Girl in the office just poured antifreeze into her engine oil reservoir. She hasn’t started the car so I reckon draining the oil will be enough and there will be no need to replace the filter. She only poured about 50ml in.

Thoughts? Apart from ‘she’s an idiot’.

Its her birthday today and she’s really not having a great day.

I’d suggest flushing it through with some cheap engine oil before re-filling with new stuff just to be sure you get all the antifreeze out.

Dont fire up the car, drop the oil in situ and seperate the oil and water as best you can (oil floats of course so the water should remain in the lower bit of the oil container). Leave the last ~250ml of “oil/water mix” behind and put the old lot back into the engine. Any remaining water content will rapidly be evapourated off on a long run. Water gets into the oil mix in normal operation anyway (condensation), it evaps off just fine. Safest bet would be a drain and flush, depends on the age of car and value-risk analysis I guess. Good on her for giving it a go at least, and no harm done as she was smart enough to realise and do something about it.

Any need to replace the filter, I think not given that she hasn’t started the car.

sounds like tapeworm AIDs, can i have her bike?

PLEASE tell her NOT to start the car. Someone (boyfriend etc) will probably say top off with oil and drive home slowly.

On the plus-side at least she attempts to open the bonnet. I know of a girl who bought a new car, ran it for circa three years – never had it serviced and apparently it ran dry). Gawd knows how she dealt with not having screenwash 😯

Any need to replace the filter, I think not given that she hasn’t started the car.

No, won’t have got in there unless it’s been started. Might be an option to catch some of the remaining water after a cleanout and short run though – they’re only ~£4 a piece.

Most oil filler locations drop the oil directly in the cam space and it’ll rather quickly fall into the sump down the oil galleries. To get into any of the vitals (bearing surfaces etc) it would first have to go through the sump, pump and filter. Catch it where it is and there will be no problems IMO.

I would suggest that she drop all the oil out of the engine (DONT start it!), then fill engine with flushing oil rather than proper engine oil (usual oil capacity). Then start and run the engine on fast tickover for 20 mins, drop the flushing oil, replace oil filter as a precaution and refill with engine oil of her choice.

Yeh I’ve told her not to start the car. Then she got a call from a pal to say they had spoken to their dad who’s knows about cars and he said ‘it should be fine, just use it’ – noooooooooooooooooooo.

I asked her how much she thought it would cost for an engine rebuild compared to an oil change.

If its any consolation a sunday ride was aborted before starting due to my mother filling the power steering fluid reservoir with screenwash. “I’ll come over and sort it shall i mum?”
Another occation she ran the engine without the oil filler cap too. Messy, but corrosion resistant!

I know of a girl who bought a new car, ran it for circa three years – never had it serviced and apparently it ran dry). Gawd knows how she dealt with not having screenwash

C’mon Hora, admit it, it wasn’t a gurl… it was you, wasn’t it?? 😉

Then she got a call from a pal to say they had spoken to their dad who’s knows about cars and he said ‘it should be fine, just use it’ – noooooooooooooooooooo.

Thats third hand information with no guarantee that they’ll pay when it goes wrong. 😆

The thing is she’ll think, its dark and wet out and she wont want to leave the car at work overnight – so she’ll think ‘if I drive slowly it’ll be fine’.

Ignore Hora, he doesn’t know what he’s on about.

50ml?? Depending on the value of the car, I’d risk it. Maybe at a push drive it to the nearest Kwik Fit/local garage and get them to drop the oil. Say on average a car takes 3-4 litres of oil, thats 50ml in 3000ml in total.

Flange:

She only poured about 50ml in.

That sounds like an estimate. I’m also assuming its undiluted.

Question to you, would YOU risk it?

I’m not convinced of the validity of flushing oil in this situation TBH. Flushing oil is nothing more than a lighter oil with additional detergent content as far as I’m aware. Here detergents won’t help, neither will a thinner oil – you’re just as well using your old oil and saving the £20 for fresh oil if the change is due soon anyway.

If I’m being honest it will probably be fine even if it’s run, but as a precaution for anyone who clearly isn’t so good with mechanical stuff, I’d say it’s worth the price of an oil change which takes very little time. If I were stuck somewhere without tools in my banger I’d risk it, if it were my turbocharged fun car I’d probably get it towed.

Yes I would. Say at the very worst its 100ml. And the car is a Mini with a capacity of roughly 3.5 or 3500ml of oil. Think about it….

Just has a look at the bottle on her desk, looks like she poured 100ml in. It’s a newish car and I wouldn’t take the risk. She’s called her breakdown people and they’re on the way.

Would the coolant mix with the oil or would it separate in globules?

What would the heat do? When you then shut down would the coolant (heated) sit on any seals etc?

I’d leave potential expensive mistakes to others. If you are faced with any sort of huge bills I’d prefer the cost of an oil change (which isn’t a bad thing anyway).

What car is it?

Would the coolant mix with the oil or would it separate in globules?

When not started it’d be a seperate layer on the bottom of the sump.
After starting it’d emulsify which would reduce the bearing capability of the oil until it evaps off – no high RPM action, keep the revs around 1500 until the engine has been roasting for half an hour or so – a 50mph motorway cruise would do it.

What would the heat do?

Evaporate it off, eventually.

When you then shut down would the coolant (heated) sit on any seals etc?

Possible it’d sit in the bearings, which is where the problem lies, so a long run would be important to ensure none was left in there. As I say, condensation occurs within the engine as a natural course of the heat cycle of the engine, but 100ml (as we now know) is way too much to drive with, with this info I’d want to drop that oil out now, no question.

Some small chrysler I think. Yeh I know let it die.

From googling it the issue is that the antifreeze does go into globules and thats what causes the problems.

Any remaining water content will rapidly be evapourated off on a long run.
Doubt that very much, It’ll more likely mix with the water. (waits for, ‘oil & water don’t mix’!)
It’ll emulsify, making the oil look like mucky cream.
Drain the oil & refill.

Doubt that very much, It’ll more likely mix with the water. (waits for, ‘oil & water don’t mix’!)
It’ll emulsify, making the oil look like mucky cream.
Drain the oil & refill.

Happens daily in your engine with a small quantity of water, so no point doubting it. However driving around with 100ml in there would be an issue. Many a car has driven around on mayonaise for hundreds of miles with little or no damage to anything, but it’s not smart to do it on purpose.

At least the oil won’t freeze

😆

Personally I’d just drive my car home as normal (EDIT and change the oil on Saturday)

However I’d still advise someone else to get it towed and change the oil

Why is she topping up the antifreze anyway? If she’s losing water then she has more problems and possibly a blown hose or head gasket.
*FFFFFFFSSSSHHHHH deep breath in whilst rubbing chin, that’s gonna cost you love*

everyone keeps saying water but it’s anti-freeze she’s poured in which I don;t think will boil off as it’s boiling point is probably hotter than the engine oil woudl get?

Why is she topping up the antifreze anyway?

Dunno but now probably isn’t the best time to ask.

everyone keeps saying water but it’s anti-freeze she’s poured in which I don;t think will boil off as it’s boiling point is probably hotter than the engine oil woudl get?

Antifreeze boils (evaps) off my engine block just like water when the engine is hot, but you do have a point – the boiling point of ethylene glycol is around 200C. I’m fairly sure the external surfaces of my engine don’t get to 200c, but the coolant still ends up as nice crispy pink crystals rather than liquid. But while your bulk engine oil rarely gets to higher than the boiling point of water or antifreeze unless the engine is run hard, the internal surfaces likely do. As I say, best to drain off what you can and ignore the rest at this stage.

More importantly, is she bang tidy?

I’ll come over and sort it shall i mum?”
Another occation she ran the engine without the oil filler cap too. Messy, but corrosion resistant!

Your mum is SimonLovesRocks of this parish?

As for the OP, drain, pour some fresh oil in to flush out the path between the fillercap and sump (buy 6ltr bottle, pour the spare though first rather than keep it) and refill, then repeat with a new filter.

I wouldn’t re-use the old oil after seperating it, you’ve no idea what dissolved into the oil and what hasn’t, it wont be water anyway.

Thats all based on paranoia and oppinion, nowt to say it wouldn’t be fine to drive.

I wouldn’t re-use the old oil after seperating it, you’ve no idea what dissolved into the oil and what hasn’t, it wont be water anyway.

Antifreeze and oil are immiscible, but your caution is probably safest.