the filler cap. With the excess is out, it's easy to see where it sits:
Thanks to your encouragement I decided to give removal a try this afternoon - after clamping off the hose and removing 2 10mm bolts it came out with ease. I distilled all coolant into a jar and rinsed/shook the tank out several times with water. This cleaned out a load of sediment in the bottom, but no sign of plastic shards. I did however find one piece underneath the car(!) so maybe the other bit flew off as-well??
The replacement tank I ordered is due to arrive Tuesday so I may swap it over to be extra cautious, but it appears I got lucky in a round-about way
Edited by hyundai_guy on Sunday 11th December 01:05
Mk1 1.2?
I can sympathise with the coolant tank not being the easiest to read, especially if it’s not been flushed often. It’s in an awkward place, hard to get it backlit and the top of the tank being solid black plastic makes it worse.
I found a cable tie, bent so that you can only reach in as far as the fill line and used as a dipstick was a much better option than hoping to spot the level through the tank.
I can sympathise with the coolant tank not being the easiest to read, especially if it’s not been flushed often. It’s in an awkward place, hard to get it backlit and the top of the tank being solid black plastic makes it worse.
I found a cable tie, bent so that you can only reach in as far as the fill line and used as a dipstick was a much better option than hoping to spot the level through the tank.
Yes that's right Demelitia. Agreed, moulding it with two pieces of plastic makes it tricky especially if it's right to the top! I'll be keeping a dipstick in the boot.
One other thing, the coolant in the tank isn't pink or blue as expected, it's green (the halfords guy said it should be pink).
I'm thinking someone may have put the wrong stuff in or mixed two types together??
One other thing, the coolant in the tank isn't pink or blue as expected, it's green (the halfords guy said it should be pink).
I'm thinking someone may have put the wrong stuff in or mixed two types together??
There should be a little sticker somewhere under the bonnet indicating what type of coolant should be used, and/or it may be marked on the coolant reservoir. It will be something like G13, G12 etc Failing that you may have to open the Owner's Manual 
There are some green coloured coolants out there (Mannol do a green G13), but a bit of a guessing game unless you definitively know what went in.
There are some green coloured coolants out there (Mannol do a green G13), but a bit of a guessing game unless you definitively know what went in.
Manual states:
Antifreeze with water. (Ethylene glycol base coolant for aluminum radiator)
Googling suggests that this coolant type is typically green so that's good, but has a lifespan of around 2-5 years? I've had the car for a year now and it wasn't changed during this year's service. I've no idea how old it is as the car came with very little paperwork beyond 2015...
Time to change it out?
Antifreeze with water. (Ethylene glycol base coolant for aluminum radiator)
Googling suggests that this coolant type is typically green so that's good, but has a lifespan of around 2-5 years? I've had the car for a year now and it wasn't changed during this year's service. I've no idea how old it is as the car came with very little paperwork beyond 2015...
Time to change it out?
Probably a sensible idea given you don't know when it was last done.
The additive package in coolant is designed to minimise corrosion in the cooling system, so hopefully reduce the chance of needing a new rad or the engine block itself starting to corrode or get gunged up. So having clean and working coolant is a simple bit of preventative maintenance for not much money, I do mine every 3 years.
You can save a bit usually by buying the concentrate and diluting with De-ionised water.
Stick your reg or make/model/year etc in one of the online sites to see what type of coolant is recommended.
This one has some info too... HTH
https://services.totalenergies.uk/what-correct-coo...
The additive package in coolant is designed to minimise corrosion in the cooling system, so hopefully reduce the chance of needing a new rad or the engine block itself starting to corrode or get gunged up. So having clean and working coolant is a simple bit of preventative maintenance for not much money, I do mine every 3 years.
You can save a bit usually by buying the concentrate and diluting with De-ionised water.
Stick your reg or make/model/year etc in one of the online sites to see what type of coolant is recommended.
This one has some info too... HTH
https://services.totalenergies.uk/what-correct-coo...
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